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I've made a multiboot USB using YUMI. I chose Ubuntu and Kali Linux.
The USB loads great with Kali and with Ubuntu, but Ubuntu always only gives me option to "try" and "install" and nothing as save when restarted in "try" mode.

I've heard about adding "persistence" somewhere but I'm such a beginner that I can't fully understand what to do.

I use Windows to create the multiboot.

Quidam
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90albu
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  • Hi! Here are some explanations and, also, some alternatives to YUMI: http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/help/faq/persistence/67-what-is-persistence "Usually, on a live CD or Live USB key, all modifications are discarded when you reboot." - LiLiUSB Creator

    The persistence allows you to keep your preferences and data even after reboot.

    The data are stored in a special file called casper-rw (for Ubuntu) and overlay-USBLABEL-UUID (for Fedora). This is a completely transparent process for the user.

    Usually, 300 MB are enough to install some software but you can use more."

     – Cristiana Nicolae Sep 24 '16 at 06:15
  • http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14912/create-a-persistent-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive/ Pen Drive Linux – Cristiana Nicolae Sep 24 '16 at 06:16
  • i tried using liliUSB but i dont believe it lets you have multiple os – 90albu Sep 24 '16 at 16:38
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    YUMI works great for me, formatting the drive NTFS allows greater than 4GB persistence. remember to adjust persistence size before adding an OS. – C.S.Cameron Nov 27 '17 at 03:38
  • @Christiana Please make it an answer, including the persistence explanation in your answer. – Quidam Apr 26 '20 at 14:39
  • @90albu No, liliUSB doesn't allow multiboot, for multiboot on Windows, there are several softwares. – Quidam Apr 26 '20 at 14:40

2 Answers2

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YUMI Persistence

Persistence for Ubuntu installs in YUMI is step 4 of the installation procedure as shown below.

BIOS/UEFI mode YUMI persistence is limited to 4GB.

BIOS only mode YUMI persistence is unlimited.

enter image description here

C.S.Cameron
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When you make a live USB, it's often in read-only mode. It means that you cannot change anything to your live USB.

When I say "live USB": I talk for USB stick, and USB disks, for CD, obviously it depends if they are R (read-only, able to be written only once) or RW.

You didn't tell us what kind of USB media you had. Stick, disk, CD?

For this problem, they invented the "persistence" mode.
It's a space that you add to your USB, at the same time you create it, and this space will be used to save changes made on it.

This question has been answered several times already here:

Here you have an answer from Alex (I didn't try), but be careful with editing partition with Gparted or other tool, when you don't want to blank them:
https://superuser.com/questions/916857/adding-persistence-to-multiboot-usb-made-with-yumi

Alex suggests to create a partition labeled with the keyword "persistence" (refer to its answer for more details or here), it works with Kali, but I don't know if it works with Ubuntu. It's a way to add persistence to Kali, and not being limited by the amount of mb you want to add.

For Ubuntu, a user answered concerning an USB created with Unetbootin, but it should also works with YUMI, as it's not related to the software: Can I convert a live Ubuntu USB to one with persistent memory?

You'll have to read the explanation, but in short: 

Add a new ext4 partition for persistence. Label the ext4 partition "casper-rw".

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/yumi-multiboot-linux-persistence-persistent-question-948902/

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60918647

I won't use Yumi for persistence, unless you want to make the steps mentioned in the link I've pasted. I think you can use Sardu, but I don't know if the persistence mode works well with all the ISO. You told us that you want a multiboot, Ubuntu & Kali, so maybe someones tried?

For use from Windows, Multisystem is good to manage the persistence mode, as it allows you to do so in a very easy way, from the moment you create the USB medium, but the problem is that you can have only one persistent storage for all the ISO you added.
I don't know why, and if it can be hacked in some way, I would be curious to know!

There is also MultibootUSB that supports persistence mode, according to its presentation page.

Quidam
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