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I have managed to put a full Ubuntu install on a USB using a VM like this and know of many tools (such as MultiBootUSB) that can put multiple ISOs on a USB to boot from live but what about multiple full installs? Lets say I want a bunch of different distros fully installed on a USB stick that you can boot from. I know it must be possible as you can have multiple distros on your main HDD and boot to each just fine through grub but how exactly could you do it with a USB? I have messed with grub a little before but not all that much and it sounds like some distros have a different boot sequence than others and so it requires different options in the grub configuration but how does that work exactly? I have a feeling I would have to boot each ISO in a VM and go through the Install process and simply choose something else while going through the partitioning. But how would I do it in a way that would not effect other installations already installed?

BobserLuck
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    It can be done the same way as in any other media. As long as you know what you're doing, where to install the OSes it makes no difference where they are installed. –  Sep 28 '17 at 22:18
  • Here you go http://multibootusb.org/. – mikewhatever Sep 29 '17 at 00:06
  • @mikewhatever Yes, that is one of the tools I concidered but it only works with live ISOs and is not quite what I am looking for. I am looking for a way to have multiple full installs. I have a feeling I would have to run each one I want in a VM and then go through the install process with each but do something different in the partition settings but I'm not sure what exactly. – BobserLuck Sep 29 '17 at 00:49
  • YUMI can do it, too. – Redbob Sep 29 '17 at 01:50
  • @Redbob Yes, that was another thing I was looking at however it also only installs ISO files to be run live and not as full installs. – BobserLuck Sep 29 '17 at 02:01
  • I have not tried multiple full installs on my USB flash drive. I have full installs in either UEFI or BIOS boot and often additional ISOs booting with loopmount. But why would you think you cannot boot other installs? Only issue is with UEFI on a flash drive it only boots /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi which can then be from any install & that install's grub boots everything else. Similarly with BIOS one install controls MBR and its grub offers to boot others. Flash drive is not really different that HDD or SSD. – oldfred Sep 29 '17 at 03:32

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What worked for me:

Created GPT partition table on 32GB flash drive.

Made five ext4 partitions.

Booted Live drive inserted 32GB target drive.

At partitioning selected "Something else".

Chose sdc1 for /.

Installed grub to root of the 32GB drive.

I did this several more times with sdc2, sd3, and different versions of 'Buntu.

After the last install I booted the flash drive and did an update-grub.

Everything seems to work ok for me, what a good idea for a multibooter!

C.S.Cameron
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  • Yes, this works. I have created such systems. Things will be easier, if you disconnect (unplug) the internal drive before you start with the installation. This is particularly important if your computer is booted in UEFI mode. Without the internal drive, the USB target drive will be treated like the main target drive and the installation will be like into any internal drive. If a USB pendrive: After the installation you may want to tweak the system to reduce wear. -- See this link, https://askubuntu.com/questions/786986/boot-ubuntu-from-external-drive/942312#942312 and links from it. – sudodus Sep 29 '17 at 04:48
  • @Sudodus: You are right, after doing an update-grub the grub.cfg file was huge and very confusing, just like the laptop's grub.cfg file. The drive boots both BIOS and UEFI, A few years ago it was not practical to have a multi boot with full install. – C.S.Cameron Sep 29 '17 at 05:13
  • Thank you Cameron. That was easier than I thought. I've had some huge problems with booting and partitioning in the past I thought it would have been a lot harder to do. – BobserLuck Sep 29 '17 at 18:24