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I had two USB sticks plugged into the computer. An empty 16GB stick which I planned to install FULL Ubuntu on, 8GB stick with live Ubuntu and installer. I followed this YouTube tutorial on how to install full Ubuntu on a USB.

When I checked to see if the 16GB USB works on other computers, I found that I get no operating system found and the the system on the internal drive (Windows) boots. It only works on the computer I used to install Ubuntu on, but not the others. Hmmm...

Is there another method of installing FULL Ubuntu on a USB stick?

Zanna
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    Another possibility is that the bootloader did not get installed in the right place. This happens quite often if the internal drive has not been disabled prior to installation. – C.S.Cameron Dec 05 '17 at 03:12

1 Answers1

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An installed system is portable between computers, but not as portable as a live or persistent live system. Things to check:

  • Avoid proprietary drivers.
  • Usually an installed system will work either in UEFI mode or BIOS mode, not both. But it is possible to make a system that can boot in both modes, as described in this link.
  • Check that the system is compatible with the computer hardware. 32-bit Ubuntu works in both 32-bit and 64-bit hardware, but 64-bit Ubuntu needs 64-bit hardware.
  • Check that the bootloader was installed in the USB drive (and not in the internal drive), as suggested in the comment by @C.S.Cameron.

The following link and links from it can give you several tips that help you make a portable Ubuntu system, that will work in the computers, where you want to run it.

Boot Ubuntu from external drive

sudodus
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    "But it is possible to make a system that can boot in both modes.". One question one word: How? :) – Videonauth Dec 05 '17 at 06:42
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    @Videonauth, It is described in this link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/UEFI-and-BIOS – sudodus Dec 05 '17 at 06:44
  • Sad, not very usable for my case, seems I have to research into it more. Need a way to make the MBR and EFI on the fly for my tutorial. – Videonauth Dec 05 '17 at 06:51
  • Thank you, will read into that, if you're interested of which tutorial I speak of you can check my profile for my blog link. – Videonauth Dec 05 '17 at 07:11
  • @Videonauth, The quick fix method is to extract a compressed image. My basic method is to switch between the boot modes and install the corresponding grub versions to install the bootloaders for each mode. If you want to make a tutorial with an 'on the fly method', you could do something between my image of a complete system of the UEFI-and-BIOS link and what is used in mkusb, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent#Method_developed_from_.27grub-n-iso.27, 'Cloning the head end', and 'diy', https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/iso2usb/diy – sudodus Dec 05 '17 at 07:14
  • @Videonauth, I did not find the tutorial, please link to it :-) – sudodus Dec 05 '17 at 07:23
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    Well: https://videonauth.dyndns.org/index.php/2016/05/26/tutorial-how-to-install-ubuntu-and-other-debian-based-distributions-via-debootstrap/ here it is, the link to it is in my profile tho. :) I'm actually in the process of a complete re-write of that ans want to add 1. Efi installation, bios installation and dual installation, and of course fix the incorrect part about setting the language ;) – Videonauth Dec 05 '17 at 07:34
  • Whenever I do a Full install to USB, the device boots both BIOS and UEFI, at least with 16.04 and later. Am I doing something wrong? – C.S.Cameron Dec 06 '17 at 07:52
  • @C.S.Cameron, On the contrary. Please tell us how you manage to do that, to make it boot in both modes :-P – sudodus Dec 06 '17 at 08:23
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    @Sudodus: I generally work in BIOS mode. I am in UEFI mode at present booted from a Lexar 128G Ultra with a GPT table made using the step by step on the duplicated question on a BIOS boot. Yesterday I made an install of Elementary OS with a msdos partition table while booted BIOS and it has no problem with UEFI. Maybe my computer's UEFI is funky... Anything you want me to test? I used mkusb to make the Live disks. – C.S.Cameron Dec 06 '17 at 09:24
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    I think the UEFI in my HP EliteBook is not typical, it does not work in other computers in UEFI mode. see: https://askubuntu.com/questions/16988/how-do-i-install-ubuntu-to-a-usb-key-without-using-startup-disk-creator – C.S.Cameron Dec 10 '17 at 04:58
  • Above mentioned link by me changed to https://videonauth.ddns.net. – Videonauth May 22 '18 at 20:14