Putting /boot on a USB thumb drive

[Zeko]

Hello guys

I'm thinking of ways to multiboot Qubes 4 safely on my laptop. Would it be possible to install the /boot partition on a thumb drive while having the / encrypted filesystem on an internal drive partition? This should not require Anti-Evil Maid, right?

Also if this works, will I have to keep the thumb drive plugged in while Qubes is running? It's a little awkward on a laptop.

Thanks for answers

[awokd]

On Thu, May 17, 2018 7:41 pm, 'Zeko' via qubes-users wrote:
> Hello guys
>
> I'm thinking of ways to multiboot Qubes 4 safely on my laptop. Would it be
> possible to install the /boot partition on a thumb drive while having the
> / encrypted filesystem on an internal drive partition? This should not
> require Anti-Evil Maid, right?

"Multiboot" and "safely" don't really go together. Consider an exploit of
a more vulnerable OS that results in a firmware compromise, that can then
attack Qubes once booted. However, what you describe should work. AEM is
not needed/related.

> Also if this works, will I have to keep the thumb drive plugged in while
> Qubes is running? It's a little awkward on a laptop.

I don't know any reason you'd need to leave it plugged in once it's booted.