Best way to put Linux on 2GB flash drive from WinXP?

[Arthur Cresswell]

Ubuntu 14.04 laptop won't start up due to unknown hardware problem.
My other laptoip is Windows XP SP3.

Googling I see I can put linux on a 2GB flash drive,
but what's the recommended method for doing that
from Windows XP?

Google finds something called Knoppix for example, but I'm only
familiar with Ubuntu:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-knoppix-510/

Any suggestions?

I formatted the 2GB flash drive to the default (FAT)
on WinXP (1.95GB).

I was gonna try Tails (what the heck, I always wanted to try
Tails) but apparently you need tails to install tails, so,
I'm gonna go simple because this is an emergency.

Due to hardware problem, I don't want to go optical disc,
so I just want the flash drive to be bootable.

Is this (found by Google) a good starting point?
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/put-kubuntu-10-04-on-a-flash-drive-using-windows/

PS: I can't find alt.windowsxp.general or any alt.windows.xp.anything.

[philo]

On 05/03/2016 07:20 PM, Arthur Cresswell wrote:
> U

> I formatted the 2GB flash drive to the default (FAT)
> on WinXP (1.95GB).
>
> I was gonna try Tails (what the heck, I always wanted to try
> Tails) but apparently you need tails to install tails, so,
> I'm gonna go simple because this is an emergency.
>
> Due to hardware problem, I don't want to go optical disc,
> so I just want the flash drive to be bootable.
>
> Is this (found by Google) a good starting point?
> http://www.pendrivelinux.com/put-kubuntu-10-04-on-a-flash-drive-using-windows/
>
> PS: I can't find alt.windowsxp.general or any alt.windows.xp.anything.
>

Something like this


http://www.pendrivelinux.com/linux-live-usb-creator/



Note: the download link is near the bottom, ignore the big green "sucker
link" on top

[Mike Easter]

Arthur Cresswell wrote:
> Ubuntu 14.04 laptop won't start up due to unknown hardware problem.
> My other laptoip is Windows XP SP3.
>
> Googling I see I can put linux on a 2GB flash drive,
> but what's the recommended method for doing that
> from Windows XP?

If you like Ub 14.04 you can put that on a 2G flash with Win.

d/l the Ub, use Rufus with Win to write it to the USB, boot it live with
your troubled LT.

This page has a link to an Ub 14.04.4 torrent
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

This page has Rufus to use to write the .iso to your USB
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Rufus is my preferred Win .iso/USB writer over all others.



--
Mike Easter

[Arthur Cresswell]

philo wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 19:55:53 -0500:

> Something like this
> http://www.pendrivelinux.com/linux-live-usb-creator/
> Note: the download link is near the bottom, ignore the big green "sucker
> link" on top

Darn, I wish I had known about that page at that site.
I used the same site, but a different page.
I wrote up a tutorial so the next person wouldn't have the same
problems that I have trying to get a machine to boot that won't boot
where I added your link above to the end.

How does this look for the "right" answer?
Or, is your link the "right" answer?

What's the difference in the end?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. On Windows XP, download a 1.4GB iso for the desired operating system:

You can find the 32-bit or 64-bit Kubuntu ISO here from Windows XP:
http://www.kubuntu.org/

The 1.4GB iso can take many hours to download onto Windows XP:
http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/

The 1.4GB torrent takes about an hour to torrent on Windows XP (Deluge):
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/xenial/release/kubuntu-16.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent

Please seed to a ratio of at least 2.0 (which is the default setting).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. On Windows XP, download the 1MB Universal-USB-Installer:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer/Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.6.4.exe
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. On Windows XP, format a 2GB (or larger) USB stick to FAT32:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. On Windows XP, insert that FAT32 2GB (or larger) USB stick:
(Make a note of the flash drive letter!)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. On Windows XP, execute the Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.6.4:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. In the installer GUI, answer the three questions:
a. Select a linux distribution = Kubuntu
b. Browse to your iso = kubuntu-16.04-desktop-i386.iso
c. Select your USB Flash Driver Letter =
d. Set a persistent file for storing changes (optional) = 532MB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. In the installer GUI, click the "Create" button:

The GUI will pop up a screen asking you to verify the options:

Universal USB Installer is ready to perform the following actions:
A. Create syslinux MBR on (G:) - Existing MBR will be overwritten!
B. Create UUI Label on (G:) - Existing label will be overwritten!
C. Install (Kubuntu) on (G:)

Yes/No
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Wait about 15 minutes for the process to say it's completed:

DO NOT REMOVE the flash drive without stopping the hardware because
Windows will chew up the flash drive with no remorse (ask me how I know).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. On the target computer, set the BIOS to boot off the flash drive:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. On the target computer, insert the flash drive & boot to Kubuntu:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/linux-live-usb-creator/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Arthur Cresswell]

Mike Easter wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 18:19:37 -0700:

> If you like Ub 14.04 you can put that on a 2G flash with Win.
>
> d/l the Ub, use Rufus with Win to write it to the USB, boot it live with
> your troubled LT.
>
> This page has a link to an Ub 14.04.4 torrent
> http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads
>
> This page has Rufus to use to write the .iso to your USB
> https://rufus.akeo.ie/
>
> Rufus is my preferred Win .iso/USB writer over all others.

This sounds great but I'm confused.

Are you saying I can install both Windows XP and Ubuntu 14.04 on my
FAT32 formatted 2GB flash drive?

If so, that would be perfect!

[Mike Easter]

Arthur Cresswell wrote:

> Mike Easter wrote:
>
>> If you like Ub 14.04 you can put that on a 2G flash with Win.
>>
>> d/l the Ub, use Rufus with Win to write it to the USB, boot it live with
>> your troubled LT.
>>
>> This page has a link to an Ub 14.04.4 torrent
>> http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads
>>
>> This page has Rufus to use to write the .iso to your USB
>> https://rufus.akeo.ie/
>>
>> Rufus is my preferred Win .iso/USB writer over all others.
>
> This sounds great but I'm confused.
>
> Are you saying I can install both Windows XP and Ubuntu 14.04 on my
> FAT32 formatted 2GB flash drive?

No.

I'm saying that you can use your existing WinXP sp3 to use Rufus to
write the Ub .iso you dl/ed as above.



--
Mike Easter

[Arthur Cresswell]

Mike Easter wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 18:37:04 -0700:

> No.
>
> I'm saying that you can use your existing WinXP sp3 to use Rufus to write
> the Ub .iso you dl/ed as above.

Oh. OK. Thanks. Had I known to use what you call "Rufus", on WinXP SP3, I
would have tried that, but I'm ok now that I have Kubuntu (I picked that
by mistake) on the flash drive.

I booted to Kubuntu on the bad laptop, and it came up but Plasmashell crashed
first, Then I restarted Plasmashell hitting the restart application button
but it crashed again.

So I think the Kubuntu bootable flash installation is unstable.

Is there a way to put Windows XP on that 2GB flash drive?

[Paul]

You would use Ubuntu to work on Ubuntu. For that
"familiar" feeling.

Modern Ubuntu DVD images support "hybrid" operation.

Optical media, the ISO file you download is a multiple
of 2048 bytes, because 2048 bytes is a common sector
size of optical media.

Hybrid media, the size may be rounded so that it is also
a multiple of 1MB (1048576 bytes). But I noticed that
the latest round of DVDs, don't happen to be a multiple
of 1MB (which in my opinion is a mistake). The reason
for wanting them to be a multiple of 1MB, is to do this.

http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/dd-0.6beta3.zip

dd.exe --list # Make sure you know which
# storage device is the USB flash stick
# The "list" option describes them

dd if=C:\users\art\ubuntu-14.04-desktop-i386.iso of=\\?\Device\Harddisk3\Partition0 bs=1048576

In that example, I picked a large block size, to reduce the
potential for wear on the USB flash stick "harddisk3".

So let's take some Ubuntu distros, and check the size.
They all turn out to be pretty good for "dd" copying.
(They have a relatively large block size.)
Simply change the Block Size bs= value to the
power_of_two number on the end of each calc.
An easy way to work out what to use, is to use
Linux "factor", and gobble up all the 2's to make
your power_of_two factor. The idea is, to select
a block size related to "sectors", as well as a
block size that divides evenly into the size of the
ISO file.

ubuntu-14.04-desktop-i386.iso 1,017,118,720 bytes
= 970 * 1048576

ubuntu-15.04-desktop-amd64.iso 1,150,844,928 bytes
= 35121 * 32768

ubuntu-16.04-desktop-i386.iso 1,504,051,200 bytes
= 11475 * 131072

So now I know what block size to use with the second one.

dd if=C:\users\art\ubuntu-15.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=\\?\Device\Harddisk3\Partition0 bs=32768

Obviously, Linux has "dd" too. I was just demonstrating
that if you needed to write the ISO to a USB flash
in Windows, there's a tool available. And it only works,
if you see "advertising" for the distro that says the
optical media now supports hybrid booting. For example,
if I picked a Ubuntu 7.04 ISO from my collection, it
should refuse to boot if handled that way. Hybrid is
a relatively recent improvement.

So let's compare what "disktype" says about each ISO
in my collection.

This is the output for the 16.04 DVD, one you would
suspect to be a hybrid. Notice the overlay of a hidden
NTFS partition, on top of the ISO file system.

--- ubuntu-16.04-desktop-i386.iso
Regular file, size 1.401 GiB (1504051200 bytes)
DOS/MBR partition map
Partition 1: 1.401 GiB (1504018432 bytes, 2937536 sectors from 64, bootable)
Type 0x17 (Hidden HPFS/NTFS)
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "Ubuntu 16.04 LTS i386"
Preparer "XORRISO-1.1.8 2011.11.20.173001, LIBISOBURN-1.1.8, LIBISOFS-1.1.6, LIBBURN-1.1.8"
Data size 1.401 GiB (1504018432 bytes, 734384 blocks of 2 KiB)
Joliet extension, volume name "Ubuntu 16.04 LTS"
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "Ubuntu 16.04 LTS i386"
Preparer "XORRISO-1.1.8 2011.11.20.173001, LIBISOBURN-1.1.8, LIBISOFS-1.1.6, LIBBURN-1.1.8"
Data size 1.401 GiB (1504051200 bytes, 734400 blocks of 2 KiB)
El Torito boot record, catalog at 252
Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 730814, preloads 2 KiB
Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty)
ISOLINUX boot loader
Joliet extension, volume name "Ubuntu 16.04 LTS"

The 15.04 x64 in my collection has an unbelievable
setup. I'm not even going to copy it o.O

Ny ubuntu-14.04-desktop-i386.iso sample is similar to 16.04.

OK, so by going back to 11.04, I can see that
one doesn't support hybrid. Consequently, you'd
use pendrivelinux or whatever, to put it on a stick.
Ubuntu also has an application that will put the
material on a USB stick, but if you're currently
broken, you might not have access to it. So we won't
go down that road. (I've used the Ubuntu application,
to install Mint on a USB stick :-) )

Here's the disktype of ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso .
This one isn't the right kind of hybrid. It's missing
the "conventional filesystem" for the first part,
that the other example has. So you cannot just "dd"
this one onto a USB flash stick.

--- ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso
Regular file, size 685.3 MiB (718583808 bytes)
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "Ubuntu 11.04 i386"
Application "GENISOIMAGE ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM CREATOR (C)
1993 E.YOUNGDALE (C) 1997-2006 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING (C) 2006-2007 CDRKIT TEAM"
Data size 685.3 MiB (718583808 bytes, 350871 blocks of 2 KiB)
El Torito boot record, catalog at 142
Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 130, preloads 2 KiB
Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty)
ISOLINUX boot loader
Joliet extension, volume name "Ubuntu 11.04 i38"

I built my "disktype.exe" in Cygwin, so I could
have a copy to use in Windows.

HTH,
Paul

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <dot11g...@mid.individual.net>, Mike Easter
<Mi...@ster.invalid> escribió:

>This page has Rufus to use to write the .iso to your USB
>https://rufus.akeo.ie/
>
>Rufus is my preferred Win .iso/USB writer over all others.

That looks really nice. It adheres to the Unix philosophy of "do one
thing but do it very well".

Thanks for the link!

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) Windows 10: less of an OS, more of a drive-by mugging.
(")_(") -- "Esme" on el Reg

[Mike S]

Have you seen either of these?

http://www.poweriso.com/tutorials/how-to-make-winxp-bootable-usb-drive.htm

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-pocket,1113.html

[mike]

I've been using YUMI to make multiboot flash drives.
Puppy linux, MACPUP 5.50 runs out of RAM, so you don't have to do
anything to keep the OS from wearing out your flash drive.
I've got MACPUP 5.50 and Hirens bootable XP and diagnostic utilities
on a 2GB multiboot USB stick.

[Carlos E.R.]

On 2016-05-04 03:51, Arthur Cresswell wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 18:37:04 -0700:
>
>> No.
>>
>> I'm saying that you can use your existing WinXP sp3 to use Rufus to write
>> the Ub .iso you dl/ed as above.
>
> Oh. OK. Thanks. Had I known to use what you call "Rufus", on WinXP SP3, I
> would have tried that, but I'm ok now that I have Kubuntu (I picked that
> by mistake) on the flash drive.
>
> I booted to Kubuntu on the bad laptop,

Why don't you test it on the good laptop? You said:

|> Ubuntu 14.04 laptop won't start up due to unknown hardware problem.
|> My other laptoip is Windows XP SP3.

It is a broken laptop. Why do you test anything in there?

--
Cheers, Carlos.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---

[Mike Easter]

Arthur Cresswell wrote:
> Mike Easter

>> I'm saying that you can use your existing WinXP sp3 to use Rufus to write
>> the Ub .iso you dl/ed as above.

> I booted to Kubuntu on the bad laptop, and it came up but Plasmashell crashed
> first, Then I restarted Plasmashell hitting the restart application button
> but it crashed again.

I recommend that instead of something different, that you dl and write
the (same DE) Ub 14.04.4 to that USB. You already know that your
hardware and that Ub and its desktop are compatible with each other.

> Is there a way to put Windows XP on that 2GB flash drive?

Yes but that is a different project/subject.

Linux 'permits' you to write an .iso provided to USB for a live session.

In the case of Windows, the licensing is different, so what you are
allowed to do by MS is different from what you are allowed to do with linux.

The *easiest* way to boot up in a WinXP environment on a USB is not
included in MS's license but to use an XP PXE prepared by someone else.


--
Mike Easter

[Mike Easter]

mike wrote:
> MACPUP 5.50 and Hirens bootable XP

For those who aren't familiar with the many versions and derivatives of
Puppy Linux, Macpup is a Puppy based on Ub Precise which also has
Enlightenment WM -- while Hiren's includes an array of many useful
utilities plus can boot into an XP PXE. One *easy* way to get XP PXE
not included in MS's license :-)

Yumi is a good Win way to get a USB multiboot; Rufus can't do that.
There are some good linux strategies to get a USB multiboot, also to
have persistence, which Rufus also can't do.

--
Mike Easter

[s|b]

On Wed, 4 May 2016 00:20:58 -0000 (UTC), Arthur Cresswell wrote:

> Googling I see I can put linux on a 2GB flash drive,
> but what's the recommended method for doing that
> from Windows XP?
>
> Google finds something called Knoppix for example, but I'm only
> familiar with Ubuntu:
> http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-knoppix-510/
>
> Any suggestions?

Universal USB Installer
<http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3>

Doesn't get any easier.

Rufus
<https://rufus.akeo.ie/>

--
s|b

[Arthur Cresswell]

Mike S wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 23:35:45 -0700:

> Have you seen either of these?
>
> http://www.poweriso.com/tutorials/how-to-make-winxp-bootable-usb-drive.htm
>
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-pocket,1113.html

Thanks for those pointers for putting Windows on a flash drive.
They seems to require a Windows installation disk, and, as we all
know, no such thing exists for laptops nowadays.

At least mine never came with a "windows installation disk".

So, how do you build Windows on a flash drive when you only
have Windows installed on the hard drive?

[Caver1]

Retrieve your Windows ID number, can't think of what it's
called. Then download an iso from MS with that number.
I've done that with Win 7 Pro.

--
Caver1

[Dan Purgert]

Caver1 wrote:
> On 05/05/2016 11:58 AM, Arthur Cresswell wrote:
>> Mike S wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 23:35:45 -0700:

>> [snip]

>>
>> At least mine never came with a "windows installation disk".
>>
>> So, how do you build Windows on a flash drive when you only
>> have Windows installed on the hard drive?
>>
>
> Retrieve your Windows ID number, can't think of what it's
> called. Then download an iso from MS with that number.
> I've done that with Win 7 Pro.
>

Either this, or you'll have an option (control panel?) to create a
backup image of Windows.

Apparently, the OS can package itself (or has the packages sitting
somewhere in the "Windows" directory).

That being said, it's been a long time since I've dealy with a Dell / HP
/ etc. OEM box.

--
Registered Linux user #585947
Github: https://github.com/dpurgert