how to install debian on usb stick

[liquidmagma]

how do i install debian to the usb stick if it has the installation? or do i need to put the installation iso on a cd and then do it?

[andre@home]

I did it like this:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... nt#p597961

I made my own live... with persistent settings.
It is now configured in such a way that when my boot disk would fail... the live usb has all the settings to make it a replacement.
After rebooting I can continue immediately. Later I can put back my image or do other things to repair the system.

For Debian 8.1 it works similar, just adapt names...
http://cosmolinux.no-ip.org/raconetlinu ... tence.html

Works like a charm....
PS: of course my live passwords are as on the original disk...

[GarryRicketson]

Please Read.. What we expect you have already Done.

This exact same question was asked just a few days ago, and it is not like
nobody has ever done this before, the OP should have at least tried doing a
little searching.
how to install debian on usb stick

1 of many hits: https://wiki.debian.org/BootUsb
There are various methods people use, it depends on what you want the USB stick for, after you have installed Debian (or any other OS),
For me, I just format the usb stick or drive, as fat32, then I plug it into the computer,
I check and make sure it is ok, readable,etc.
Then I also put in my Debian install CD, in my portable USB optical drive.
Then I shut the computer down.
Then I boot , with the usb optical drive, and install CD, then when I start the install
I select the "sdb" drive that is the usb stick, and install to that drive. Very simple and all ways works just fine ,for me, after the installation, I have a usb stick that boots, and has Debian on it as the OS.
There are other considerably more complicated methods, but none ever have worked
for me, but any way, it still is something a simple search will get lots of various tutorials and methods of installing a OS to a usb drive.

do i need to put the installation iso on a cd and then do it?

That is the easiest way that I have found, just burn the image to a CD, then install the OD to the USB device, from the CD or DVD.
I guess you don't have to do it that way, but it is the easiest simplest way. Of course if you do not have a CD/DVD optical drive, of some sort, then that is not a option.
The search engine will give you plenty of methods that can be used if that is the case.
======================

Search found 2181 matches: +how +install +debian +usb +stick

how to install debian on usb stick

This was the most recent:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=127905

[hackspirit]

For me, I just format the usb stick or drive, as fat32, then I plug it into the computer,
I check and make sure it is ok, readable,etc.
Then I also put in my Debian install CD, in my portable USB optical drive.
Then I shut the computer down.
Then I boot , with the usb optical drive, and install CD, then when I start the install
I select the "sdb" drive that is the usb stick, and install to that drive. Very simple and all ways works just fine ,for me, after the installation, I have a usb stick that boots, and has Debian on it as the OS.
There are other considerably more complicated methods, but none ever have worked
for me, but any way, it still is something a simple search will get lots of various tutorials and methods of installing a OS to a usb drive.

WHOA ! Did not knew that ! I have a query, can i use another USB drive instead of a CD as my disk drive is faulty?

[GarryRicketson]

I don't see any reason you couldn't, assuming your hardware has the USB ports and they all work correctly, but I have never actually tried that.
You could try and see.
My experiences are with older versions of Debian, and other linux distro, also
with FreeDos.
I make it sound simple, to me it seems simple, but something to consider , I started
making bootable usb sticks, and installing a OS to a usb stick, quite some time ago ,
the first times were with FreeDos. At that time FreeDos did not even really have any USB support, but the USB support happened at about the same time.
In other words , what seems simple to me, will probably be some what more complicated at first, simply for lack of experience.
The other factor, I have a tendendancy to forget about,... none of my computers
have the "secure boot" and UEFI junk, so even though it is a pretty basic thing
to install the OS to the USB stick, where you may have problems on newer hardware is getting the bios to allow it to boot from a USB device,...I do not know on that, never had to deal with it.

For example, and this is several years ago, I could use my FreeDos USB stick, at a public library, plug it in and boot with it, and have my Free Dos system, to use, instead of the horrible Windows XP (at that time) that the library used.
When booted with the USB stick, the C: drive was the USB stick,... I could not "see"
or access the real HD from it,...well maybe if I tried hard enough I could have, but never had any interest to try that. Now a days, most public library computers will not allow one to boot from the USB port,..
The same applied with linux, I could have a Linux system on my usb stick, and boot with it, and have my Linux, and utilities, instead of the MS junk,...

A important thing is to make sure the drives are labled, so you do not get confused
and accidently overwrite another drive,..
the 'lsblk' command is used to see what drives are available,...
Also sometimes it takes a few tries, I don't know why but sometimes it may not work the first time, but try again, and maybe it does,...Another factor is not all USB sticks are created equal.
There used to be a list of ones known to work best. A search might locate it, if it is still available.

[hackspirit]

Hi Garry, Today morning I gave it a try. I had two USB sticks. On one I copied the "debian-8.7.1-i386-kde-CD-1.iso" using Win32DiskImager. On the other I installed the Debian by booting via the first USB and selected /dev/sdc for "Guided use entire disk". It all worked well and this time I could see Installation finished well. (For grub installation I chose the /dev/sdc ie. the sencodn USB itself). However when I rebooted with this second USB, I was quite exited to finally see it working . But I got disappointed that I am still seeing the same black screen and forever blinking cursor .

Could you help?

[GarryRicketson]

Are you getting the grub boot menu ? , I mean does the black screen with blinking curser occur after you make the selction in the grub menu ? or is it all you get when it boots ?
I have had this happen as well , sometimes even booting with a live CD, that I know
is good, but sometimes when it boots it will hang, at the blinking curser,...in my case
I think it actually is the optical drive, that is the problem, but in any event when I try again it boots completely,.....
I suggest trying it a few times, and if still not completely booting try re-installing it
again.

[hackspirit]

Thanks Gary for replay.
No, I am getting a sharp flash for very brief moment and then backlit screen with blinking cursor.
I tried pressing the shift and other keys. But no help. Could you tell if I can somehow edit the Grub entry from other USB linux?
I can say that the cursor is not in hung state. And I tried trial and error settings in BIOS.
I have disabled the Optical drive from bios.
I will try it on some other pc and get back.

(Also, to let you know I have skipped the "missing firmware" screen (rtl_nic/rtl816d-l.fw). I tried changing boot order but It is not getting changed. However I have set boot from USB first as enabled.).

[hackspirit]

Hi People,

I am back. And This time I installed the Linux Mint 18.1 on USB drive to figure out whats going on. And I found there was an "Orphan" mount point in my System named "Debian 8.7.1 i386 1" with location /dev/sdb2. I have no idea where did it appeared from !! Also when I am trying to access via window explorer(nemo in Mint). I can see it there, but when I click it i see below error pops up :

Code: Select all

Error mounting /dev/sdb2 at /media/mint/Debian 8.7.1 i386 1: Command-line `mount -t "iso9660" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=999,gid=999,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500" "/dev/sdb2" "/media/mint/Debian 8.7.1 i386 1"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb2,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error

       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so.

Tried searching error but, no help. Can you please help me Is this the reason I am unable to get Debian USB boot ("blank screen with blinking cursor" problem)?
Please please suggest !!

[stevepusser]

The black screen at boot seems to be a common issue* if you search these forums. Can you install inxi in Mint and give the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -F

in a code box here? That is so we have an idea of what sort of hardware we are dealing with, which determines what needs to be done to fix the issue.

*Often when booting to a black screen, you can hit <Ctl><Alt><F1> to get to a command prompt.