How do I make a Persistent Kubuntu 16.04 usb stick

[mbohets]

Hi, I recently upgraded to Kubuntu 16.04, and now I want to make a persistent usb stick to be able to use it as a sort of rescue disk (I want to add a number of tools like clonezilla, .....)

As the standard usb creator tool does not have a persistent option, I found this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

This is what I do:
- insert an usb stick in the PC (the stick contains the Kubuntu live system)
- start mkusb
- select the Kubuntu iso image
- select install ==> find target drive and copy, flash, clone ...
- select /dev/sdb = my usb stick on which I want the persistent image
- click OK
At this point mkusb is going back to the main menu, I expect it to start making creating the usb stick but nothing happens
So what is going wrong ?

Or can you point me to another method that works ?

[sithlord48]

install the usb-creator-kde package and try using the usb startup disc creator it has an option for persistance when you create the usb stick

[elijathegold]

I've never tried this but can't you simply install it (and grub) to the USB key?

[claydoh]

Hi, I recently upgraded to Kubuntu 16.04, and now I want to make a persistent usb stick to be able to use it as a sort of rescue disk (I want to add a number of tools like clonezilla, .....)

As the standard usb creator tool does not have a persistent option, I found this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

This is what I do:
- insert an usb stick in the PC (the stick contains the Kubuntu live system)
- start mkusb
- select the Kubuntu iso image
- select install ==> find target drive and copy, flash, clone ...
- select /dev/sdb = my usb stick on which I want the persistent image
- click OK
At this point mkusb is going back to the main menu, I expect it to start making creating the usb stick but nothing happens
So what is going wrong ?

Or can you point me to another method that works ?

Not sure if I read this correctly but you say that the iso image is on the U.S. stick? Move it to your hard drive first since my guess is that it can't write the image to the drive it is residing on.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[claydoh]

I've never tried this but can't you simply install it (and grub) to the USB key?

Yes you can, making sure you tell it to put grub on the usb stick and not the hard drive.

This method may be preferable for those who want to add software as persistence isn't really for that purpose and installed programs do not always survive boots, at least in my experience.

Something like
http://www.remastersys.org/
is another option that might be useful assuming it works with 16.04

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[claydoh]

install the usb-creator-kde package and try using the usb startup disc creator it has an option for persistance when you create the usb stick

Not for 16.04 I believe.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[mbohets]

Thx for your help.
Unfortunately, USB creator does not have a persistency option in 16.04, it used to have it in the past I think.
In the mean time I wiped the usb clean with parted and formatted it as fat32, after that, mkusb worked, and I got a persistent stick.
However, not everything I wanted to do worked out.
--> I suppose I'll go for a full install on the stick instead of the persistent image.

In the mean time I also was googling around for a method to capture wifi traffic between my smartphone app that is
controlling some home automation things that are also on wifi, to see if I also can controll the home automation devices from my PC instead of from an app on a phone.
It seems Kali Linux is completely equipped for this, and it also has a means to have persistency
https://www.offensive-security.com/k...istent-stores/
Perhaps this method applies to setup persistency on Kubuntu also
--> I'll give that distro a try also

[GreyGeek]

Not for 16.04 I believe.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

Claydoh is right. A couple days ago I created a LiveUSB using a 4Gb memory stick using the Startup Disk Creator. Not only did it NOT allow the creation of a persistent space the LiveUSB, even though it checked out OK, would not allow a proper install on a Toshiba L55 laptop my grandson uses. I ended up using dd to create a LiveUSB that worked correctly. I have used a 4GB stick before in 14.04 to create a persistent LiveUSB stick so I'm pretty sure the stick is big enough to to contain a persistent partition in addition to the OS. However, I have a new 32GB USB stick and I am going to see if that makes a difference.

EDIT: I tried to create a persistent LiveUSB on a new 32GB Sandisk using both the KDE and GTK Startup Disk Creator and neither offered a persistence setting. Right now it is just a lot easier using dd in a console.

[GreyGeek]

Hi, I recently upgraded to Kubuntu 16.04, and now I want to make a persistent usb stick to be able to use it as a sort of rescue disk (I want to add a number of tools like clonezilla, .....)

As the standard usb creator tool does not have a persistent option, I found this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

This is what I do:
- insert an usb stick in the PC (the stick contains the Kubuntu live system)
- start mkusb
- select the Kubuntu iso image
- select install ==> find target drive and copy, flash, clone ...
- select /dev/sdb = my usb stick on which I want the persistent image
- click OK
At this point mkusb is going back to the main menu, I expect it to start making creating the usb stick but nothing happens
So what is going wrong ?

Or can you point me to another method that works ?

I decided to give the mksub method a try, using this method . First let me say that the design of mksub is horrendous. I can understand why it gives you problems. It was designed for Unity and the hot-key are not active, so one has to click on the option line and click the OK button. If, for example, you want to select the source and touch the "s" key it opens a text box on top of the "OK" button but entering anything does nothing. Clicking on a line then clicking the OK button opens the appropriate dialog box. The link has pictures at each step showing what you should see.

I used a new Cruz 32GB Sandisk. My first attempt failed for two reasons: the new Sandisk had two partitions, and sdb1 is a EFI system partition that is write protected. Amazingly, KDE Partition Manager could not remove the write protection flag. So, I used cfdisk in a Konsole. That worked. The second possible reason was that I chose 100% of left over space. Having figured out the GUI I successfully created a Kubuntu 16.04 persistent LiveUSB stick. It runs will with two exceptions: a "CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way" when using apt or apt-get in a Konsole (launchpad bug #1561472, supposedly fixed two weeks ago), and, I cannot download new widgets or wallpaper because the www.opendesktop.org/CONTENT... URL is defective. That problem also exists on my grandson's new Kubuntu 16.04 installation as well. While downloading widgets worked in my installation a couple weeks ago I just checked it and it is borked on my box as well.

So, mksub does work when you can wade through the horrible interface. And, there are some new bugs in Kubuntu 16.04, but major only if you hadn't installed widgets yet.

EDIT: The "CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way" error apparently only affects persistent LiveUSB operation. The last two posts of this thread has two possible solutions.

[sithlord48]

you can also install to a usb stick from the live enviroment . you will need two usb sticks one with the live image one and another that you want persistant boot to the live disc and durring install select the other usb as the target disk .