Installing Kubuntu 16.04 on a 36 gig usb disk

[Bumpalot]

I want to install Kubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 onto a new 36 Gig usb disk.
KATE:
#define DISKNAME Kubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64
#define TYPE binary
#define TYPEbinary 1
#define ARCH amd64
#define ARCHamd64 1
#define DISKNUM 1
#define DISKNUM1 1
#define TOTALNUM 0
#define TOTALNUM0 1

This is all very confusing to my 82 year old brain, so would appreciate your experts advice as to how I can accomplish this.

[Bumpalot]

Thanks for your reply.
I would much appreciate if you would please be more specific in the installation steps: creating /root/home also /grub & /swap partitions.

[sithlord48]

use the make usb startup disc program included w/ kubuntu to make the usb stick.. there is an option for persistant storage when you use this method.

another way is to boot from the live cd and install to the usb stick as if it were a hard drive...

[Bumpalot]

Thanks. As I explained in the previous reply (Tunis), this is all new to me & my 82 year old brain needs specific steps to follow... boot from the live cd and install to the usb stick as if it were a hard drive, sounds good.

[Bumpalot]

Thanks so much for your explicit reply - exactly what I needed.
For further help, would you be so kind as to check my other post "Forgot my system login Passwd"
Currently my password won't work in my kubuntu 15.10 install - & am getting the run-around in the current answers.

[sithlord48]

google is your friend..

https://www.google.com/search?client...utf-8&oe=utf-8

[woodsmoke]

One reason, of the several reasons why my hard drive stands outside the case, vertically in front of an extra case fan, a red one! lol! , is that when I want to install on a usb stick I power down and remove the hard drive, physically, from the cabling. Then put in the iso when the machine is powering on and let it boot into the live cd. Insert the usb stick and the live cd finds the usb stick and i just click "take over the whole partition" and it does it's thing as easy as installing on the whole of a hard drive.

woodlikesthingsVERYsimplesmoke

[jlittle]

All starts with downloading an ISO:
http://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/

That link does not have 16.04, only 14.04 and 15.10. Googling goes either to

• the wiki anouncement for Beta 2, which has a broken "bootable image" link
• Kubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) Daily Build, not the Beta 2.

(edit, premature click on submit)
Do I just have to take the daily build, which sounds even more potentially unstable than beta 2, or is there somewhere else, that Google hasn't found yet?

[Frank616]

sithlord48:

another way is to boot from the live cd and install to the usb stick as if it were a hard drive...

Some of the most brilliant ideas are the simplest!

"Make a startup disk" from the KMenu is quick, but I have constant problems trying to create a persistent area larger than 1 GB (it performs the task, but does not seem to be fully usable afterward). This idea of installing from a CD (or startup USB) to a USB stick as though it were a drive is brilliant! Thanks! Also means that I can update the stick with the most recent packages.

I use the startup CD often enough that I need to go buy a fast USB3 stick and create one now.

Frank.

[Qqmike]

Teunis may have a point about SSDs, Frank616. But for now, as a test, why not try it on the USB3 flash drive first. I do this often. It runs well enough, for sure. As always, always back up any valuable data you save to it.

When you install Kubuntu to it ...
You'll run the live Kubuntu DVD, it will see the USB3 drive, and there it will go.
Just mind the details, though ...
I would plug the USB3 in and run GParted Live CD to format it, get it set up, partition it.

If using the older BIOS and MBR, then do so on the USB3. Install GRUB to that USB3 (during the installation of Kubuntu).
If using the newer UEFI and GPT (partition table for the USB3), then do so on the USB3 -- use 64-bit Kubuntu, use GParted to make a GPT setup for you. (Tech note: If your computer on which you are doing this, runs UEFI, then it will already have an ESP; but you want an ESP on the USB3 that will be used only by the USB3; thus, before you install Kubuntu to the USB3, turn off the ESP on your computer's hard drive (do so by turning off the boot flag on the hard drive, using GParted). Of course, if using UEFI for the USB3, you will have made an ESP on that USB3, again using GParted.)

This is easy; in fact, all common sense; but it sounds involved when written down like this. All I'm saying is (1) Use GParted to set up that USB3 (the partition table--MBR or GPT--and then set up your Partitions -- root /, /home (if desired separate), swap, AND if using UEFI, make an ESP = EFI System Partition on that USB3. Then, (2) during installation of Kubuntu to that USB3, observe where GRUB should go.

You would treat the USB3 exactly as you would treat any other drive; same as you'd treat a regular hard disk drive, for example.

[Qqmike]

Added: If using UEFI for the USB3, make sure to boot the Kubuntu installer DVD in UEFI mode.

If your computer is newer (say > 2011), and you are using UEFI, then you probably already know this stuff I've posted.

[Frank616]

Qqmike:

Whoa, ya lost me!

I am only just learning what GPT is. What is ESP?

In any case, attached is a screenshot of what KParted reports for my USB stick that I installed 14.04 on. I did this on my little Asus 11" notebook, which was a Win8 machine with UEFI. I thought I had turned that off. However, maybe not.

You will notice that there is a 512MB partition formatted Fat32 at the beginning. Don't know where that came from, but it won't boot in my older machines -- only in the little notebook.

I had this same issue trying to move the 256 GB SSD that was in that little notebook into my desktop machine as a system drive. The desktop wouldn't boot either.

Now, all my machines will boot a legacy MBR disk. My question is, can I convert what appears to be a GPT flash drive into an MBR boot after the fact? Seems to me there is a utility to restore an MBR, is there not?

If this becomes a lot of work, I can just re install Kubuntu on the flash drive using one of the older machines, and get an MBR install by default. It is a bare, fresh install, so I have nothing invested in it.

As to using it or keeping it updated, that is a small issue, I would only use it to install Kubuntu to yet another machine, or for system rescue. It is not a 'daily driver', and I don't intend to keep any real data on it. Just utilities.

Or am I wrong on that usage as well? I am ASSUMING that I can use it to install to a new machine, but I have not tried that.

Frank.

[Qqmike]

What is ESP?

= EFI System Partition -- this is where the bootloader files are stored for all the OSs on that disk (unless you set things up to use more than one ESP).
UEFI Simplified [for Kubuntu]
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post379977

You will notice that there is a 512MB partition formatted Fat32 at the beginning.

sdd1. Yes, that is the ESP for that disk (sdd). You can look inside sdd1 and see the bootloader files. E.g., you may see some GRUB files in /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/ (on that sdd disk, in Kubuntu), like grubx64.efi, or grub.cfg.

My question is, can I convert what appears to be a GPT flash drive into an MBR boot after the fact?

Persoanlly, I avoid this, but it is a common question. Check Rod Smith (the UEFI-GPT expert) on this:
Converting to or From GPT
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html

As to using it or keeping it updated, that is a small issue,

If you install Kubuntu to the USB3 as a permanent, regular installation (i.e., NOT as a "live" Kubuntu), then you can update Kubuntu as you always do using Muon or apt on CLI.

I would only use it to install Kubuntu to yet another machine

The Kubuntu you (and Teunis and sithlord48) are talking about making is NOT a live Kubuntu. So, I don't think you would use this Kubuntu to install to another machine -- just use your live Kubuntu DVD/USB --> the one you are using now to install Kubuntu to your USB3 you just ordered, as per sithlord48's recommendation.

sithlord48: another way is to boot from the live cd and install to the usb stick as if it were a hard drive...

and this:

or for system rescue

You can definitely use this Kubuntu for rescues. But, then, you could also simply use your existing live Kubuntu on your DVD to perform system rescues.

[Qqmike]

It just occurred to me that maybe you wish to make a live USB3 flash drive (instead of installing Kubuntu as a regular, permanent installation to the flash drive, as suggested by sithlord48)?
If that is not the case, please ignore this post.
If that is the case, then use dd to make your live Kubuntu flash drive, using this how-to:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...712#post378712