# bootable usb flash drive



## CDBongo (Sep 23, 2005)

I've got a 512mb usb flash drive, to make it bootable do I just format it and copy the linux files over to it or are their some other steps that i need to do?
thanks


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

I'm not sure if you can even boot off of a USB drive, but even if you can, you can't just copy the files. 

You need to install it to the flash drive with the disc.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

Linux can boot from USB if your motherboard has a BOOT FROM USB option.
Many modern motherboards do.

Here's one method:
http://rz-obrian.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/knoppix-usb/


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## CDBongo (Sep 23, 2005)

sweet! that seems pretty cool, i'll check it out, thanks
My motherboard supports it, and so does the computers at my school (which i detest for the lack of features)

Anyway, i didn't know if i could just copy the files from the live mandriva linux cd, and boot off of it, or install it on the usb drive once i had already booted into live mandriva off of the cd?


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## CDBongo (Sep 23, 2005)

Delima: I installed some bootloader thing and dsl (damn small linux) on my flash drive, and it boots up fine in windows from command prompt (I get a linux interface _Inside_ my windows interface, in a command prompt window)
BUT, when i try and boot from scratch, this is what happens:
-The dls logo comes up, says, "press enter to boot", and "press f2 for boot options"
--I press Enter
-It looks for the usb device, and goes through a few other procedures that come up on the screen too fast for me to see, then it gets to one procedure: 
"Looking for dsl image"
-It looks for the image at:
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
/dev/sda4
and a few other places (that appear too fast for me to catch) then displays this:

Can't find knoppix filesystem sorry! Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.

Additional builtin commands avalible:
cat mount umount
unsmod rmmod lsmod

I don't know anything about "shell", so any assistance would be great!


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

Scroll down to the bottom of this thread:

Boot SLAX from USB

Works for SLAX. May work for some variation of KNOPPIX.


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## fenderfreek (Mar 14, 2006)

Booting Linux from USB requires some special tweaking and setup due to latency with the USB and bootloader stuff. (Discussed in brief in another thread here on dual-booting) Essentially, just copying the files isn't sufficient, but the ^ guide should help.


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## CDBongo (Sep 23, 2005)

Okay thanks, I think i'll just experiment with different types of linux, and maybe pick up a 1gb flash drive if i see things going somewhere.


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