Frugal install of GRUB based distro on a USB flash drive from Windows/DOS ?

kumarkumar · 05-31-2008, 04:49 PM

This is the procedure for frugal install of Syslinux based distros.
1) Format the USB flash drive as FAT
2) Copy the contents of the iso to the USB flash drive
3) In DOS run "syslinux -ma X:" from within Syslinux folder to make the USB flash drive bootable.

How do I do this exact procedure with GRUB based distros. Specially the 3rd step. Is there any command line/GUI program to make a USB flash dribe bootable with GRUB from within Windows/DOS?

amani · 05-31-2008, 08:41 PM

Usually you get usb image files. These must be written directly to the usb disk (everything will get overwritten in this case).

Otherwise if you install a linux distro from a cd/dvd/harddisk to a usb device... you must simply ask for the bootloader to be installed to where / is.

#grub-install /dev/usb (be clear about the device)

Nobody provides windows based installers for this.

Best

A. Mani

kumarkumar · 06-01-2008, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

Usually you get usb image files. These must be written directly to the usb disk (everything will get overwritten in this case).

Ok even if I get those image files and format the flash drive and copy the files to it, how do I make the USB flash drive bootable?

amani · 06-02-2008, 04:26 PM

The images will be bootable... you must write the image with dd
Your bios must support booting from usb that is all (change boot priority)

Best

A. Mani