Showing posts with label bootable usb stick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bootable usb stick. Show all posts

17 March 2013

361. Installing Debian on a USB stick (from a running Debian system)

Post 70 (Installing Debian on a USB stick -- live usb vs a true and full installation) is receiving a lot of traffic. While the method of installing debian used there -- using virtualbox -- works, it is slow and unnecessarily complex.

A better, faster and easier way is to use a chroot. Sure, it's a bit more command line oriented, but that doesn't necessarily make it harder.
You'll need an empty USB stick. Some sticks are faster than others, but they are all slower than spinning disks, and a lot slower than SSDs (never tried a USB3 stick though).

1. Prepare the USB stick
Attach the USB stick to a computer with Debian. Find out what device it is (do ls /dev/sd* before and after attaching the stick, and if it automounts, you can also check the output of df -h). In this case we'll assume that it's /dev/sdb.


sudo apt-get install util-linux e2fsprogs
sudo umount /dev/sdb*
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x209d6329.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 4051 MB, 4051697664 bytes
125 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders, total 7913472 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x209d6329

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
   e   extended
Select (default p): 
Using default response p
Partition number (1-4, default 1): 
Using default value 1
First sector (2048-7913471, default 2048): 
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-7913471, default 7913471): 
Using default value 7913471

Command (m for help): a                                                                               
Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

It really is that simple to set up the partition table. o wipes the previous table, n creates a new partition, and a makes it bootable. w writes the changes. Now prepare the file system:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.42.5 (29-Jul-2012) Filesystem label= OS type: Linux Block size=4096 (log=2) Fragment size=4096 (log=2) Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks 247504 inodes, 988928 blocks 49446 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=0 Maximum filesystem blocks=1015021568 31 block groups 32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group 7984 inodes per group Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (16384 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
2. Mount and bootstrap the USB stick

Note that you can change between i386 and amd64, testing and stable and different mirrors, by editing the debootstrap line below. I'd recommend i386 since it will run on 64 bit machines as well, which is useful if you're traveling.

sudo apt-get install debootstrap coreutils
mkdir ~/tmp/usbstick -p
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 ~/tmp/usbstick
sudo debootstrap --arch i386 testing $HOME/tmp/usbstick http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/
I: Retrieving InRelease I: Checking Release signature I: Valid Release signature (key id 9FED2BCBDCD29CDF762678CBAED4B06F473041FA) I: Retrieving Packages [..] I: Configuring tasksel... I: Configuring tasksel-data... I: Base system installed successfully.

sudo mount -t proc none $HOME/tmp/usbstick/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys $HOME/tmp/usbstick/sys
sudo mount --bind /dev $HOME/tmp/usbstick/dev
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf $HOME/tmp/usbstick/resolv.conf
sudo chroot $HOME/tmp/usbstick/

3. Basic setup

Edit the sources.list line as needed. The key is to enable non-free so you can install all the non-free firmware so that youre prepared for most types of hardware.

rm /etc/apt/sources.list
echo 'deb  http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get install locales sudo vim
echo 'export LC_ALL="C"'>>/etc/bash.bashrc
echo 'export LANG="C"'>>/etc/bash.bashrc
echo '127.0.0.1 usbstick >> /etc/hosts'
source /etc/bash.bashrc
useradd -m traveller
passwd traveller
usermod -G sudo -a traveller

If you're going to travel with this, you may want to install AIDE to make sure that you're executables haven't been changed (you can also use tripwire). Of course, if anyone has the ability to regenerate the database, then this won't help you.
apt-get install aide

You will have to wait with generating the database until you're properly booted from the USB stick.

4. Make the usbstick bootable
Make sure to install grub to /dev/sdb so that you don't mess up your desktop.

grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab
sudo apt-get install grub-pc linux-base linux-image-3.2.0-4-686-pae


You need to set up your /etc/fstab:
blkid /dev/sdb1 -o export|head -n 1 > /etc/fstab

Edit /etc/fstab (your UUID will vary):
UUID=24056f3d-d0c5-4297-adc4-40b2d2007412       /       ext4    errors=remount-ro,user_xattr    0 1

Run
update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-686-pae Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-4-686-pae done

At this point you've used ca 559 Mb.

5. Installing command line tools
The following installs a curses-based network connection manager, a mail program, a chat program and a browser. All of them work in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install wicd-curses mutt mcabber elinks rcconf

You've now used ca 670 Mb.

To set up Mutt and Mcabber, see here: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/configuring-mutt-for-two-imap-accounts.html
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/linux-basics-google-talk-using-gajim-or.html

6. Installing a desktop
This is luckily very easy. The bad thing is that USB sticks are very slow, so starting a heavy desktop from a USB stick is going to lead to long boot times.

To install gnome (2340 Mb) do
sudo apt-get install gnome rcconf

To install lxde (523 Mb) do
sudo apt-get install lxde rcconf

and to install xfce (457 Mb) do
sudo apt-get install xfce4 rcconf

We installed rcconf to prevent network-manager to start if it has been installed:
Run
rcconf
And unstar whatever you don't want to launch at boot.
To reduce boot times, edit /etc/default/grub and change to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet text"
Run
update-grub

You will now have to start whatever desktop you installed manually by running
startx

from the command line i.e. you only start the desktop if you really need it.

Clean your cache to free up some space:

apt-get clean

With xfce4 and cleaning, you've now used a total of 951 Mb.

7. Pull in some extra firmware
In case you'll be using this usb stick on random computers you might want to pull in as many different firmware as you can stomach:
apt-get install firmware-atheros firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink firmware-realtek

And so on.
You might also want to install programs such as clamav , but that's your business.

8. Unmounting your usbstick
Once you've installed everything you need:
exit
sudo umount $HOME/tmp/usbstick/sys
sudo umount $HOME/tmp/usbstick/dev
sudo umount $HOME/tmp/usbstick/proc
sudo umount $HOME/tmp/usbstick/

Now you should be able to boot from the USB stick on any computer that supports boot from USB -- and that would be most boxes made in the past five years or so.

Done.


Note that you can generate initramfs manually in debian using
sudo mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-VER -v VER

where VER e.g. 3.8.0 or 3.2.0-4-amd64 -- the name should be consistent with the vmlinuz, config and system.map suffixes.

Links to this post:
http://atomowki.net/dokuwiki/doku.php
http://andrewgudgel.com/cl-debian-usb.htm

20 February 2012

70. Installing Debian on a USB stick -- live usb vs a true and full installation

Update 17 March 2013: See this post for a faster, better way of creating a full install if you're already running Debian.

Original post:
Every now and again I get posts like this one, or this one, via google news. While those posts --describing the use of unetbootin to create a 'live' USB analogue to a live CD -- may be technically correct, there's just so much more you can do.

In 1  we do the old boring bog-standard 'write live cd to a usb' thingy that you see pasted all over the web, but using cat instead of unetbootin.
In 2  we make a real, bootable installation on a usb drive.



1.  Creating a USB version of a live CD -- the boring option
With the current 'hybrid' Debian iso's it couldn't be easier.
THIS WILL WIPE YOUR USB STICK

 --- START HERE ---

a. Download the iso
Using jigdo is a good option. Downloading a business-card/netinstall iso is another, if you'll have a working internet connection available.

b. Plug in and mount your USB device and  find out the device name of your USB drive.
If it's mounted you can use
df -h
rootfs                                                   93G   36G   54G  40% /
udev                                                    3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs                                                   801M  980K  800M   1% /run
/dev/disk/by-uuid/..-10a350f85687   93G   36G   54G  40% /
tmpfs                                                   5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                                                   1.6G   52K  1.6G   1% /tmp
tmpfs                                                   1.6G  816K  1.6G   1% /run/shm
/dev/sda6                                               745G  183G  525G  26% /home
/dev/sdc1                                               2.0G  434M  1.5G  23% /media/XP-KOMKU

or

mount
../dev/sdc1 on /media/XP-KOMKU type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0077,codepage=cp437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks)



to list mounted devices. In my case it's an old 2 G usb stick I used to create a Windows XP installation USB device on.

If you prefer a gui tool, start palimpsest (called Disk Utility in gnome)
It will be something akin to sdb1 or sdc1 etc. That means the device name is /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc, respectively. In our case, it's sdc.

c. Unmount but don't detach the device
You don't want anything else writing to it.

me@beryllium:~/Documents/screengrabs$ umount /dev/sdc1
me@beryllium:~/Documents/screengrabs$ df -h
Filesystem                                              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
rootfs                                                   93G   36G   54G  40% /
udev                                                    3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs                                                   801M  976K  800M   1% /run
/dev/disk/by-uuid/..-10a350f85687   93G   36G   54G  40% /
tmpfs                                                   5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                                                   1.6G   60K  1.6G   1% /tmp
tmpfs                                                   1.6G  820K  1.6G   1% /run/shm
/dev/sda6                                               745G  183G  525G  26% /home
d. Become root and use cat to write the iso to the USB device

sudo su

And write (assuming that the device name is sdc and you are using the businesscard iso)

cat debian-6.0.3-amd64-businesscard.iso > /dev/sdc

Done.

e. boot from your USB drive and go through the same steps as for a CD.  
Plug it in, then start your computer. Hit F12 (or F10 or del or F2) during the bios start-up to select boot medium. Choose to boot from usb. Older BIOSes can't boot from USB.



2. Really INSTALLING Debian on a USB
You can use either virtualbox or quemu for this. Here I show how to use virtualbox.

[NOTE: there's a leaner, faster, better way described here: http://verahill.blogspot.com/2013/03/361-installing-debian-on-usb-stick-from.html ]

  •  Note that a tiny 2 Gb USB stick isn't suitable for a full Debian + Gnome installation. It may, however, work well with e.g. openbox and xmonad. Or just work in the terminal -- use mutt for email, mcabber for chat, elinks for http/www etc.
  • Here I show how to install using the businesscard iso, but I've done this with the regular Debian DVD version in the past.
  • Also, few USB devices operate at 480 Mbps -- so be prepared that installation via virtualbox onto a USB device will take considerably longer than a regular installation.
  • Solid state devices degrade with I/O, so use your USB stick for back-up use during e.g. travel etc. Don't trust the integrity of it. 


There are a few good reasons for installing a full linux version on a thumb drive or a regular but external harddrive:
*  a thumb drive will allow you too carry an independent OS with you, allowing you to e.g. temporarily borrow a computer from a friend but running your own system. An installation, as opposed to a 'live cd', allows you to customise the setup and install programs. USB 2 is quite slow, and many thumb drives are slower than that, so you're probably better off running a light system than a full on gnome-shell desktop. That's not so say that you can't -- I have.
* installing onto a usb-connected harddrive will allow you to setup and prepare headless boxes or systems without a direct internet connection.

First you need to install virtualbox, which is available in the debian repos (sudo apt-get install virtualbox virtualbox-guest-additions), and -- in order to enable USB 2 support --  the "VirtualBox 4.1.8 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Start virtualbox and go to  File/Preferences/Extensions to install the extension pack you downloaded.

 --- START HERE ---

Installing debian (or any os) on an external USB stick/drive using virtualbox
a. Start virtualbox and click on New.

b. Click through the Name, Operating System and Version questions, Select a memory size which is reasonable for the intended use and target machine. Give it at least 256 Mb. Don't fret about this step -- on each boot your system will autodetect the amount of available RAM. The next question is the key to the whole undertaking: DO NOT SET A START-UP DISK (or any virtual harddisk)

In the next dialogue box you'll be asked if you want to continue or go back - yes, you want to continue.

c. Your new machine is now ready to be set up. Select it and click on settings; Got to storage, IDE controller and choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file. Select the debian installation iso.

d. Next click on USB, enable USB 2 controller, and add a filter for your device by e.g. hitting alt+insert and selecting it from the list.


e. You're ready to install! Start the virtual machine, and the installation should start without you having to select boot device. Most of the setting are the same as in any normal install. Pay attention when you come to the Partition Disk dialogue though. Make sure that you're not doing something silly and accidentally deleting something you shouldn't be a-deleting, even though the risks of that are very slim.

Delete the existing partitions and create a new one. I added a tiny swap space too, hoping that this will make the difference between a freeze and a slow crawl on underpowered systems.
f. Continue with the installation as normal.



g. Postscript:
* /dev/sda1 vs UUID. Once you're done with the installation  and have shut down your virtualbox, mount the USB drive as a normal thumb drive and have a look at fstab in particular -- if you're using relative paths (e.g. sda) instead of absolute paths using UUID, you may run into problems at some point.




In the screengrab you see that

# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=8c0c9c98-e73f-4f5a-b7d7-f91f95c9d8ca /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1

Which means we're good.

You may want to comment out
/dev/sda1       /media/usb0     auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/sda2       /media/usb1     auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/sda5       /media/usb2     auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0

But I haven't in the past and all has been good.

* network interfaces -- you may find that no network interface is configured for you and that no interface shows up when you use ifconfig. Use ip addr to get a list over interfaces. If the interface is e.g. eth2, you may  want to edit /etc/network/interfaces and add

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcp

or (the ip's are just examples)

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet static
address 192.168.1.100
gateway 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0

And then run sudo service networking restart

That's it. You now have a full installation on either a 'removable' drive or on an HDD which you can install in a desktop/laptop.


Links to this page:
http://vk.com/topic-50603_27808581
http://forum.debian.org.tr/arsiv-konu-391.0-debian-live-usb.html
http://alsamixer.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/installing-debian/
http://cv.uoc.edu/app/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3511&t=20897
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1208228&p=13936928