Debian live USB
- Thread starter Peer
- Start date
I have not tried to make a "persistent" Debian USB, so I didn't know there was any issue or problem doing this. This link describes some special steps for doing this with Debian, but again, I have not tested these steps.
Some other distros are much easier to make a persistent USB though, especially Linux Mint and Ubuntu (but many others, I think). The trick is that you need a special program that can do this. Linux Live USB Creator, Universal USB Installer, and UNetBootin are three such programs.... you can Google to find their websites. Some other popular programs, like Rufus and Etcher, are not able to make a persistent USB.
Here is a pretty good article describing the process.
Cheers
Some other distros are much easier to make a persistent USB though, especially Linux Mint and Ubuntu (but many others, I think). The trick is that you need a special program that can do this. Linux Live USB Creator, Universal USB Installer, and UNetBootin are three such programs.... you can Google to find their websites. Some other popular programs, like Rufus and Etcher, are not able to make a persistent USB.
Here is a pretty good article describing the process.
Cheers
arochester
Well-Known Member
@Peer
I wonder if you understand.
There are 3 ways with a USB
1) Normal. This is probably what you have. This is where a LiveCD is put on a USB. It acts just like a LiveCD. When you reboot all your settings will be lost.
2) With Persistence. This involves having an extra partition. It is like having a Home. SOME things can be saved. like documents, photos and videos. They go to the Persistent partition. SOME things cannot be saved, like configurations.
3) Actual install. This is where, if your USB drive is big enough, you really install the whole thing to the Flash Drive. Here, if your USB is big enough, you can save everything.
I wonder if you understand.
There are 3 ways with a USB
1) Normal. This is probably what you have. This is where a LiveCD is put on a USB. It acts just like a LiveCD. When you reboot all your settings will be lost.
2) With Persistence. This involves having an extra partition. It is like having a Home. SOME things can be saved. like documents, photos and videos. They go to the Persistent partition. SOME things cannot be saved, like configurations.
3) Actual install. This is where, if your USB drive is big enough, you really install the whole thing to the Flash Drive. Here, if your USB is big enough, you can save everything.
I think the same topic is under discussion in another thread.
https://www.linux.org/threads/make-my-linux-portable.17878/#post-54119
https://www.linux.org/threads/make-my-linux-portable.17878/#post-54119
Morning all 
@Peer - you say you have LiLi, but did you actually enable (switch on) Persistence when you burned the stick? You would have had to choose a size for the Persistence, between 0 and 4GB.
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/help/faq/persistence
The link above is to LiLi's frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
@Peer - you say you have LiLi, but did you actually enable (switch on) Persistence when you burned the stick? You would have had to choose a size for the Persistence, between 0 and 4GB.
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/help/faq/persistence
The link above is to LiLi's frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
arochester
Well-Known Member
So, it seems that Debian may not easily allow persistence as Ubuntu and others do. It's not the fault of LiLi or Pendrive Linux... it has to do with each distribution. Many Linux distros do not allow persistence. If you insist on Debian with persistence, you'll need to check out the directions I gave you above or search out other solutions... there are other ways to do it too. I will try to follow up later and see if the link I gave you is accurate and clearly describes how to setup Debian with persistence.
Cheers
OK, I have successfully made a bootable Debian 9.4 Live USB (LXDE desktop) with persistence. The link I gave earlier (here it is again) is fairly accurate, but I had to adapt a little, so you might too. This is the same as @arochester's first link above also. Here are some notes to watch for if you decide to try it:
1. In Step 3, it describes shrinking the flash drive to create the persistence partition. I mention this first because I used Gparted in Linux to resize the USB stick, and even though it was successful... the flash drive would no longer boot up on Debian at all. So I went back into Windows and used LiLi again to install the Debian .iso on the USB drive. It may be best to prepare both partitions you will need on the USB stick before you begin. The first partition needs to be FAT32 (2 GB is enough, I used 4 GB), and the 2nd partition needs to be ext4 (I made it 8 GB, but probably won't need that much). Windows won't make an ext4 filesystem, so it's easier to use Linux for this. It is important that you label the ext4 partition as "persistence" (without quotes) or it won't work.
2. With the USB stick better prepared to begin, the other steps should mostly be okay. Just to clarify a couple more points...
In Step 4:
In Step 5:
After I stumbled through and got everything right, persistence worked fine. I changed the panel appearance, added a text file to the desktop, and installed a satellite tracking programs... everything came back after a reboot. I did have to select the deb-src repository in Synaptic Package Manager to install the new program
One last note about persistence: It will NOT do some things. You cannot upgrade the Debian system (kernel and other core components). You cannot install drivers. Although you can install/update some software... there are probably others that you cannot. It is a very handy feature, but it has limitations that may make it unsuitable for some uses.
Good luck!
1. In Step 3, it describes shrinking the flash drive to create the persistence partition. I mention this first because I used Gparted in Linux to resize the USB stick, and even though it was successful... the flash drive would no longer boot up on Debian at all. So I went back into Windows and used LiLi again to install the Debian .iso on the USB drive. It may be best to prepare both partitions you will need on the USB stick before you begin. The first partition needs to be FAT32 (2 GB is enough, I used 4 GB), and the 2nd partition needs to be ext4 (I made it 8 GB, but probably won't need that much). Windows won't make an ext4 filesystem, so it's easier to use Linux for this. It is important that you label the ext4 partition as "persistence" (without quotes) or it won't work.
2. With the USB stick better prepared to begin, the other steps should mostly be okay. Just to clarify a couple more points...
In Step 4:
Code:
sudo chown user /media/user/persistence
# Don't use sudo if you open System Tools > Root Terminal.
# You may want to use the mount command to confirm that /media/user/persistence is already mounted.In Step 5:
Code:
echo / union > persistence.conf
# Be sure there is a space between / and union. It doesn't work if you don't.After I stumbled through and got everything right, persistence worked fine. I changed the panel appearance, added a text file to the desktop, and installed a satellite tracking programs... everything came back after a reboot. I did have to select the deb-src repository in Synaptic Package Manager to install the new program
One last note about persistence: It will NOT do some things. You cannot upgrade the Debian system (kernel and other core components). You cannot install drivers. Although you can install/update some software... there are probably others that you cannot. It is a very handy feature, but it has limitations that may make it unsuitable for some uses.
Good luck!
