Installing 3.4 to USB flash drive

[phil66]

I downloaded Linux-lite 3.4-32bit.iso to my 2.8 program
I then downloaded the iso to the usb flash drive
I installed the usb flash drive to my laptop and it opened the 3.4 program
I was able to make changes to the program which included updating the files.

At the end of the update program it suggested I reboot to correctly install all files
I rebooted the system but all changed I had made were now lost
I am still able to boot the system from the 16gb usb drive

How do I get the changes to download to the usb drive so I will have a live usb

[torreydale]

Consider the Install Guide for Linux Lite 3.4 at www.freecinema2022.gq/manual.

[phil66]

I have read and followed the one article and used the terminal to add the commands listed
I did all of this prior to asking for help
Have you any other suggestions

I am familiar with installing lINUX-LITE to hard drives as I have used since 1.8 and now 2.8
I wish to run 3.4 from a usb drive and not dual boot with Ubuntu 16.04.2

[Daveyboy]

Only last week a friend gave me a perfectly good laptop that he was going to throw out because had removed the hard drive (faulty) from it so I installed LL3.4 on to a Sandisk micro USB 3 drive and it now runs exclusively from the USB drive and works like a dream.
These are the steps I took :-
(1)  Downloaded LL3.4 ISO and burnt to DVD
(2)  Reformatted & partitioned the USB Drive using synaptic as follows :-  Partition One approx 28gb as Ext4    Parition Two approx 4gb as swapfile
(3)  Run DVD and installed LL3.4 to USB and it automatically recognised both partitions and overwrote them but maintained the partition structure
(4)  Rebooted from USB once installation completed and then run install updates followed by restricted extras and chromium
(5)  Rebooted to double check that everything had been retained on reboot and happy to report that all is well with the world.


End result - Laptop destined for landfill, was repurposed using a 32gb USB Pendrive and an hours tinkering.


I hope this helps you in your quest

[phil66]

Thanks for the reply
I am able to install wifi and surf the net etc
I do not feel there is a iso problem

All correspondents say that Linux-lite is friendly and easy
Every other version I have used which some were usb install some harddrive install and even a upgrade install
All went as the install menu stated

I do not understand why 3.4 will not save revisions

[Daveyboy]

If I'm understanding your original description correctly, you just copied the ISO from your hard drive to the USB Pen Drive,which is not the same as installing LL3.4 to the Pen Drive and therefore all changes will be lost once you reboot.

Your wi-fi, likely as not, is recognised automatically by the ISO each time you boot with the USB Drive and this is why you are able to surf the net.
That is why I detailed my sucessful solution for creating exactly what you are looking to achieve.

[gold_finger]

Unless the "live" USB was made with a persistence file the changes made will only last during the current boot session.  Every reboot will start fresh again and nothing you changed/saved/installed during the last session will be there.  Sounds like you just have a normal "live" USB without persistence, which is why nothing gets saved.


You have two options:

1. Use UNetBootin to make the USB and tell the program to create a 4GB persistence file.  That's easy to do and you'll see the line(s) asking about that during the install to USB.  Just tick the box saying you want to use persistence and fill in 4096MB for the size of it, (which is the max. size it will allow).  Note:  this will result in most of the 16GB USB stick being unused -- it will use only the size of the ISO file plus the 4GB persistence file.  Also, running system updates on a live USB may not always work well -- at least that's been my experience, but I haven't tried doing that in years so I could be wrong on this.
   
2. Do as Daveyboy suggested and perform a full installation to the USB stick (like you would to a hard drive) instead of making a "live" USB.  I lean in favor of this myself, especially if you plan to run updates frequently and if you're planning to use the USB primarily on one computer.  To do a full install you'll need a live USB/DVD to install with and a 16GB or larger USB stick to install to.  Boot the live USB/DVD, plug in the USB you plan to install to, then use GParted to create install partitions on it.  For the 16GB USB, I'd make one 15GB ext4 partition and one 1GB Swap partition.  Once that's done, close GParted and start the installer.  Direct installer to use the 15GB partition you made and set it as the root partition with the mount point noted as "/".  Also, make sure to tell the installer to put the Grub boot loader on that USB stick as well, otherwise it will automatically put it on the hard drive of the computer you're using during installation.  (You don't want that to happen!)
   

If you decide to do the full install vs. live with persistence and are not sure about any of instructions above, post back and ask for more details.

[phil66]

I am trying to use unetbootin

I can fill in the iso with linux-lite
I can fill in the 4906 persistence blank
The usb shows the sdb1 partition which was formatted to fat 32

The program says i have to fill out the distibution
It does not have Linux-lite listed

If I leave it blank it continues to warn about filling it out.

Any work around to this error

[gold_finger]

UNetBootin's interface lets you either select a "Distribution" from the menu (button near top left) that it will download for you before making the live USB, or select a "Diskimage" (button near bottom left).  Assuming you have already downloaded the Linux Lite ISO file, you need to click on "Diskimage" button, then navigate to where you have the ISO file using the "..." button located to the far right of "Diskimage" button.  (Linux Lite is apparently not one of the ones they will download for you, so don't use the "Distribution" button.)

[phil66]

Now on Linux-Lite-3.4 from 16gb usb drive
One change to unetbootin had to copy and paste linux-lite iso

All systems working including persistence

Easy install after understanding what had to be done correctly

Thanks for the info and help

Ray