Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

You have a problem with Salix? Post here and we'll do what we can to help.
User avatar
pwatk
Posts: 474
Joined: 14. Mar 2010, 23:56
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by pwatk »

JRD wrote:This is working (and you don't need to wipe the disk to use this method). But it's not a supported method because the grub menu is not there and you should add any parameters by yourself.
I totally agree, I just find it convenient to do it this way sometimes!
Image
maninashed
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Jun 2011, 19:32

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by maninashed »

I hit the same problem as phayz.

To fix this I used fdisk (based on some instructions on pendrivelinux.com) on Ubuntu 10.10:

I. Format your USB flash drive to use a single partition:
  1. Open a terminal and type sudo su
  2. Type fdisk -l (and note which device is your USB drive)
  3. Type fdisk /dev/sdx (replacing x with your actual USB device)
  4. Type c (to switch on DOS-compatible mode)
  5. Type d (to delete the existing partition)
  6. Type n (to create a new partition)
  7. Type p (for primary partition)
  8. Type 1 (to create the first partition)
  9. Press Enter (to use the first cylinder)
  10. Press Enter again (to use the default value as the last cylinder)
  11. Type a (for active)
  12. Type 1 (to mark the first partition active "bootable")
  13. Type w (to write the changes and close fdisk)
II. Create a Fat32 filesystem on the USB flash drive:
  1. Type umount /dev/sdx1 (to unmount the mounted partition)
  2. Type mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n Salix /dev/sdx1 (to format the partition as fat32)
Hope this helps as it worked for me.
Last edited by maninashed on 14. Jun 2011, 20:25, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
JRD
Salix Warrior
Posts: 950
Joined: 7. Jun 2009, 22:52
Location: Lyon, France

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by JRD »

The step 4 is a really bad idea. Dos compatibility mode is a must have for installing grub2 on usb disk.
Image
Shador
Posts: 1295
Joined: 11. Jun 2009, 14:04
Location: Bavaria

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by Shador »

JRD wrote:The step 4 is a really bad idea. Dos compatibility mode is a must have for installing grub2 or usb disk.
It seems like 'c' enables dos compatibility mode. So it should say "to switch on dos compatibility mode"
Image
User avatar
JRD
Salix Warrior
Posts: 950
Joined: 7. Jun 2009, 22:52
Location: Lyon, France

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by JRD »

Oh ok, so that's ok.
Image
maninashed
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Jun 2011, 19:32

Re: Problem installing Live USB on a USB key

Post by maninashed »

Sorry, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out. I've updated my earlier post.

To be honest I was a bit confused by the warning from the fdisk command (which appears after step 3):

Code: Select all

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
         sectors (command 'u').
After I pressed 'c', I got the message: "DOS Compatibility flag is not set". If I then complete the formatting process, then install-on-USB.sh will work successfully.

However, if I do not press 'c' (or press it twice and get "DOS Compatibility flag is set"), then install-on-USB.sh will fail with the same error that started this thread.

Anyhow ... I'm up and running now.
Post Reply