HOWTO LiveUSB Key

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

This is the perfect project for that spare 1GB usb key you have laying dormant in your desk drawer.

[edit] purpose

The latest 2008.0 beta LiveCD iso images at just over 800MB are larger than a regular CD you may have laying around. I wanted to test to the new image some how, and the official Gentoo Linux LiveUSB HOWTO I found was not completely functional as the LiveCD's now use Grub instead of isolinux, which is expected.

You may have already read HOWTO LiveUSB. This HOWTO uses FAT16 or FAT32 as the filesystem type and format, as outlined in the official LiveUSB HOWTO. You could use EXT3, or another filesystem type with your USB key, but that is not presently within the scope of this guide.

[edit] instructions

Not a lot changes really so you should read the Gentoo Linux LiveUSB HOWTO to better familiarize yourself with the process.

[edit] partitioning

This guide assumes you're using a drive smaller than 4GB. If your key is 4GB or larger, use partition type b (W95 FAT32) otherwise use type 6 (FAT16).

 fdisk -l /dev/sdc
 Disk /dev/sdc: 2063 MB, 2063597056 bytes
 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 250 cylinders
 Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
 /dev/sdc1   *           1         250     2008124+   6  FAT16

[edit] file system

Create a FAT 16 file system.

 mkdosfs -F 16 /dev/sdc1

[edit] master boot record

Copy over the mbr image.

 dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdc

[edit] mounting iso

You will need to have one of the 2008.0 beta2 iso images which you can find from in the Gentoo mirrors.

 mkdir -p /mnt/cdrom
 mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 livecd-i686-installer-2008.0_beta2.iso /mnt/cdrom

[edit] mounting usb key

 mkdir -p /mnt/usb
 mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb

[edit] copying files

Now the order here is important, otherwise you will loose the menu.lst from the iso.

Copy over your local grub files.

 cp -a /boot/grub /mnt/usb/boot

Copy over the files from your iso.

 cp -rv /mnt/cdrom/* /mnt/usb

sync;sync your filesystems.

[edit] unmount iso

 umount /mnt/cdrom

[edit] unmount usb key

 umount /mnt/usb

[edit] installing grub

 grub-install /dev/sdc1
 grub
 grub> root (hd1,0)
 grub> setup (hd1)
  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
  Checking if "/boot/grub/fat_stage1_5" exists... yes
  Running "embed /boot/grub/fat_stage1_5 (hd1)"...  16 sectors are embedded.
   succeeded
  Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1) (hd1)1+16 p (hd1,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
  Done.

[edit] done

That's it. Now you should have a bootable USB key running the latest Gentoo LiveCD environment, which allows you to easily install your favorite operating system just about anywhere.

[edit] resources

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/grub-error-guide.xml

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml