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Detailed description to make a persistent live drive

Commands for Ubuntu 19.10 and 20.04 LTS

The following commands create a persistent live drive from the hybrid iso file.

The sed and 'cloning' commands can be merged, you can re-direct sed to the target device. This is done in mkusb-minp.

(The commands

are only for checking.)

strings eoan-desktop-amd64.iso |grep 'quiet splash'  # check that 'quiet splash' is there to be replaced 
sed 's/quiet splash/persistent  /' eoan-desktop-amd64.iso > persistent-eoan-desktop-amd64.iso  # 12 char
ls -l *eoan*  # check that the size is the same
strings persistent-eoan-desktop-amd64.iso |grep 'persistent  '  # check that 'persistent  ' is there now
dus persistent-eoan-desktop-amd64.iso  # you can use any cloning tool
sudo lsblk -fm  # check the device letter of the target drive (the USB drive)
sudo fdisk /dev/sdx  # x is the device letter of the target drive, please double-check
n           # new partition
p           # primary
<Return>    # default: 3
<Return>    # default: next free sector
<Return>    # default: last addressable sector
w           # write and quit
sudo lsblk -fm  # verify that partition #3 correct for the persistent data
sudo mkfs.ext2 -L casper-rw /dev/sdx3  # put label and file system into the partition of persistence
sudo lsblk -fm  # check that things look good
sync  # flush the buffers and wait for prompt

After the sync command you can unplug the drive to test it in another computer or reboot to test it in the same computer.

Commands for Debian 10

There are slight modifications for Debian, which are implemented in mkusb-minp,

sed 's/splash quiet/persistence /;s/quiet splash/persistence /'

mkfs.ext2 -L persistence /dev/sdx3

echo '/ union' > mountpoint/of/sdx3/persistence.conf

Other code in the shellscript

There is a lot of code in mkusb-minp to

Identification tips to check if mkusb-minp might work

Normally you can use the name of the downloaded iso file, but in case it has been changed, there are some tips and tricks.

Example using a Sparky Linux iso file

'quiet splash'

grep --binary -e 'quiet splash' -e 'splash quiet' sparkylinux-5.9-x86_64-lxqt.iso

/etc/lsb-release

$ sudo mount -o loop sparkylinux-5.9-x86_64-lxqt.iso /mnt/lp1
$ sudo mount -o loop /mnt/lp1/live/filesystem.squashfs /mnt/lp2

$ grep 'DISTRIB_ID' /mnt/lp2/etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Sparky

$ grep 'DISTRIB_RELEASE' /mnt/lp2/etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_RELEASE=5.9

Tested linux distros made persistent live with mkusb-minp

The following distros are tested and mkusb-minp can make bootable USB pendrives

Main distros

Debian 10 (and Debian 8 only in BIOS mode)

Ubuntu 19.10 and newer versions

Derivatives and respins

Extix 19.10

Please notice:

So enter the letter d and press the Enter key:

 Final checkpoint 
Do you want to overwrite  /dev/sdx ? (y/N) y
mount: /tmp/tmp.4i61r8C1ty: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
 ***** Neither Ubuntu nor Debian ***** 
Try persistence according to Ubuntu or Debian or live-only? (u/d/L)? d

Kaisen Linux Rolling 2.2 RC2 System Rescue

'quiet splash' is not identified, but there are already separate menuentries for persistence.

Select persistence according to Debian because it is based on Debian 10.

 ***** Neither Ubuntu nor Debian ***** 
Try persistence according to Ubuntu or Debian or live-only? (u/d/L)? d

Kali Linux 2019.3

'quiet splash' is not identified, but there are already separate menuentries for persistence,

so mkusb-minp can create persistent live systems anyway without any tweaks. Persistence according to Debian is selected automatically.

LMDE 4

Select persistence according to Debian because it is based on Debian 10.

So enter the letter d and press the Enter key:

 Final checkpoint 
Do you want to overwrite  /dev/sdx ? (y/N) y
mount: /tmp/tmp.4i61r8C1ty: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
 ***** Neither Ubuntu nor Debian ***** 
Try persistence according to Ubuntu or Debian or live-only? (u/d/L)? d

MX Linux 19.1

mkusb cannot make a persistent live drive from an MX Linux iso file. But mkusb-plug can create a live drive with a usbdata partition with the NTFS file system. When you boot into that system, (at boot) MX Linux you can create files for persistence in that partition (or in another drive, for example internal).

Q4OS 3.9

Necessary tweak:

sed 's/quiet nosplash/quiet splash  /' q4os-3.9-x64-tde.r1.iso > q4os-3.9-x64-tde.r1-minp.iso 

Then run mkusb-minp using the modified iso file. Persistence according to Debian is selected automatically.

Rescatux 0.72-beta4

Persistence according to Debian is selected automatically.

Solyd 10

Select persistence according to Debian because it is based on Debian 10.

So enter the letter d and press the Enter key:

 Final checkpoint 
Do you want to overwrite  /dev/sdx ? (y/N) y
mount: /tmp/tmp.4i61r8C1ty: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
 ***** Neither Ubuntu nor Debian ***** 
Try persistence according to Ubuntu or Debian or live-only? (u/d/L)? d

Sparky Linux 5.9

Sparky Linux 5.11

Select persistence according to Debian because it is based on Debian 10.

Today, 2020-05-09, standard mkusb 12.4.5 (with mkusb-plug 2.6.1) is in the Sparky Linux repository. When it gets upgraded to mkusb 12.5.1 also mkusb-dus can create persistent live drives with Sparky.

Supergamer 5

Extract the iso file and checksum files from the zip file. Select persistence according to Ubuntu because it is based on Ubuntu 19.10.

So enter the letter u and press the Enter key:

Try persistence according to Ubuntu or Debian or live-only? (u/d/L)? u


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mkusb/minp/details (last edited 2022-10-25 09:00:19 by nio-wiklund)