I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run (boot) on a USB Flash Drive. The actual install process works without a problem and will complete without an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR. Doing this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB disk. My partition table at this point looks like: /dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition instead of the MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if there would be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table would look like this: /dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux) /dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming out of everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this particular machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running ESXi on SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local disks for the operating system or PXE boot. I appreciate anyone's input. Tim
H. Peter Anvin
2011-Jul-28 21:21 UTC
[syslinux] Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server on a USB Flash Drive
On 07/26/2011 10:30 AM, Timothy Way wrote:> I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run (boot) on a USB > Flash Drive. > > The actual install process works without a problem and will complete without > an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR. Doing > this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB disk. My > partition table at this point looks like: > > /dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) > > I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition instead of the > MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if there would > be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table would look > like this: >Why not simply use Syslinux as the boot loader to run Ubuntu?> /dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux) > /dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) > > They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming out of > everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this particular > machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running ESXi on > SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local disks > for the operating system or PXE boot. >That should work, if you really need to go via Grub. -hpa
Peter, Thank you for the reply. I'm still going to tinker with this but I ended up finding out that my problem revolved around my machine was ancient and was booting as USB-FDD not USB-HDD. Using just 1 partition and GRUB running the normal Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS install I was able to get it all up and running without anymore issues. I'd like to eventually learn how to support some of these older BIOS modes (USB-FDD and USB-ZIP) so I could create a more universal bootable flash drive but my immediate need is now resolved. Thank you, Tim On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 4:21 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:> On 07/26/2011 10:30 AM, Timothy Way wrote: > > I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run (boot) on a > USB > > Flash Drive. > > > > The actual install process works without a problem and will complete > without > > an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR. > Doing > > this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB disk. > My > > partition table at this point looks like: > > > > /dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) > > > > I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition instead of > the > > MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if there > would > > be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table would look > > like this: > > > > Why not simply use Syslinux as the boot loader to run Ubuntu? > > > /dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux) > > /dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu) > > > > They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming out > of > > everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this particular > > machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running ESXi > on > > SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local > disks > > for the operating system or PXE boot. > > > > That should work, if you really need to go via Grub. > > -hpa > >