[conspire] Live Distro on USB

[Paul Zander]

Yet another update. I have narrowed the problem further.


I had been using a desktop computer to write the USB drives and testing them on a laptop.  My very first attempt was a success. So I thought I should try assorted live files, and decide what I would install, but it turned out to be more complicated.

After buying more USB drives (naturally the store had different ones in stock) and finding different .iso files to try, I could not get the new drives to work. 


Well the problem is related to the laptop (probably the BIOS.) The very first .iso I tried for LinuxMint 17.1 will boot on the laptop from several different USB drives.  No other live images.  This includes Mint 17.3


BUT the live images will boot on from the desktop computer.

Guess I will need to bring the laptop to CABAL and get assistance.  For reference, the contents of different live drives are quite different.


List of Mint 17.1  This is the one that works.

~$ ls -l /dev/sdh*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 112 Feb 23 17:26 /dev/sdh
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 113 Feb 23 17:26 /dev/sdh1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 114 Feb 23 17:26 /dev/sdh2
~$ sudo mount /dev/sdh1 /mnt
mount: block device /dev/sdh1 is write-protected, mounting read-only
~$ ls -l /mnt
total 42
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 boot
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 casper
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 dists
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 EFI
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  8192 Nov 26  2014 isolinux
-r--r--r-- 1 paulz paulz 21147 Nov 26  2014 MD5SUMS
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 pool
dr-xr-xr-x 1 paulz paulz  2048 Nov 26  2014 preseed
-r--r--r-- 1 paulz paulz   224 Nov 26  2014 README.diskdefines

~$ ls -l /mnt/EFI/BOOT
total 2238
-r--r--r-- 1 paulz paulz 1357480 Oct 21  2013 BOOTx64.EFI
-r--r--r-- 1 paulz paulz  933752 Oct 21  2013 grubx64.efi

When inserted into PC running windows, the file manager shows only the dir named EFI.

--------------------
The following is from debian live:
~$ ls -l /dev/sdh*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 112 Feb 23 16:26 /dev/sdh
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 113 Feb 23 16:26 /dev/sdh1

~$ sudo mount /dev/sdh1 /mnt
mount: block device /dev/sdh1 is write-protected, mounting read-only

~$ ls -l /mnt
total 586
-r--r--r-- 1 root root    133 Sep  8 13:52 autorun.inf
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root      1 Sep  8 13:42 debian -> .
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:42 dists
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 180335 Sep  8 13:52 g2ldr
-r--r--r-- 1 root root   8192 Sep  8 13:52 g2ldr.mbr
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:52 install
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:51 isolinux
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:51 live
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  28165 Sep  8 13:53 md5sum.txt
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:42 pool
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 368480 Sep  8 13:52 setup.exe
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 Sep  8 13:52 tools
-r--r--r-- 1 root root    228 Sep  8 13:52 win32-loader.ini

When this is put into the laptop running Windows, there is a message that it must be formatted.


________________________________
From: Paul Zander <paulz at ieee.org>
To: "conspire at linuxmafia.com" <conspire at linuxmafia.com> 
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2016 9:06 PM
Subject: Live Distro on USB


I previously posted an item about some USB drives not working with live iso files.  Upon further investigation, I have concluded that the problem is not the USB drive, but certain iso files.