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SLAX Linux on a Bootable USB Flash Drive
Getting SLAX and GRUB; Partitioning the USB drive.
SLAX is a lightweight version of Slackware Linux. It is fast, customizable,
and quite functional when installed on a bootable USB flash drive. This section
covers steps for preparing the flash memory device and copying system files to the
device. Though illustrating a SLAX install, the procedure works with any live
Linux distro.
Here are step-by-step instructions for manually installing Linux on a USB drive and booting with GRUB.
Supplies needed are:
- A suitable Linux distribution, such as SLAX, BackTrack,
Ubuntu, or Darn Small Linux.
- A USB flash memory stick, at least 1GB in size
(must hold OS plus your data files)
- Disc image editing software for your PC (i.e.
MagicISO for
Windows; ISOmaster
for linux.
Important: Make sure your computer's boot sequence
(in BIOS Settings) lists CD/DVD devices prior to USB
devices, and then your hard drive.
- Download the live Linux ISO file onto your hard
drive.
- Download
grubfolder.zip, unzip it, and open "menu.lst"
in a text editor. Scroll to the bottom of the file
and remove (or comment out) the title, kernel, and
boot lines for systems you don't have. For example,
if you are going to use only SLAX, delete the
Knoppix, Backtrack, and Bluewhite64 entries. Save and close the edited
file. The "grub" folder will be used in step 5.
title SLAX 6.0.8
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/slaxboot/vmlinuz vga=791 ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0
rw copy2ram autoexec=xconf;telinit~4
initrd /boot/slaxboot/initrd.gz
boot
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- For SLAX installations, obtain also the "GRUB" and
either the "GParted" or "QTParted" modules. Knoppix and
Ubuntu come with GRUB and QTParted pre-installed :-)
- For SLAX installations, use your ISO editor to place
the modules into the /slax/modules folder.
- Using your ISO editor, place the "grub" folder
(unziped) from your hard drive into the flashdrive's
"boot" folder.
- Save the edited ISO with a unique name (don't
alter the original).
- Burn the ISO onto a blank CD or DVD.
- Reboot into the newly burned live Linux disc.
- When the system is up, insert the flashdrive.
- Open a console ("Konsole" if you are using the
KDE desktop), and type "fdisk -l" and read the list
of drives and partitions. CAREFULLY IDENTIFY THE
FLASH DRIVE! In this example, it is "sdb."
- Use Gparted (or QTParted) to reformat the
flashdrive, and make it bootable. Select the FAT32
filesystem as the first or only partition if you want
compatability with computers running Windows.
If you want a separate partition for
encryption, invisibility from Windows, or other
features, set it up as a second partition after the
FAT filesystem.
Please continue to the SLAX Installation page for steps making your bootable Linux flash drive ready to run.
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