Install debian onto usb

Or you can create a the whole system in your USB. The way I did that was installing Debian on a machine I think you can't install directly to a USB if you can then that is the way to go, otherwise keep reading. I have installed debian 8 jessie onto a usb drive. Here's the trick: use the installation media cd, dvd, thumbdrive, whatever to start your 'debian install.

THEN, insert your thumb drive that you want debian installed to in the machine, choose 'go back' a step in the installer, then 'partition disks' again. Inserting the thumbdrive late in the installation process like this will make the thumbdrive available to the installer. Debian installer will again scan for disks at this point and recognize the thumbdrive as unmounted, which is what we want.

I think I should have went without a swap file, the laptop already has a Gig of ram and that ought to be enough by itself. The good news is, just as planned, I can move this thumbdrive between computers and boot up my maintained operating system. It's "portable. And while booting the os choose the USB pen drive as a booting media. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How to install Debian onto a flashdrive Ask Question. First, boot Linux OS Lubuntu Live session of Lubuntu Installer welcome screen will appear, select Language there and hit Continue.

Select Wifi internet if you want to update Lubuntu while installation. I will skip it. Select Installation Type and Third-party installation as per your choice and go to next.. If you have skipped step 2, you can also make partitions in this window. And as shown in the second red square select bootloader installation device as the Main USB drive. This is the most important step in this tutorial.

If it is not done correctly your system will boot only on the current PC you are using, which is exactly opposite of your motivation to follow this tutorial. Once it is completed, double-check it and hit continue.

You will get a small window showing devices and drive which will be affected. Hit continue …. Now select your Region and hit Continue …. After completing installation hit restart and remove your installation media and press Enter. Congratulations, you have successfully installed your own Linux OS on your pen drive to use it on any PC.

Just boot your system on any PC and start customizing. You can install any software you want. You can change Themes, Icon themes, install docker. You can add and store your online accounts on it. All the changes will be permanent. They will not change or reset after rebooting or booting on other PCs. The main advantage of this method is you can use your personal stuff, your online accounts securely on any PC.

You can even do secure online transactions as well on any available PC. The first method describes how to install Debian via a CD and the second method explains how to install Debian via a flash drive. When we install any operating system such as Debian, it clears all pre-available data, and hence it is important to take a backup. We must store all important data from the computer to a removable media such as DVD, flash drive, memory chip, external hard disk, etc.

As a next step, we need to connect to the internet and browse to Debian website to download the necessary files for installation.

To make this step happen, we must have an internet connection. Depending upon the internet speed, it may take up several minutes to download the files as the size is quite high. If you already have a DVD with Debian image available on it, then you can skip this step.

From the website, we need to install a Debian installation image appropriate for our use. This can be done through a few simple clicks, and then we can see a pop-up window where the download gets started. As mentioned above, depending upon the internet speed, it may take some time to finish the installation.

We can find two different versions of the Debian image — one for bit architecture and another for 64 bits. Depending upon the computer you have, you should pick either 32 bit or 64 bits. We shall use this software in the next step while starting with the actual installation. Burning of DVD should be straightforward. Just right-click on the downloaded software and select the option burn to the disk. After a couple of clicks, it should be done.

While it restarts, you can get a message asking if you want to boot from the drive. Select yes. A Debian installation wizard will pop up, and it will explain the various steps that need to be followed. Debian also includes an additional option that allows you to run the operating system from the CD or DVD without overwriting any information, and this option is called Debian Live.