Create a Bootable USB Drive for Linux or Troubleshooting

There are two good reasons to create and use a bootable USB stick.  One is to play with different Linux distros on any compatible PC.  The other is to build a custom USB stick with bootable versions of popular rescue tools such as "System Rescue CD", "Trinity Rescue CD", or "Kaspersky Anti-Virus Rescue CD".

You can use a tool like Yumi or Unetbootin to create a USB stick that will boot.  Both are free and open source.
Yumi will even let you install multiple ISO images on it and will then provide a boot menu so you can select which one you want to boot.  Yumi also has links to download various rescue ISOs and also many Linux distros.  I prefer Yumi over Unetbootin.

I have also used a portable USB hard drive with Yumi and it works GREAT!  Yumi on a portable hard drive is a reasonable alternative to running Virtualbox to try out different Linux distros.

The only issue with Yumi is if you really need persistence.  "Persistence" means that you can make changes to your Linux install (add apps, etc.) and it will save the changes to the USB drive. If you have persistence; the next time you boot that OS the changes will still be there.  While the Yumi site states that you can do that, I could not get it to work.  The LinuxLiveUSB utility however does allow you to have persistence, but it is not "multiboot".  This means that it only allows one OS per USB device.

Booting a Linux distro on any computer depends on the PC's hardware configuration, especially the video specs. There are many blogs about how to work around video issues of older hardware, especially older Laptop Nvidia and Radeon GPU's.  If you get a black screen, or have other issues running Linux on your PC see the links below.

Also newer Windows 8/10 PCs typically have UEFI "secure boot" enabled, which prevents booting  from an external device until you go into Windows advanced configuration to change it.  Here is a blog post on how to disable it in Windows 8.

Below are some links to creation utilities and articles.

DISCLAIMER:  If you are in a course that requires the use of VirtualBox, this cannot be a substitute for that.  However it is a great way to try out and use "portable" OS's on any compatible hardware without installing anything on the PC's disk... 

 

Bootable USB Drive Creation Tools & Guides

• Link to Unetbootin Bootable USB Stick Creation Utility
• Link to Yumi Multiboot USB Stick Creation Utility
• Link to LinuxLiveUSB Creation Utility (boots a single OS with persistence)
• 4 Ways to Create Live Bootable USB Drives (Article)
• Guide on Creating a Bootable USB Stick with Yumi and Add Portable Apps 
• Video on Using Yumi 
• Video on Using Unetbootin to Boot Linux from a USB Stick
• Blog Post on UEFI & Secure Boot
• Links to Popular Troubleshooting Tools

 

Add a "Portable App" Platform to Your New Bootable USB or any USB Stick

Now that you have a cool multiboot USB stick, why not add some cool portable apps to it?

This is what I use when I am not booting directly to the USB drive, and it gives you a “sort-of” start menu style interface for the USB flash drive.  You can then install all kinds of portable apps from their repository, or even add your own.   Go to the portable apps site to learn more.