I recently installed Ubuntu on an USB flash drive to get some experience with it and also have a portable OS with my personal files. I used  Tutorial but when I reboot the system it resets back to how it was after the fresh installation. Do I need to use a different method to install Ubuntu on the flash drive or did I do something wrong?
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If you are hurrying to reply, System → Administration → StartUp Disk Creator -- no, that's not what I'm talking about.   I want to try Ubuntu 11.04's Unity without touching my existing Ubuntu install.  To do this, I need to install the nVidia drivers first (sigh).  To do this, I need changes to persist a reboot.  To do this, I need to really install Ubuntu on a USB key.  How do you do that?    What I tried   I tried to make a USB key from , then boot from it, then choose "Install Ubuntu." The installer refused to install to the installation media itself. I tried, from my installed copy of Ubuntu:  sudo kvm /dev/sdb --cdrom .cache/testdrive/iso/ubuntu_natty-desktop-i386.iso   ...but the installer didn't detect the disk properly.
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After considerable review of the options, I tried and failed to create a usable live Ubuntu USB with persistent storage using what seemed like "best practice" instructions at  I suspect I'm one step away from a full solution, but I need help.  I reviewed answers on AskUbuntu and other places before starting, including many responses by @C.S.Cameron and @sudodus. Answers for OS versions earlier than 18.04 are now of uncertain value for running 18.04 or later due to various issues. Hence I opted to follow the comprehensive and recent instructions at the URL above.   After following the instructions, I seem to have a USB drive formatted by mkusb as predicted. When I attempt to boot, the BIOS/UEFI process identifies the USB stick as a possible boot location, but when I select it for booting and proceed, I am returned to the same screen for choosing a boot location. For some reason, the USB stick is rejected as a viable boot option. I have tried the process 3-4 times using 2 iso images (18.04LTS and 19.10) and 2 USB sticks (Sandisk Extreme 64GB and Sandisk Cruzer Facet 16GB). Below are links to two screenshots of GParted analysis of the resulting USB sticks.
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I am wondering, when you select the option of just "Try Ubuntu" instead of installing, where does Ubuntu store the files that you download / copy / save?  I right click in the Home folder, and it specified I had 4GB free space. Where did it get this 4GB space from, and if I transition to another OS system, how can I access or delete all the previous data from the session of "Try Ubuntu"?  Thank you!
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I have installed Linux Mint and now I want to change it to Ubuntu but I have a lot of apps and information on it.  Is there any way to get Ubuntu without losing data? Or how to back up my information and apps, then install a fresh Ubuntu and copy the backup on it?
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Is there any way to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from the terminal without using any third-party applications like , , ,  etc.  I tried to create a bootable Ubuntu flash drive with dd method,  sudo umount /dev/sdb sudo dd if=/path/to/ubuntu.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M   It creates files on the USB disk, but when I try to boot the USB disk it shows an Operating System Not Found error.
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First of all: this is not a duplicate of the all the " questions.  Problem:  When booting, the system will not boot unless the installer USB flash drive is present. If I boot without the USB drive, the screen goes black AFTER GRUB lists the different configurations available - so GRUB is on the correct disk, its what it does next that seems to be the problem.  With the USB drive inserted, its access light starts flashing while the system boots in a normal manner.  And yes: I have tried booting from the USB drive directly and then I get the "live" version, so I have not installed the OS on the flash drive by mistake :)   I have tried sudo grub-install /dev/sda and sudo update-grub just for fun, but nothing changed.  System in short:  Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit. i3 processor. UEFI bios. 128Gb SSD drive. The SSD has a 47 Mb EFI partition and the rest mounted as '/' (XFS).
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I need to install Ubuntu instead of Windows 7. Can you tell me the steps to do it? I don't want to install Ubuntu alongside Windows. Any precautions needed before installing Ubuntu? How do I install Ubuntu 11.10 without losing the current data in my laptop?
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I just got a new netbook and I'm setting up operating system configuration. It came with windows 7 starter but I installed dual boot Ubuntu 12.10. I've been writing on some forums and now I don't want things from previous searches and stuff popping up in public so I'm considering a disc wipe and reinstallation of Ubuntu.  Ubuntu was installed by downloading an iso from inside Windows, then put on an usb drive and rebooted and installed alongside windows. I did not do any fancy configuration about swap spaces or partitions. When I start, I get to choose if I want to boot up as Windows or Ubuntu. It automatically chooses Ubuntu. Also, I would like to change this so that it chooses Windows by default.  My question is, is it possible to reinstall Ubuntu without having to reinstall Windows 7?  I'm not interested in a wiping of free disc space or any goverment-level confidentiality. I just want my Ubuntu partition cleared, from occasionaly peeping curious eyes, not having previously visited websites or previously written documents popping up accidentally. If I remove Ubuntu from my hard drive, and then install it again, will a lot of the stuff still be there? I really would like not to format my hard drive because I have stuff on the windows part of the system that I use.
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I have been trying for a week to install (not live cd) Ubuntu on an external drive.  I am totally new to Linux and would love to try it out. That's why I want to install it on an external drive and not dual boot.   I used two USBs, one with a live Linux system, and another to install it onto. I chose the boot location as the external hard drive when installing Linux. But when I boot the PC (without the drive inserted)  GRUB appears and stays there. However when the drive is inserted and I boot the PC GRUB appears and gives me the option to go to Ubuntu.   So it seems as if Ubuntu is installed on the USB, but something important for booting seems to be installed on the PC and therefore when I use the drive on a different PC it doesn't boot (which is the main reason I'm installing Linux).   Please help me fix this!
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I tried to use the usb-creator.exe from Ubuntu 10.10 desktop i386 ISO image and it does create an USB stick that doesn't boot. When I try to boot from it I get:     Operating System not found.   I try to do this from Windows 7 x64. I'm not looking to create a live Ubuntu media, only an installation USB disk.  I repeated the process several times and I even tried to reformat the USB drive (FAT32), no success yet.  The USB stick is a 8GB one.
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I want to make a persistent live Ubuntu USB drive with more than 4GB of storage.   I know there is an option of installing directly on the drive but I don't want to do this as it will restrict the drive from working on different computers.   One option is to make an additional partition with extra space but if I do this how can I get newly installed software to be stored on this partition?
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My company is considering the use of Ubuntu as an OS for use on a hardware device.     It would be installed on compact flash drive - apparently this is not standard flash drive but a specific type of memory that is supposed to "cope" with immediate power shutdown (I am not sure how this is achieved but they are supposedly a "high end" card).    The units that would be run using Ubuntu are the type of units that will not be gracefully shutdown - the power cable would be removed and that is that.     Can anybody give me some advice on the potential problems that can occur? Is Ubuntu a good system that can deal with this kind of power outage and reboot successfully on next startup?     I realise that nothing is unbreakable, but is it a commonly used OS for an embedded setup? Is it asking for trouble to use Ubuntu in this kind of environment?
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I need a CD or USB stick, that will install Ubuntu on a completely headless machine. Stick CD in and restart, no keyboard or screen should be involved.  There are a few obstacles:   The language selection menu when you first boot the CD. The fact that the CD menu waits. The installer's asking questions during installation.
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I have used  ever since to install different Linux versions to USB flash drive. But now with Lubuntu 12.04 even though I do the same process by selecting persistence file, it gets created but is never used in Lubuntu. Every time I boot into Lubuntu on flash, it is fresh new Lubuntu without my changes I did last time I have booted it.  Anyone can help me or give me some hints ? Thanks in advance.
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I've got a friend who wants to try Ubuntu on his netbook, but doesn't have a USB drive he can use, and of course the netbook doesn't have a CD drive. Is it possible for him to install Ubuntu?
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When I was installing Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit on my new PC from a flash drive since the only computers I have do not have disk drives, I ran into a problem.  After the ASUS logo when switching on the PC, and pressing F8 to select the USB flash drive, there was the options thing as normal that allows me to select to either boot form the flash drive or install on the HDD, when I do either of these, there is a bunch of text on a black background, as I would expect, but after a few seconds the screen goes blank and the monitor says No signal.  I have previously installed Ubuntu with a flash drive to fix issues caused my Windows and ran into no problems.  Is it a problem with the pen drive I am using? Or maybe a problem with the system? I tried it in my USB 3.0 ports at the back and the USB 2.0 ones as well.  My Specs are:   &nbsp;&nbsp;AMD Phenom II x4 965BE &nbsp;&nbsp;ASUS AMD Radeon HD 6670 &nbsp;&nbsp;ASUS M5-L75 USB3 (typing this from memory, it's an AM3+ ASUS board with USB3.0 in the AMD700 chipet or something) &nbsp;&nbsp;Corsair XMS3 DDR3 4GB(2x2GB) 1333MHz RAM    I ran the memtest program on the flash drive as well, and it came out clean.
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How can I install Ubuntu on Windows 10 as dual boot? I have a DVD with Ubuntu and when I tried to install Ubuntu I had a warning that the hard disk will be erased. How can I install Ubuntu and keep my Windows 10? Thanks