Boot Ubuntu from USB

2018-05-21 Created by Adam Lu

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• Boot from USB - Attempt #1:

  • Downloaded an image file for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server Install (ubuntu-18.04-live-server-amd64.iso) from the Ubuntu Release Site
  • Burned it to a DVD using Windows click-and-drag, but fishfish failed to detect the DVD with either USB ports
  • Followed the instructions here to create a bootable USB drive from Windows (basically, use Rufus). fishfish successfully detected the USB drive but was not able to boot from the USB drive

• Boot from USB - Attempt #2:

  • Downloaded an image file for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop Image (ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso) from the Ubuntu Release Site
  • Copied the contents of the image file to the USB drive.
  • Followed the instructions here to create a bootable USB drive from Windows (basically, use Rufus). fishfish successfully detected the USB drive but was not able to boot from the USB drive

• Boot from USB - Attempt #3:

  • Downloaded an image file for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop Image (ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso) from the Ubuntu Release Site. This is saved in /media/shareX/Software
  • Mounted a USB drive that will be formatted (needed sudo).
  • Formatted the USB drive using with Disks
    • Additional partition options -> Format partition
    • Chose “Don’t overwrite existing data” & “Compatible with all systems and devices (FAT)”.
  • Followed the instructions here to create a bootable USB drive from Ubuntu (basically, use the Startup Disk Creator). However, it failed

• Boot from USB - Attempt #4

  • Followed the instructions here to download the mkusb utility

    # This line is only needed for standard Ubuntu:
    sudo add-apt-repository universe
        
    # Stable PPA for regular usage
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa
        
    # Update repository list
    sudo apt-get update
        
    # Install mkusb and mkusb-nox
    sudo apt-get install mkusb mkusb-nox
        
    # For persistent live drives that work in UEFI and BIOS mode with 32-bit iso files
    sudo apt-get install usb-pack-efi
    

  • Typed mkusb and followed the instructions to create a bootable USB drive. Still failed.

• Boot from USB - Attempt #5

  • Reformatted the USB drive with FAT32 and used dd to copy the image file:

    sudo dd bs=4M if=/home/adam/Downloads/ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdm conv=fdatasync
    

    Still failed.

• Boot from USB - Attempt #6

  • Mark tried UNetBootin and it worked!