Ubuntu team developed live file-system which can be booted on system without installing the operating system on hard disk (even with persistent storage which allow you to save changes on pen drive). Most of the Linux systems incorporated this technology in their distributions which allowed people to run Linux distros on CD/DVD or pen/flash drive prior installing it on their systems. By live-booting, you can check that your system is supported by the Linux distribution and take a test drive of the operating system. BUT, how you’re going to run your favorite Linux from pen drive? So, I’m going to tell you the procedure to Boot and Run Linux from pen drive using UNetbootin.
1. Start UNetbootin.
2. You can start in any of these two ways:
(i) Choose a distribution and it’s version; and UNetbootin will automatically download it for you.
(ii) Choose an ISO file of any Linux distribution (you can download them from their respective sites). I used
Solus OS RC2
ISO file for this tutorial.
3. Choose the persistent storage size in MB so that you can save changes on your pen drive (option for persistent storage only works in Ubuntu or Ubuntu based Linux distros). Here, I kept it zero but you can choose your required size.
4. Choose the USB drive in which you want to put Linux distro. In Linux, you need to be careful while choosing the proper USB if you’ve plug-in many USB/pen drives on your system; otherwise you can lose some data on your pen drive.
5. Click OK.
6. After completing copying files, UNetbootin will install boot-loader on your pen drive and finally, it will become bootable. Click �finish’ to manually boot pen drive or �restart’ to restart your system and boot pen drive.
UNetbootin is the most simple tool to install a Linux distro in a pen drive for live-booting. And, booting off Linux distro from that pen drive is too, as simple as installing it. UNetbootin is mostly used by people because of its ease.
Ubuntu | $1.49 |
Linux Mint | $2.49 |
Debian | $2.49 |
Fedora | $1.49 |
Arch Linux | $1.49 |
Knoppix | $1.49 |
PCLinuxOS | $1.49 |
Puppy Linux | $1.49 |
OpenSUSE | $1.49 |
Kubuntu | $1.49 |