How To: Persistent Live LMDE USB Install

[k_2150]

I was struggling for a long time to get LMDE 201204 installed and running off a USB stick but nothing worked, not if I wanted to save my work, then I found this thread. Many thanks to the author for this very precise tutorial which I followed step by step and which works beautifully. LMDE 201204 is now installed & up and running, and yes Linux Mint Debian Edition is very fast. I'm over the moon, Cheers!

[twodogs]

We don't even allow folks to bring things they own into this house if it has any MS stuff on it (laptops, phones, etc - I know we are weird but we hold a grudge real well).

SWEET!

and you are not weird.

[slo_down]

Hello all,
i'm new here and thanks kwatson512 for this tutorial.
I see alot of you had brought your usbstick to work.

I got some problems with GPARTED. But now it works.

Hmm seems LMDE is very slow I used 1,5GB Persistent.
Is the normal LM faster? Can i use the same Tutorial?

Which i have to choose at boot : "default" or "start linux mint" or "compatibility"? Any differences?

Thanks

[twodogs]

Which i have to choose at boot : "default" or "start linux mint" or "compatibility"? Any differences?

Welcome. No differences between 'default and 'start linux mint' that I know of. 'compatibility' is for those weird times when you might have some issues (graphics etc).

Don't know about LMDE being slow. I've never experienced that and I don't run a Linux distro off a USB either.

hope this helps.

[BenBurrows]

I just tried this and it did not work.
I used a 16GB usb drive, shrunk the created initial partition to 2GB, created a new partition for the rest of the drive, formatted at ext2 with "live-rw" as the label and it boots just fine, however persistence just refuses to work. If I create a file on the desktop and reboot its gone when I come back in (I am testing as the "mint" user).
I don't know if its relevant of not but the live-rw partition seems to be mounted but I cannot create any files directly on it (maybe I am not supposed to be able to)
I edited the config file to boot with "persistent" and I checked in /var/log/syslog and I can see that it was in fact booted with that flag. I dont find any reference to "live-rw" in syslog, should I? Is there somewhere it might log the fact its looking for live-rw and cant find it / cant use it / discovered an error with it etc etc? I am a bit lost as to where to look for some detail of whats going wrong.

Thanks

[saniboy.7]

Hi,
I have done exactly what you said, but it doesn't work.
I have tried to create new user but in the following boot the user does not exist.

Can you help me ?

I have used LMDE Mate 64 bit rc and unetbootin for linux.

Thanks in advance

[saniboy.7]

No helps?

[kyeshi98]

Hi. I just have a few questions first, to make sure:
So, I was reading across some of Debian's Live Manuals, and I'm not sure, but according to the live manual, Squeeze uses the "persistent" flag and a "live-rw" partition, while Wheezy uses "persistence" and any partition with a "persistence.conf" in it. However, LMDE is semi-rolling. So, my question is, what Debian is LMDE based off of, and will this perhaps still work with the latest ones I download?

Thanks!

EDIT: I just tried doing that according to your guides. Great guide, but it doesn't *seem* to work with my USB. Might be a USB problem, or it's because the LMDE I downloaded was downloaded just today (and Wheezy/Squeeze issues). Anyways, thanks, and if you have any ideas on helping, more thanks!

[widget]

Hi. I just have a few questions first, to make sure:
So, I was reading across some of Debian's Live Manuals, and I'm not sure, but according to the live manual, Squeeze uses the "persistent" flag and a "live-rw" partition, while Wheezy uses "persistence" and any partition with a "persistence.conf" in it. However, LMDE is semi-rolling. So, my question is, what Debian is LMDE based off of, and will this perhaps still work with the latest ones I download?

Thanks!

EDIT: I just tried doing that according to your guides. Great guide, but it doesn't *seem* to work with my USB. Might be a USB problem, or it's because the LMDE I downloaded was downloaded just today (and Wheezy/Squeeze issues). Anyways, thanks, and if you have any ideas on helping, more thanks!

Wheezy is currently Debian Testing so "persistence" is the term to use.

It was change from persistent as it is more technically correct. The use of persistence was pretty new when Squeeze was Debian Testing and the term just wasn't well thought out in the work of getting it to work at all.

Jessie will be the new Debian Testing when Wheezy is released as the New Stable (Squeeze being, then, the Old Stable for one calendar year) and I am sure the same "persistence" will be used.

[saniboy.7]

Hi. I just have a few questions first, to make sure:
So, I was reading across some of Debian's Live Manuals, and I'm not sure, but according to the live manual, Squeeze uses the "persistent" flag and a "live-rw" partition, while Wheezy uses "persistence" and any partition with a "persistence.conf" in it. However, LMDE is semi-rolling. So, my question is, what Debian is LMDE based off of, and will this perhaps still work with the latest ones I download?

Thanks!

EDIT: I just tried doing that according to your guides. Great guide, but it doesn't *seem* to work with my USB. Might be a USB problem, or it's because the LMDE I downloaded was downloaded just today (and Wheezy/Squeeze issues). Anyways, thanks, and if you have any ideas on helping, more thanks!

Wheezy is currently Debian Testing so "persistence" is the term to use.

It was change from persistent as it is more technically correct. The use of persistence was pretty new when Squeeze was Debian Testing and the term just wasn't well thought out in the work of getting it to work at all.

Jessie will be the new Debian Testing when Wheezy is released as the New Stable (Squeeze being, then, the Old Stable for one calendar year) and I am sure the same
"persistence" will be used.

I don't understand.. I tried using persistence flag but doesn't work... I am not familiar with casper configuration..

[kyeshi98]

Wheezy is currently Debian Testing so "persistence" is the term to use.

It was change from persistent as it is more technically correct. The use of persistence was pretty new when Squeeze was Debian Testing and the term just wasn't well thought out in the work of getting it to work at all.

Jessie will be the new Debian Testing when Wheezy is released as the New Stable (Squeeze being, then, the Old Stable for one calendar year) and I am sure the same "persistence" will be used.

Hi! Just changing "persistent" to "persistence" doesn't work, as I have tried. I read up on the Debian Live Manual for Wheezy and have finally gotten to a working solution. First of all, I make a partition named "persistence" instead of "live-rw." In the "persistence" partition, I also have to make a file named "live-persistence.conf" with the contents "/ union" (one line only). Then, the rest follows your steps, replacing the "persistent" flag with the "persistence" flag. You *could* add that to your thread, if you want

Still, thanks for taking the time and making a tutorial like this . I personally think, though, that the developers should put a list of downloads of different LMDE builds so we know which LMDE we are downloading (Statler, Waldorf, etc.)

I don't understand.. I tried using persistence flag but doesn't work... I am not familiar with casper configuration..

Looks like you might've gotten a bit off track? I don't think LMDE uses casper (I might be wrong), but just changing "persistent" to "persistence" won't work. Try following widget's tutorial and make changes according to what I said above

[saniboy.7]

Wheezy is currently Debian Testing so "persistence" is the term to use.

It was change from persistent as it is more technically correct. The use of persistence was pretty new when Squeeze was Debian Testing and the term just wasn't well thought out in the work of getting it to work at all.

Jessie will be the new Debian Testing when Wheezy is released as the New Stable (Squeeze being, then, the Old Stable for one calendar year) and I am sure the same "persistence" will be used.

Hi! Just changing "persistent" to "persistence" doesn't work, as I have tried. I read up on the Debian Live Manual for Wheezy and have finally gotten to a working solution. First of all, I make a partition named "persistence" instead of "live-rw." In the "persistence" partition, I also have to make a file named "live-persistence.conf" with the contents "/ union" (one line only). Then, the rest follows your steps, replacing the "persistent" flag with the "persistence" flag. You *could* add that to your thread, if you want

Still, thanks for taking the time and making a tutorial like this . I personally think, though, that the developers should put a list of downloads of different LMDE builds so we know which LMDE we are downloading (Statler, Waldorf, etc.)

I don't understand.. I tried using persistence flag but doesn't work... I am not familiar with casper configuration..

Looks like you might've gotten a bit off track? I don't think LMDE uses casper (I might be wrong), but just changing "persistent" to "persistence" won't work. Try following widget's tutorial and make changes according to what I said above

kyeshi98 Thanks for you help but does not work yet...

[alexboss]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for this tutorial.

Just like for BenBurrows and saniboy.7 , I followed this tutorial step by step. I installed Linux Mint Debian 201303 Cinnamon on my USB Stick.

I can boot the USB stick and find my OS. But unfortunately it looks like there's no persistency because when I switch off the computer and boot back on the USB stick, all the changes (keyboard / proxy preferences, new user, new packages) are dropped.

That's annoying, so I'm registering to this topic if someone ever pops up with a solution !

Best regards,

Alexandre

[saniboy.7]

To be precise this method works with the version of LMDE linked in the first post, but not with the latest.

[kwatson512]

Sorry, I hadn't been following this thread lately.

I just went through the tutorial again, using kyeshi98's suggested changes, and it worked for me. Thanks, kyeshi98!

I'll go back and update the OP so this works for Mint 201303. I use Cinnamon, but I'll try to include steps for both Cinnamon and MATE.

[alexboss]

Wow, I followed the new instructions on this tutorial and it works now like a charm with Linux Mint Debian 201303 Cinnamon on my USB stick !

Thanks a lot guys for the update of this thread !

Best regards,

Alexandre