A different USB boot problem

[ddalley]

So far, after reading a few posts about booting from USB, I haven't found a similar boot problem to mine.

Normally, I just install Linux to USB mem-sticks as if they were hard drives, but lately, this has not worked out well. The latest LMDE RC, for example, also doesn't boot after installing using either the "normal" install method or when UNetbootin.

When I reboot after installation is done, the computer goes straight to booting Windows, so I checked the BIOS and the boot order is still correct. I used Boot-Repair to fix the MBR and to reinstall GRUB onto the mem-stick, just to be sure, and nothing changed. It's as if the memory stick does not exist. So I have used different mem-sticks. No deal. I've tried other distros. No deal.

I have no idea why this is happening. Can anyone else think of something to get it working?

[catweazel]

When I reboot after installation is done, the computer goes straight to booting Windows, so I checked the BIOS and the boot order is still correct. I used Boot-Repair to fix the MBR and to reinstall GRUB onto the mem-stick, just to be sure, and nothing changed. It's as if the memory stick does not exist. So I have used different mem-sticks. No deal. I've tried other distros. No deal.

It's not the MBR on the memory stick that needs GRuB fixed.

Your post is devoid of sufficient information to give you accurate instructions. People need to know your drive configuration, if it's one drive or more, what drive you are installing to, and what your partition setup is. That said, you'll have to decipher these general instructions to suit your setup. I'm not coming back to explain it all over again.

Do another installl, then assuming you've created a / and /home on drive /dev/sdX, you would have a /dev/sdX1 and a /dev/sdX2 partition. You are probably trying to install GRub to /dev/sdx1; this is wrong. Install it to /dev/sdX, where X is whatever letter has been assigned to the drive you are trying to install on. When the computer boots, press whatever key combination is required to get the boot menu and boot from drive /dev/sdX. If you don't know how to get the boot menu, read the manual. Failing that, set the disk that is represented by /dev/sdX as the boot drive in BIOS.

If you've already done that, well, that's what happens without detail.

[ddalley]

It seems the installer is not setting up a boot partition. At least after I set the installer to do so, when I checked later, it wasn't set. So far, it has happened three times this way.

It's too late to deal with this now, so I will try to tackle this more after I get some sleep.

[catweazel]

It seems the installer is not setting up a boot partition.

Then don't setup a boot partition.

[ddalley]

I guess I should have been more precise, but it was late. What I meant was the installer is not doing what I tell it to do for designating / and /home. I set it for the two partitions, but after installing, they aren't specified.

There probably is a way of manually setting on the stick as it is now, but I haven't looked into that yet.

[nomoneyforbeer]

I used this and it appears to work, though I have not tried using it for anything other than an install.

I have supposedly installed Mint on some free space I made on the windows 7 hard drive (I had windows 8 but crashed it trying to do a similar process and I don't like windows
Anyway seems windows 7 is not much better , I think the BIOS settings in some computers are dodgy, as mine is HP menu and I am not sure if it is the real Bios, yet I have two, one on startup- press escape-one on startup-press F10, I did not think HP made the BIOS and I still think they do not.

Windows does not allow GRUB to Duel boot on win7 or win8 by default, OR by any other reasonable means I could find with an intermediate skill set.
I have downloader boot repair, which to my dismay will not let me run through the process with out an internet connection, of which I do not have because MINT does not seem to accept the configuration for a Telstra wireless USB device of which most of the settings are held in a connection manager and you mostly use a password to connect.




http://www.pendrivelinux.com/