[SOLVED] how to create Mint 15 XFCE liveUSB using Windows 7?

[Patrol1985]

Hello everyone,

I would like to create LM 15 XFCE live USB using Windows 7. Thus far I tried using "Pendrive Linux Universal USB Installer" and "Unetbootin", but none offers the installation of Linux Mint with XFCE desktop. I insist on XFCE, because (based on what I've read) it's the best option for low-end machines such as mine*.

I also have to add that I own a USB stick with only 955 MB of capacity. I know that most ISOs require more, but I figured that if Live CD versions exist (intended for 700 MB CDs), then maybe this USB stick may suffice.

*
Acer Aspire One D257 netbook
Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom N570 1,66 GHz, 1MB L2 cache
1 GB DDR3 Memory
215 GB HDD
no CD/DVD drive available

[nerdtron]

You tried Unetbootin, right? It supports Linux Mint 15 (all desktop environments, such as Cinnamon, KDE and XFCE)
1. Download the ISO, it is about 950MB which still fits on your flash drive http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=142
2. Open Unetbootin and see this screenshot. It's just the Mint 15 KDE version, but and XFCE is also supported. Hit OK and start the installation on your USB. Also make sure that your USB is formatted as FAT32 in Windows.

[Patrol1985]

Thank you. I thought that Unetbootin worked only with distros displayed in the dropdown menu and that's why I had written about LM 15 XFCE being unsupported.

I did exactly as you told me to. Unetbootin confirmed that the process completed successfully and prompted me for a reboot. However, upon rebooting I get this message:

Remove disk or other media.
Press any key to restart.

I set the correct boot sequence in the bios (USB HDD as the primary device) and I tried reformatting the USB and recreating the content from the .ISO. I also tried unplugging all other USB devices from the computer (mouse included). Nothing worked thus far.

Even though Unetbootin didn't report any errors, I'm not entirely sure it's not a USB space issue. The USB has only 16 KB of space left. Also, the GRUB folder (/boot/GRUB/) contains only one file: loopback.cfg. Is this ok?

[karlchen]

Hello, Patrol1985.

The Mint15 xfce 32-bit ISO image file has got a size of 946MB. So available space on the stick might be sufficient even assuming the Unetbootin will add some overhead on the stick. Yet, 16 kb left might suggest that our optimistic assumption may be simply wrong and the size is not sufficient.
Have you verifed the MD5 checksum of the ISO image file matches your downloaded ISO image file? The checksum can be found at the top of this webpage: [url=http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=142]Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" - Xfce (32-bit)[/url] If the MD5 checksum reported on the webpage and the MD5 checksum of your downloaded ISO image file do not match then the downloaded file will be corrupt.
But I tend to assume that a 1 GB pendrive is just not big enough. So the solution will be getting a larger pendrive. I know they sell 4 GB pendrives for 4.95€ around here. (The one that I had to pay 14.95€ for only a few years ago. )

Kind regards,
Karl

[Patrol1985]

The checksum is ok. I will try to use a USB device with a bigger capacity and see if it works.

Thank you for your reply!

[usbtux]

In unetbootin do not use the drop down lists =

http://youtu.be/pq2bsTh_dDs How to use unetbootin to make a liveusb from windows


Use Unetbootin in Linux Mint http://youtu.be/HRMzroqA1Wc

[Patrol1985]

I bought an 8 GB (actually 7 GB, but whatever) USB stick today and turned it into a live USB using the .ISO file mentioned earlier in the topic.

The USB was created without any problems and this time Linux booted without any error messages

I checked the combined size of files contained on the USB and the result was 981 MB, which obviously exceeds my old USB's limit of 955 MB. Therefore, for future reference, if one wants to use the DVD image with a USB stick, make sure the pendrive has a capacity of at least 1 GB... though I doubt anyone else would use as ancient a USB as I had tried