[TUTORIAL] Live USB of several ISO images with Ventoy

[jackkileen]

Another update. Boot up was taking a long time after I selected an ISO so I uninstalled Ventoy and started over. This time I entered sudo ./VentoyWeb.sh from this tutorial. That opened access up to the http://127.0.0.1:24681 page where I installed Ventoy.
I did this because I was getting errors entering ./VentoyGUI.x86_64.
Boot time now is 50% + faster than before and persistence still works with no issues.

Code: Select all

/Downloads/ventoy-1.0.96$ sudo ./VentoyWeb.sh
[sudo] password for thanoz:          
===============================================================
  Ventoy Server 1.0.96 is running ...
  Please open your browser and visit http://127.0.0.1:24680
===============================================================
################## Press Ctrl + C to exit #####################
^Cventoy server exit ...

[Jerry N]

I followed the instructions and set up Ventoy on a Silicon Power 128gb usb3 flashdrive. I then copied the ISOs for Mint 21, Mint 21.1, Mint 21.2 and LMDE6 to the flashdrive. Mint 21 boots properly but 21.1, 21.2, and LMDE6 fail with a reference to a "magic number" and a complaint that "kernal must be installed first". What did I do wrong?

Jerry

[all41]

I followed the instructions and set up Ventoy on a Silicon Power 128gb usb3 flashdrive. I then copied the ISOs for Mint 21, Mint 21.1, Mint 21.2 and LMDE6 to the flashdrive. Mint 21 boots properly but 21.1, 21.2, and LMDE6 fail with a reference to a "magic number" and a complaint that "kernal must be installed first". What did I do wrong?

Jerry

I have noticed similar when adding lmde to both ventoy and multisystem.
Have never seen a reference to magic number.
Can you share a screenshot of your ventoy usb directory (folder)?
Perhaps best to open a new topic here, and refer back to this thread.

[AZgl1800]

this is my 'folder', it is a Ventoy stick

[all41]

I just looked--lmde6 is not on my ventoy stick.
I seem to remember problems--but I will make a current image of my
ventoy stick first, and then add lmde6 to verify.

as I recall it was no problem loading on the stick--but choosing lmde got a boot error--out of bounds--something such
but I will retry adding lmde6 back into my ventoy stick and see how it goes.

[AZgl1800]

I just looked--lmde6 is not on my ventoy stick.
I seem to remember problems--but I will make a current image of my
ventoy stick first, and then add lmde6 to verify.

as I recall it was no problem loading on the stick--but choosing lmde got a boot error--out of bounds--something such
but I will retry adding lmde6 back into my ventoy stick and see how it goes.

for myself,
using NEMO to copy/paste from my LM21.2 Cinnamon to Ventoy went swimmingly.
no issues at all.

as seen in the above screen shot

[Jerry N]

As requested by all41:

Image2.jpg (49.76 KiB) Viewed 3879 times

I reinstalled Ventoy on the flash drive per the instructions and copied the ISOs for Mint Mate 21, 21.1, 21.2 to it (No LMDE6). Same results.

Flash drive is a Silicon Power 128GB USB 3.0. Ventoy was installed on the drive from a computer with a Ryzen 7 CPU and an ASUS motherboard, running Mint Mate 21.2. It was tested on a computer with a Ryzen 5 CPU and an ASUS motherboard.

Jerry

[jackkileen]

I followed the instructions and set up Ventoy on a Silicon Power 128gb usb3 flashdrive. I then copied the ISOs for Mint 21, Mint 21.1, Mint 21.2 and LMDE6 to the flashdrive. Mint 21 boots properly but 21.1, 21.2, and LMDE6 fail with a reference to a "magic number" and a complaint that "kernal must be installed first". What did I do wrong?
Jerry

Could be a bad DL of LMDE6, you might try DLing it again. When you copy it over to Ventoy, after it completes, you might try doing it again to make sure the entire file is being copied over to it.
I found at times, when I drag and drop large files from one folder to another, that they don't always fully copy over and I have to repeat the drag and drop or copy paste to fix that.

No issues on my machine running LMDE6 in Ventoy with 21.2 or 21.3.

[all41]

Could be a bad DL of LMDE6

checksums would detect
I suspect the destination being removed before the
the write is completed could be the culprit--especially on
a slow flash.
Don't trust the messages, cache writes are still happening.
open a terminal and run

Code: Select all

sync

When that returns a user prompt you will be good to go.
If your usb has leds make sure those are off before unplugging

[Jerry N]

Maybe I have solved the problem. I tried writing the ISO files to the Ventoy disk one at a time, using Nemo, not Caja. It appears that the writes are NOT being completed - ever - when I write them with Caja and with the Ventoy flash drive plugged in to a USB 2.0 port. However, when I write them with Nemo and with the flash drive plugged in to a USB 3.0 port, everything seems to work OK. Not marking this solved yet but I wonder if there is something peculiar about this SP 128GB flash drive. I should note that my other Silicon Products USB 3.0 drives have failed and have been discarded. I think I will try this all again with a different flash drive, probably PNY or Sandisk.



Jerry

[AZgl1800]

learned long ago, to only use the USB 3.0 port when writing to flash drives.
I only use Cinnamon, so NEMO is my file manager.

[AndyMH]

It appears that the writes are NOT being completed - ever - when I write them with Caja and with the Ventoy flash drive plugged in to a USB 2.0 port.

Whenever you are writing a large file to a slow device open a terminal and sync. When you get the prompt back the copy is complete.

[Jerry N]

OK - I think I see what is going on. I have seen this before using FAT where I have a large file (less than 4gb) and file write keeps getting slower and slower to the point that it appears it will never finish. This is a FAT problem, and apparently also an exFAT problem. Not a problem with my flash drive. Problem defined and manageable, no further help required!

Jerry

[Tuor]

Just tried ventoy, after trying rufus and Balena etcher with problems. Rufus doesn't boot Edge 21.2, Balena Etcher is too slow, ventoy booted just fine.

Also copied LMDE6 and Knoppix besides edge, still need to test LMDE6, so far working great.

[fatso]

Been using Ventoy for years and never had an issue. I find this to be an indispensable tool. Installed on an external HDD/SSD, the world is your oyster. Don't forget that the partition Ventoy creates for you to put your ISO's can be reformatted to another filesystem if desired (see Ventoy site for accepted formats), and that same partition can also be used to store non-iso files and folders. I just create a top-level folder named "files" and put stuff there. You can also instruct Ventoy to ignore the content of choice in its boot menu as well as change the cloudy blue Ventoy background to any image you like, as long as it's the same dimensions as the original and named the same file name in the same location. See instructions on Ventoy's web site for a whole lotta great functions and tricks.

[BG405]

I wish I'd known about Ventoy ages ago. Would have saved a lot of unnecessary wear on my precious USB sticks (a bit broke atm, can't just run out and buy a bunch of them). I did have a go with Multisystem a few years back but it didn't really float my boat, so to speak.

Heard about Ventoy on one of the Linux YouTube channels; can't remember which, maybe The Linux Experiment or The Linux Cast. One of the channels where they go over some useful and cool software, anyway. I fully intended to mention it on here if it hadn't been already.

For those of us who install/use/maintain more than one OS on a regular basis, this works great.

Also good to see there's a GUI which some will prefer (or need?). Didn't try that myself; it's pretty straightforward via CLI anyway IMO for those like me who prefer to do things that way.

[Wibol]

I managed to break the file system of the Ventoy boot partition, but doing an 'Update' from its GUI got it working again with no problem. The main partition containing the ISO images has not been damaged and they all remain in place.

[DDR-4]

It's a brilliant tool - nice post too.

I've had so many problems with high capacity USB drives that I've installed Ventoy onto a 2.5" SSD in an external USB enclosure. Works fine for me.

The next thing will be installing Ventoy onto a 128GB SATA M.2 SSD drive in an external USB to SATA M.2 SSD enclosure.

Here's a nice article that explains all about M.2 SSD drives:
https://www.kingston.com/unitedkingdom/ ... -m2-vs-ssd

And how to install an M.2 SSD into a external enclosure:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AKed1OdLwvk

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...And how to install an M.2 SSD into a external enclosure:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AKed1OdLwvk

This video wasn't quite accurate with USB standards. USB A be used with speeds up to USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) as long as the cable plugged into it is rated for that. Other than that, the video was pretty accurate (not to mention the spokesperson was as cute as her dress).

I recommend this enclosure (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N4 ... UTF8&psc=1) for use with USB simply because, at the time I got mine (I have several of them now), it was the only one I could find that would support TRIM over USB. There are probably others now that will support TRIM over USB in Linux but, at the time I bought mine, I ran into a lot that claimed to support TRIM that actually did not when I bought them and tried them out. To get TRIM compatibility in Linux, it will be necessary to create a udev rule for this device (viewtopic.php?p=2351194&hilit=TRIM+SSD#p2351194).

This device is tool free and comes with thermal pads to give much better heat transfer from the chips on the SSD to the shell of of the enclosure which could give the SSD much longer life (the enclosure shown in the video either didn't include thermal pads or they weren't installed). Depending on the cable you use, you can connect to any USB A or USB C port (at up to 10Gbps speeds), including Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports that allow USB connections.