Stop "Please remove the installation medium" prompt when using live usb with casper drive

[bud]

Hi everyone,

I installed the latest Linux Mint Cinnamon version on an 125gb flash drive (pen drive) using Rufus "persistent install" option. From what I gather, this installs a casper-rw partition to enable data to be updated in this install.

I only access this machine via RDP, I don't really have a usb keyboard around. Whenever I turn the machine off, it asks me to "Please remove the installation medium and then press ENTER". Wireless keyboards don't work either, so I'm stuck whenever rebooting to wait however much time it needs to finally shut down the system.

Question: is there a way to disable/shorten the time of this "remove installation medium" prompt, so I can directly shut down the machine?

Thanks!

PS: Why am I running Linux Mint like this? Because then I can have my own OS in a flash drive, that I can easily carry around everywhere and run it. The problem is that I'm mostly running it now on a mini PC that has no wired keyboard

[rickNS]

Whenever I turn the machine off, it asks me to "Please remove the installation medium and then press ENTER". Wireless keyboards don't work either,

Welcome to mint forums, Bud.

I guess the obvious answer to avoid that prompt is to do an actual install (not just running live with persistence) on that on that USB stick.

RE, Keyboard, what make / model is your machine ? Or better post the results of
inxi -Fxz

As is pointed out in the "how to get help" thread.

[pbear]

Question: is there a way to disable/shorten the time of this "remove installation medium" prompt, so I can directly shut down the machine?

What happens if you just hit Enter, ignoring the prompt?

Why am I running Linux Mint like this? Because then I can have my own OS in a flash drive, that I can easily carry around everywhere and run it.

As rick mentions, you can install to USB drive (not just persistence). See tutorial. Notice there's a bug to work around, but not difficult. A full install system will be more robust. Also, won't have the remove medium problem.

Be aware, both persistence and full install will burn out a flash drive relatively quickly. A USB hard drive is faster and will last much longer.

[mikeflan]

Type man shutdown in a terminal and read.
Try the various options including --no-wall.

[pbear]

Try the various options including --no-wall.

Have you tested it? Didn't work for me.

[mikeflan]

I didn't test it. I was telling the OP to test it and report back. But bud is gone.

[bud]

Hey everyone,

Thank you for your prompt replies! Bud is back in the house;)

You're right, I should make it a full install. I think I read somewhere that a persistent install would go easier on flash drives, because part of it is mounted as read-only and then most of the processing is done in RAM. But thinking about this again, it doesn't seem to make much sense, or at least there should be an option to do most things in RAM in a full install too.

My problem is that I'm flat broke right now, I'll only be able to buy a 1 tb ssd in September ($100 is a lot for me right now...) and then I'll install it directly in my mini PC, that has a free sata slot. If there's a way to skip the "Please remove the installation medium" prompt for now it'd be splendid, otherwise I consider this as solved by converting it to a full install when I have the chance.

I tried the no-wall switch in shutdown --no-wall, but it also didn't work for me:/

For completeness, here's my system info:

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Mini-pc Mobo: AZW model: GK mini serial: <filter>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: GB6 0.03 date: 05/25/2021
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Celeron J4125 bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 8 L2 cache: 4096 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 15974
Speed: 1545 MHz min/max: 800/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1642 2: 1765
3: 1190 4: 2081
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 605 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1680x1050~50Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel vendor: Realtek driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus ID: 00:0e.0
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wireless 3165 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f040
bus ID: 01:00.0
IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.0
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 356.35 GiB used: 33.09 GiB (9.3%)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: M.2 SSD 256GB size: 238.47 GiB temp: 40 C
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Extreme size: 117.88 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 68.48 GiB used: 9.40 GiB (13.7%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 276 Uptime: 4m Memory: 7.60 GiB used: 1.18 GiB (15.5%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17
inxi: 3.0.38


Thank you both very much again for the feedback!
Best,
Bud

[pbear]

Bud is back in the house;)

Ahem, you missed my question: What happens if you just hit Enter, ignoring the prompt?

[bud]

Sorry for the late reply! I can't really press Enter, especially if I'm using RDP, but if I'm using the bluetooth keyboard it stops working when it gets to the prompt. I tried using a cheap wifi keyboard (that comes with an USB wifi dongle) and it seems to work though. But the main problem was not being able to press Enter

Edit: Ok, I think I got your question!x) If I press Enter with a connected keyboard and leave the installation media connected, sometimes when the computer restarts it actually boots normally and ignores the USB live install... the opposite should happen, it should load the USB media and start Linux Mint. But sometimes it only does that after I eject it when it boots Windows, the regular OS for this machine

[Moem]

I'll only be able to buy a 1 tb ssd in September ($100 is a lot for me right now...) and then I'll install it directly in my mini PC, that has a free sata slot. If there's a way to skip the "Please remove the installation medium" prompt for now it'd be splendid

You could do a proper installation on the very same USBstick that you are currently using. 1TB is super nice but it's not exactly needed!

[pbear]

If the system is so far shutdown that keyboard inputs are no longer accepted, I think you can just power down and be done with it. Have to say, though, I've never had occasion to test the question. OTOH, at worst we're talking about corrupting the persistent system, which is easily replaced/redone. Test shutdown this way a few times. Pretty sure it'll work. And, yeah, having to remove and reinsert an ejected USB drive is normal.

I still think full install is a better solution, and 120 GB is plenty large enough, but you're probably right that it'll burn out the drive a little faster. Understand, full install or persistent, the culprit is temp files, of which the system writes (and deletes) many during a session.

[bud]

It's true that 1tb is more than enough, but my reasoning is that if I'm gonna buy an SSD, I might as well save and get a 1tb drive. And although I could do a full install on the flash drive, I'm now a little scared of destroying the flash drive and settled on the SSD;)

The mini keyboard has been working so far, it's one of those $10 Ebay wifi mini keyboards https://www.silicon.pk/wp-content/uploa ... 0-RF-2.jpg But good thinking pbear about the lack of bluetooth, most likely it's safe to turn off the computer since like you said everything else has been turned off already