Persistents

[Lucas2019]

Hi All,

Seeking some assistance regarding Mint 19.1 Cinnamon.

I only own a work laptop, as such my works IT department has it incredibly locked down to only use Microsoft products.

I can however, boot from a USB drive.

I'm wanting to use Mint 19.1 Cinnamon, however, unable to get the Persistent feature to work.

I'm really hoping someone can assist.

To no avail, I've tried using the following:
"Linux Live USB Creator" | "YUMI" | "Rufus".

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Lucas.

[phd21]

Hi Lucas2019,

"Unetbootin" can create a USB Stick with persistence up to 4gb in MS Windows, Linux, or Mac. Add the amount of persistent space you want where it shows "space used to preserve files across reboots", max is 4gb = 4000 mb.

UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
https://unetbootin.github.io/

If you have a USB Stick of 16gb (preferably 32gb or larger), you can fully install Linux Mint without using persistence which would be more secure.

MultiBootUSB
http://multibootusb.org/

MultiBootUSB - Guide - see section on adding persistence.
http://multibootusb.org/page_guide/#add ... tence-file

Hope this helps ...
.

[redlined]

hi Lucas2019!

I see you mentioned trying YUMI and it did not work, it is a tool I know worked for me in creating a Linux live session USB stick with persistence. If you have more to share on errors encountered we may be able to sort that out.

It might also be worth trying their (YUMI authors) Universal USB Installer (UUI) app:
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal ... -as-1-2-3/

another option may be to use Easy2Boot, I didn't have much luck trying it a couple months back (neither did unetbootin or multibootusb work for me) but other forum members mention success with the E2B app:
http://www.easy2boot.com/

and manually, a bit more complicated but doable, this is a good reference to get it done:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=275536
https://askubuntu.com/questions/664577/ ... -partition

[pbear]

It might also be worth trying their (YUMI authors) Universal USB Installer (UUI) app:
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal ... -as-1-2-3/

FWIW, UUI worked for me where YUMI did not. I agree with phd21 that full install is a better option, but that requires a special procedure if it's a UEFI machine. Full install to USB is simpler and safer in BIOS or legacy boot, but that's probably not an option unless it's an older machine.

BTW, Rufus doesn't claim to support persistence. LinuxLive USB Creator was abandoned by its developer three-and-a-half years ago and last worked with Mint 17.2.

[redlined]

It might also be worth trying their (YUMI authors) Universal USB Installer (UUI) app:
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal ... -as-1-2-3/

FWIW, UUI worked for me where YUMI did not.
BTW, Rufus doesn't claim to support persistence. LinuxLive USB Creator was abandoned by its developer three-and-a-half years ago and last worked with Mint 17.2.

I have not tried their UUI app at all but imagine it is as good in automating a persistent setup for one OS live session (including Windows which is not as clearly supported by Yumi), nor did I try YUMI in a virtual machine or Wine (which they mention may be problematic). saying- I've only run YUMI on Win7 installed OS and it works perfectly creating multiOS (Linux) live sessions each with it's own persistence (when supported).

Rufus, in Windows, or VM/Wine is only going to get you a working live session and/or OS installer to run from USB stick, after that one would have to resize the "single partition" Rufus makes of the entire USB stick storage space using gparted or other such, then make second partition, name it casper-rw and format as Fat32 (actually found that ntfs works as well, but I digress the point) to have the live session consider it persistent storage space. There are further tweaks required in files depending on OS, but also explained in the manual method discussions linked to, if persistence is even supported by OS (I can say I haven't had issue yet with YUMI used in Win7 to create persistent Ubuntu and Debian based distros, including Mint where persistence is supported- which is not supported by all OS nor distros.

edit to add: I do see some of my above response seems directed at pbear, which I do see was not refuting my other post, rather referring to OP use of rufus and linux live usb creator with no success. Also I am mixing this convo with another similar from yesterday which was on Windows live session from USB stick. going back I see OP wants LM19.1 Cinnamon live session with persistence. Any reference to making such a Windows session stick should be disregarded, the rest is valid though (from my experience

[Mute Ant]

Recently I tried my usual trick of telling the kernel 'toram persistent' during Live Session boot of a Mint 19.1 ... it no longer works. Personally I doubt the Ubuntu persistence system (casper) will attract a lot of developer attention to mend broken features. With 16GB USB3 stores costing less than GBP10, it's not really worth the effort. I reverted to a full install...
o A 32-bit ISO to get an MBR booting stick.
o Edit file /etc/default/grub to use the nomodeset xforcevesa nolapic arguments
o Avoid upgrading the kernel or anything involving drivers.

[redlined]

I agree with phd21 that full install is a better option, but that requires a special procedure if it's a UEFI machine. Full install to USB is simpler and safer in BIOS or legacy boot, but that's probably not an option unless it's an older machine.

I think you were editing that in when I was posting reply

I agree a full install on the USB stick might be better and if 'legacy' mode can be achieved it is as simple as using LM19.1 live session run from a CD/DVD to point at and install to the USB stick, otherwise it is a headache for sure.

Only issue I see is OP mention of USB stick on a work provided (and locked down/managed system), if UEFI cannot be disabled (to get to legacy mode) then the UEFI special procedure you linked to may be the realistic way to get it done at least OP can boot from USB stick, so there are ways to make this work, for sure

[pbear]

Confirming, yes, I edited my post. In my defense, you weren't showing as "Online" at the time. And, yes, my post was actually directed to the OP. The quote of your reference to UUI was mainly for the purpose of borrowing the link rather than repeating it.