From FlimzyWiki

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Prepare the USB media

This part is about the same as in the full version of my Install Debian on USB instructions. Create a single ext2 partition on the USB drive: <pre> foo:~/# fdisk /dev/sda

Command (m for help): d Selected partition 1

Command (m for help): n Command action

  e   extended
  p   primary partition (1-4)

p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-1015, default 1): Last cylinder or +size or +sizeK (1-1015, default 1015): Using default value 1015

Command (m for help): a Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 1031 MB, 1031798784 bytes 32 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders Units = cylinders of 1984 * 512 = 1015808 bytes

  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1 * 1 1015 1006849 83 Linux

Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. </pre>

In short, create a Linux (type 83) partition that is bootable. Easy enough, right?

Create a filesystem on the USB media:

foo:~/# mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sda1

Get the files

Download the tarball. There are two versions, one if your flash drive is /dev/sda1 on boot, one if it is /dev/hda1 on boot (for instance if using a CF-to-IDE adaptor instead of USB)

• /dev/sda1: http://aslan.flimzy.com/moo/moo-2007.03.05_sda1.tar.gz

• /dev/hda1: http://aslan.flimzy.com/moo/moo-2007.03.05_hda1.tar.gz

Install the files

Mount your USB media somewhere, and untar the contents of the tarball to it:

# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
# cd /mnt
# tar -xzf ~/moo-2007.03.05_sda1.tar.gz

Install extlinux

# extlinux --install /mnt
# cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin > /dev/sda

Try it!

# umount /mnt

Then plug the USB device into the target machine and boot from it!

You will undoubtedly want to modify the configuration; change the IP address, hostname, etc.

External links

• USB Mass Storage Devices
• Reading the Linux USB Device Filesystem output.
• fdisk
• mkfs