On 2013-04-16, Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:
CAUTION: My goal does *NOT* resemble a normal install
I want to do a full install to a USB flash drive (thumb
drive). I am not looking to run the installer ISO from the
flash drive. I do not want a "LIVE install" with or without
persistence.
I just did an install to a usb flash drive in an interesting way. Well,
interesting to me, at least. Didn't mess with grub or lilo or none of
that stuff. Nothing to configure. I used kvm (qemu).
I downloaded the installer to my home directory, plugged in my usb drive
(unmounted), then started the installer like so:
kvm -m 512 -hdb /dev/sdc -boot d -cdrom debian-wheezy-DI-rc1-amd64-netinst.iso
Worked liked a charm, to coin a phrase. Apparently, there's no grub
dangers or perils because all the installer and grub can see is the
thumb drive and nothing else when run from inside the virtual machine
using the above technique.
I booted the installation up in kvm (with -m 1024) (I chose the LXDE
desktop); it's pretty damn snappy even when run inside the virtual
machine. Much snappier than the live isohybrid with LXDE I put on a usb
stick and ran in kvm in the same way.
Anyway. Just another way of doing things.