Bootable MEPIS USB key
From MEPIS Documentation Wiki
USB flash key can do exactly the same things as the Live CD can. Simple way to create bootable USB key is to boot MEPIS from CD and use MEPIS System Assistant. Then you can use it for installing without a CD or you can just run MEPIS from it.
Unetbootin >= version 312 for Linux and Windows can create a LiveUSB from a downloaded ISO image that can boot on most systems. This eliminates the need to burn a CD.
(If you want normal MEPIS install on USB key, rather than Live CD, see Portable MEPIS on USB hard drive.)
On some machines, it may be necessary to add rootdelay=15 to the command line in the GRUB boot screen. This allows the USB drive to "settle" for 15 seconds before the system boots off it. If successful, you can experiment with less time in the command.
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How to make your computer to boot from the USB stick
Booting from the USB stick once
If your system supports booting from a USB thumb drive, usually there is some key you can press at computer startup to get a selection of boot media. Often this key is not displayed on screen, so you have to guess or read the documentation that came with your hardware. You can also enter BIOS setup utility (often via F2, F10 or Del) and read through the menu options, sometimes the key will be identified. Some Bios's (e.g. Lenovo) have an option to disable the boot menu selection key, so look for that too and make sure it is enabled.
If after successfully activating the boot media selection list, your system does not display your USB stick as one of the options, leave the stick inserted, reset the computer and try again. If it still is not in the list, remove the stick, insert it back, reset and try again. (See below why this may help.) Sometimes, booting from a USB connected thumb drive is possible only if the hard disk is totally blank and contains no boot code in the MBR.
The most commonly used Boot Device Menu keys are Esc, F8, F9, F10 and F12
The following list may assist some users and is by no means an exhaustive list When more than one option is given, try each one in order if the first fails. Please add your machine's boot key if it is not listed.
Acer - Esc or F12 or F9 Albatron - F8 Asus - Esc or F8 Compaq - Esc or F9 Dell - F12 ECS - F11 Gigabyte - F12 HP - Esc or F9 Intel - F10 Lenovo - F12 Microstar - F11 Packard Bell - F8 Sony Vaio - F11 Toshiba - F12
Booting from the USB stick multiple times
It is worth changing the boot order in this case. It is however good to know that booting from USB keys tends to be a bit more tricky then booting from a CD. Just be pervasive and try again, in a different way, quite often it will work the second time. These factors make it a bit fuzzy:
- USB stick must be there in time for your BIOS to consider it. If you insert it too late, you need to press Ctrl-Alt-Del or even hard reset button.
- If you insert the USB stick before power up (to be sure it is there in time), in rare cases you get another problem: Some USB sticks in some computers do not wake up reliably when inserted before power up. They just look as if they were not there, until removed and re-inserted.
- Some BIOSes let you set the USB stick as a first boot device but they forget this choice once you boot them without the stick or with a different type of stick. Or they forget the choice once you enter BIOS setup without the stick or with a different stick (even if you do not look at the related menu at all). There are some systems that will only see a USB boot device from a cold boot, not a restart.
Fortunately, these things are getting better with newer computers so it is quite possible everything will just work for you.
Booting from the USB stick on systems with SATA drives
If your system has any sata storage devices, the USB thumb drive created with the Mepis System Assistant will likely not work properly with your system due to a mass storage device naming convention that locates the USB flash drive in a different place to the BIOS after the sata drives are mounted. For newer systems with sata drives, some community members have created an alternative method with a sata work-around that overcomes one of the major hurdles of the disk naming convention that interferes with booting from USB when sata devices are attached. Please head over to http://hosted.filefront.com/ThePav/ and download the ANTIX-MEPIS_BOOT_FLASH-0.1.tar.gz and follow the instructions therein.
GRUB experts may also be able to fix an unbootable MEPIS USB key by hand. If MEPIS System Assistant did not quite work, GRUB's setup command (used from terminal running grub shell) might be all what is needed to fix things. But be careful, improper GRUB commands can easily make your harddisk unbootable.
