Difference between revisions of "LiveUSB"

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m (Transferring the live system files to USB-drive)
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* Make sure your USB device is formatted in FAT and there is no valueable data on it
 
* Make sure your USB device is formatted in FAT and there is no valueable data on it
 
* [http://reactos.org/getbuilds Download] a current '''livecd''' image of ReactOS
 
* [http://reactos.org/getbuilds Download] a current '''livecd''' image of ReactOS
* Now, you have to extract the ISO file to your USB-drive, you should use [http://www.7-zip.org/ 7-Zip] for that. Right-click the ISO file and choose ''Extract files...'' . Choose the drive letter of you USB-drive as the destination.
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* Now, you have to extract the ISO file to your USB-drive, you should use [http://www.7-zip.org/ 7-Zip] for that. Right-click the ISO file and choose ''Extract files...'' . Choose the drive letter of your USB-drive as the destination.
  
 
===Installing the MBR (NOT for 64-bit Windows)===
 
===Installing the MBR (NOT for 64-bit Windows)===

Revision as of 06:51, 24 November 2013

Preamble

Revision 55555 of ReactOS introduced support for USB devices, and after some time it became possible to run the OS from a USB drive. In revision 55714 ReactOS was successfully installed and running from Patriot Xporter XT 8Gb USB stick. LiveCD revision 55995 has also been successfully executed from the same device using USB 1.1 OHCI.

Note: To install on a USB-HDD, it is preferable to use Bootcd; and for a USB flash drive, it is preferable to use LiveCD. Differences between installing on USB-HDD or USB flash drive are minor, but keep in mind that the resources (speed and storage space) of a USB flash drive can be much more limited than those of a hard drive. Flash drives also often have a limited lifetime of read and writes before they become damaged or unusable.

For more convenient use or testing of LiveUSB mode, you need to know the following things:

  • If you install bootcd, the first phase of installation to a virtual HDD in a virtual machine is much faster than directly to the USB-stick. Therefore later in this article we will consider how to transfer files needed to start the second phase of the installation from a virtual machine to a flash drive/USB-HDD.
  • If you install ReactOS to a USB-drive and install the MBR/VBR using the installer (without formatting the disk), then it is likely that the system will be unable to boot. If you wish to boot more than just ReactOS from a USB drive, please refer to the second paragraph of this article.
  • You also need a motherboard capable of booting a USB drive. This guide assumes you have one and that it is already configured.

Installing the system to a USB-drive

Transferring the live system files to USB-drive

  • Make sure your USB device is formatted in FAT and there is no valueable data on it
  • Download a current livecd image of ReactOS
  • Now, you have to extract the ISO file to your USB-drive, you should use 7-Zip for that. Right-click the ISO file and choose Extract files... . Choose the drive letter of your USB-drive as the destination.

Installing the MBR (NOT for 64-bit Windows)

To load ReactOS you can use Grub4Dos. Get the latest version of the archive GRUB, as well as GUI installer.

  • Extract the installer, copy to its folder files from GRUB package.
  • Run the GRUB GUI, choose from the disk list your USB flash drive (if you're using Windows, then the number can be found in the Disk Manager). Click to install. Close the window with the message about successful installation.
  • Copy file called "grldr" to your USB drive.
  • If a partition on a flash drive is not active, then make it active using any partition management utility.
  • Create a menu.lst on your USB drive using next template:
color blue/green yellow/red white/magenta white/magenta
timeout 30
default /default

title ReactOS
root (hd0,0)
kernel /freeldr.sys

title ReactLive
root (hd0,0)
kernel /loader/setupldr.sys

title reboot
reboot

Done.

Installing the MBR (from 64-bit Windows)

To load ReactOS you can use Grub4Dos. The Grub4Dos installer won't work in 64-bit Windows. As of this writing, the ReactOS VDM isn't mature enough to install Grub4Dos on a USB drive. Instead, we'll do it using FreeDOS.

  • Get the latest versions of GRUB, Rufus (includes FreeDOS), 7-Zip, and a ReactOS ISO (LiveCD or BootCD).
  • Use Rufus (give it admin rights) to format your flash drive for FreeDOS
  • Copy the grub4dos folder to the flash drive root (ie. D:\). You may want to rename it so that navigating in FreeDOS is easier. I renamed mine to GRUB.
  • Copy the file "grldr" from your grub4dos folder to the flash drive root
  • Boot the flash drive and FreeDOS will load. Now you need to get the disk number of the USB drive. When it loads, FreeDOS will list all active drives on boot. You will likely have only the USB drive listed. For me, there was just the flash drive, which it called C:\. The first drive listed is Disk #0, the second is Disk #1, etc. It's VERY important to know your disk number.
  • Type "CD GRUB" (or whatever you called your grub folder) and hit enter. If you didn't rename the grub folder, you'll have to type "CD GRUB4D~1.4" and hit enter.
  • This is where you need your disk number. You're going to use the command "bootlace.com" to install grub into the flash drive's MBR. For Disk #0: "bootlace.com 0x80". For Disk #1: "bootlace.com 0x81". Etc.
  • Remove the flash drive, reboot into Windows, and plug the flash drive back in
  • (optional) Delete everything on the flash drive except "grldr" in the root folder
  • Create file menu.lst on the root of the flash drive, using the above example. Note that the Disk # is important here too. If your flash drive was Disk #0, then no changes are needed. If it was Disk #1, then change all (hd0,0) references to (hd1,0) and so on for other drive #'s.
  • Put ReactOS on the flash drive. Follow step A for a LiveCD or a not-yet-installed BootCD. Follow step B to create a pre-installed ReactOS flash drive. NOTE: If you are using a not-yet-installed BootCD, do NOT let ROS modify the filesystem! Keep it as-is, or else you'll have to reformat the USB drive in Windows and start over.
  • Step A Use 7-Zip (or a similar utility) to extract the ReactOS ISO contents directly to flash drive root folder
  • Step B Setup the ReactOS ISO into VirtualBox (or a similar virtual machine) and complete the installation. Copy all files from the virtual machine to the flash drive root folder. (One way to do this on Windows 7 is to create the virtual machine harddrive as a .VHD file. Then open Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Right click Computer Management -> Run as administrator -> right click Disk Management -> Attach VHD -> Select the virtual machine harddisk. Copy files, then right-click the drive in Computer Management and detach the VHD.)
  • Reboot. If you followed Step A, choose ReactLive when you boot. If step B, choose ReactOS when you boot.


Enjoy!


Try to boot. If it doesn't work (damn) it could be either due to a bug in the USB driver or because the system regression (or regression of driver). Try to use working revision (check the beginning of the article). If they work then you're dealing with regression. Please report about it to developers. If they also do not work then your USB controller or USB drive is not yet supported. Please report this too as new bug.

References