Full Install onto USB Stick

davidmo

With other distros (eg Ubuntu, Manjaro) I have been able to do a full installation - including the bootloader - onto a usb stick. But I do not seem to have the option to do this with Budgie Solus - which otherwise looks like a great OS with its original Budgie! However, the installation application insists the bootloader must be placed on my laptop's uefi hard drive.Is there a workaround, short of disabling the hard drive in my laptop. I forsee a whole load of trouble if I allow the default placement and then decide I want to revert to my original OS.
I am aware I could turn my laptop into a dual boot machine, but I am not quite ready to do that...

sgvd

davidmo
The installation application has a bug where it will always solely list the first efi partition it finds. To circumvent this, remove the boot/esp flags of this first partition, so it will find the second one.

JoshStrobl

We support installation onto bare metal (actual desktop and laptop hardware). Installation and usage of Solus on a secondary medium like a USB drive isn't something we desire to support.

davidmo

JoshStrobl
Thanks Josh. I may decide to dual boot in that case.
I'll think about it anyway. But I hope in future you may decide to consider it for people who like to explore an os in depth before committing
David

dbarron

Bearing in mind, I like to try everything. I don't hesitate to install once I've decided that live boot/iso is interesting. So, why can't you (in this day of cheap storage) just install and explore to your heart's content? Why must it be to a flash drive? 🙂

davidmo

dbarron Thanks dbarron - just because it suits me and I have enough large flash drives, is all

davidmo

sgvd Thanks sgvd - I could try that but I don't trust my competence to then successfully reinstall the boot/esp flag on what is my main and trusty laptop containing my prime os installation. I have in the past accidentally removed my normal uefi bootloader via a botched installation on a usb stick (unlike with Solus OS, no warning whatsoever) and then managed to get it back but more by luck than judgement - and I don't want to go through the terror of repeating that mistake. Anyhow, it is not that important. I would like to have tried a full installation of Solus OS - but I guess I'll forgo the opportunity this time. JoshStrobl has indicated that they feel no need to modify the installation procedure to cater for people like me

sgvd

davidmo
I understand the hesitance, I also broke my own installation a few times in the past few months due to my own experimentation 🤣
Never broke it with flags though, they are pretty harmless as long as you note down what the original situation was.

WetGeek

davidmo
Does your prime os installation support virtualization? I use VirtualBox to create VMs of any distribution I want to try, and that allows me to fully test the new OS. I'm currently running two VMs of Solus Budgie--one based on the stable repository and the other unstable--on my everyday laptop where, for various reasons, Windows 10 is my prime os installation.

By the way, Solus IS the prime os installation on four other computers in this house. After trying dozens of other distros (in VMs), Solus just kinda bubbled up to the top, and I haven't seen anything to challenge it yet.

dbarron

It's a matter of where to put very limited resources. Plus, if you do it enough, you will learn to not be terrorized by it (I know this..lol).

chax

I managed to install Solus on USB stick myself. Just keep in mind, it will be really slow. Reading and writing to USB stick is way slower than if you use actual hard disk or even better SSD.

DataDrake

chax It also will only be compatible with BIOS or UEFI, depending on the machine it was installed with.

brent

chax I managed to install Solus on USB stick myself. Just keep in mind, it will be really slow. Reading and writing to USB stick is way slower than if you use actual hard disk or even better SSD.

I don't have SSD but I've run Solus off usb sticks and HDD's---always on banged up old lenovo desktops---and noticed no performance differences that I could catalogue. Running off stick as we speak. Apps crisp and responsive mostly. I'm not a 'power use'r/gamer, though.

DejanN

If I knew Solus could be installed on USB I wouldn't install Manjaro. Can someone please share needed steps?

kyrios

DejanN Simple: plug an empty USB stick, boot Solus ISO in Legacyt mode (as opposite to UEFI) either from another USB stick or from a DVD, launch the installer, select the empty USB stick for installing Solus and for the bootloader. That's it.

But keep in mind that USB sticks aren't meant for this use, especially cheap ones. It might considerably reduce their lifetime (and give you a very poor Solus experience if you use a slow USB dongle).