Install Solus on external drive (SSD)

xonus

I found a way in which you can install the system in uefi without problems and removing the internal drive!
To do this you have to mark with the ESP flag the disk on which the system will be installed, then go to the installation menu and install the system as usual, the bootloader will now automatically be on the new disk.
I checked, the disks are identical, I mean the same grub and the system starts.
I don't know how bad this method is but it works)

xonus

tomscharbach I found a way in which you can install the system in uefi without problems and removing the internal drive!
To do this you have to mark with the ESP flag the disk on which the system will be installed, then go to the installation menu and install the system as usual, the bootloader will now automatically be on the new disk.
I checked, the disks are identical, I mean the same grub and the system starts.
I don't know how bad this method is but it works)

tomscharbach

xonus I'm glad you found a solution that works for you.

brent

xonus I found a way in which you can install the system in uefi without problems and removing the internal drive! To do this you have to mark with the ESP flag the disk on which the system will be installed, then go to the installation menu and install the system as usual, the bootloader will now automatically be on the new disk.
I checked, the disks are identical, I mean the same grub and the system starts. I don't know how bad this method is but it works)

I think you lucked out. The old change-the-flag-in-gedit thing never works for me but "the disks are identical" might have had something to do with it.
I ran Solus external on a LaCie HDD for a while but that's where I installed it...had Win7 on the internall HDD...but Solus always booted first and I can't take responsibility for it...maybe I lucked out too by accident.

murbert

xonus The flag on your EFI system partition on your internal SSD is set to boot/esp by default. This is the partition used by the OS to boot up. The installation on the external SSD (or a second internal drive should you choose to install there) will want to use this partition for it's boot partition. You do not want multiple OSes using 1 boot partition. In GParted, right click the EFI system partition, choose manage flags and set it to msftdata. The new install will now make it's own EFI system partition. You should get the option as to which drive it goes on, choose the external

xonus

brent when i say about "the disks are identical" I meant that the installation was successful and the partitions are the same as on a normal ssd, that is, no dead partitions or any errors)

xonus

brent hi!
so, i update my instruction 🙂

Leave the internal ssd and connect the external one
Booting from a bootable flash drive
open gparted and make the following parameters from the external ssd
Partition table - GPT
Format - fat32 (full disk)
Flags - esp, boot
Install OS
Select external drive
Install as usual and create a bootloader on it

zmaint

I've not tried with Solus yet, but I was able to get a couple other distros (Kubuntu and Salient) working by completely unplugging all internal drives, plugging in only the external drive enclosure, then booting the install and running it as normal. Since it's the only drive detected, had no issues with it correctly installing.

tomscharbach

zmaint I've not tried with Solus yet, but I was able to get a couple other distros (Kubuntu and Salient) working by completely unplugging all internal drives, plugging in only the external drive enclosure, then booting the install and running it as normal. Since it's the only drive detected, had no issues with it correctly installing.

The method works with Solus, and the resulting external drive is plug and play at the BIOS/UEFI boot menu level so it will boot on any computer.

brent

xonus when i say about "the disks are identical" I meant that the installation was successful and the partitions are the same as on a normal ssd, that is, no dead partitions or any errors)

that's what I thought you meant. all good.

"Leave the internal ssd and connect the external one
Booting from a bootable flash drive
open gparted and make the following parameters from the external ssd
Partition table - GPT
Format - fat32 (full disk)
Flags - esp, boot
Install OS
Select external drive
Install as usual and create a bootloader on it"

Known herein as a "modified @tomscharbach " 😉

elfprince

"Leave the internal ssd..." What do you mean?

tomscharbach

elfprince "Leave the internal ssd..." What do you mean?

I think that it is a reference to a common method of creating a portable drive that involves removing/unplugging internal OS bootable drives before installing onto the portable drive, ensuring that the portable drive is the only available target drive (see comments by me, riffer and zmaint).

Xonus elected not to use that method, but instead left the internal OS drive active in the computer (rather than removing/unplugging), setting/resetting efi flags on the internal and portable drives as needed to set up the portable drive.

Two different routes to the desired result. If it worked, it worked.

xonus

tomscharbach yeah, removing is a better word 🙂