I installed Ubuntu onto a USB key using pendrivelinux.com. I need to boot off the pen drive now but the bios doesn't support this. I can still boot into Linux without X support ( broken X is one of the reason I want to boot off the pen drive to reinstall) on the computer directly. Is there some way to boot off a USB key from a running installation of linux or some other way of doing this?
Add (usb support via) plop boot manager in grub menu - Ubuntu 12.04 . (Console Mode)
This answer is based on tutorial from Ubuntu Greek Community
Now , the procedure is easiest from the Desktop Environment but for you, because you have to interfere with console mode, it will be little more difficult. If you pay attention and follow the steps I believe you will succeed.
Download Plop boot manager via wget
Current version is 5.0.14
Extract via 7z. If you don't have the package , install
p7zip-full
via apt-get.copy from
Linux
folder the two filesplpbt.bin
andplpcfgbt
inside /boot.Now is the difficult part for you (because you haven't graphical environment and I don't know any other way). You have to note down some lines from the
/boot/grub/grub.cfg
file. The easiest way (IMO) is a mobile HD photo but if you prefer the traditional way, paper and pencil.Open the file
find (scroll down with arrow keys) the Ubuntu entry. It will begin like
Note the 3 lines
replace X with your actual numbers. Close the file with Ctrl+X
Now open another file where you have to input these lines plus another. Root privileges required here
at the end of this file add the lines you noted down before plus one more important line
important line is
linux16 /boot/plpbt.bin
and do not forget the brackets.An example of the contents inside
40_custom
save the file with Ctrl+X then Y(es) then ENTER
Finally run
Plug in your usb flash drive, reboot and select plop boot manager from Grub menu , then select USB.
@NikTh Thank you your solution helped me out greatly, I spent some time stuck on an error and thought encase anyone else had the same error I would share how I (as a new user to Ubuntu) solved it.
I followed NikTh's steps exactly but got a "file not found" style error. I did two things after a few hours of struggling that helped.
In the boot directory I added more permissions to the plpbt.bin file:
chmod 777 /boot/plpbt.bin
In the /etc/grub.d/40_custom file I changed the bin location:
linux16 /plpbt.bin
I realized this is probably common seance but I am new to Linux as a whole so for others like me I hope this help save a few hours of confusion. Also this would have been a comment if I had more rep (sorry).