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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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[Help] making a persistent Debian live install from Windows (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by BlackXanthus@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Hello Everyone,

I have a Windows laptop that I want to run Linux on. Due to the drivers being encrypted (on install, from the factory), I can't repartition the drive and dual boot.

My plan is to run a live install from a USB stick. I've tried a live Debian ISO, and it works fine for my purposes (WebDev).

However, the live install isn't persistent, and doesn't use all the space on the 64gb usb stick for storage.

There are tutorials online that show how to make a live install while already running Linux, but for some reason, the live install doesn't see anything plugged into the other usb slots.

So, my question is, how do I get a persistent, usable version of Debian on a USB stick from Windows?

Thanks,

-BX

Edit: Laptop is a HP Envy, with touchscreen. The reason for keeping windows is that (as of yet) I have not found a way to use the touch-screen/pen combo with Linux. Being able to boot off USB will allow me to test solutions without losing what works

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[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Could you share the laptop model, surely there has to be a way to turn off the disk encryption and then dual boot/mess with the laptop normally?

The easiest way to achieve that is to use two USBs, one with the installer, and the other will be your new harddrive. Install to the USB drive and it will be a persistent bootable USB drive. Bootloader (grub/efibootmgr) setup may be fiddly, you may have to try a few times/variations on setting before you get it working.

[–] BlackXanthus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a HP Envy.

TBH, I hadn't realised it had also chosen to encrypt the inserted SD card when I added it.

I would install from a USB to another USB, but the Debian Live USB stick doesn't recognise anything else that I plug into the laptop, so I can't go USB to USB, hence the need to use windows.

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't know anything about the debian installer, last time I did this I used arch, which is a lot more flexible with partitioning. Is there a manual partitioning option somewhere that will show the USB drive you want to install to?

For what it's worth, I don't recommend booting from a USB. The performance isn't great, and there are reliability issues. On my USB, if I bump the drive, it can disconnect and cause the root partition to become unmounted, and it doesn't recover from there. If you can backup your files, wipe the internal disk and then re-setup windows and Linux without the encryption that would definitely be the better option in the long run. Especially if you intend on doing important work on the machine.

Another option is to try out unetbootin. It can create liveusbs with persistence, but I haven't ever tried it. It may, or may not work with debian (Ubuntu may have better support, so worth trying both if you can live with Ubuntu).