windows 10 usb download linux How to Install Linux OS on USB Drive and Run it On Any PC. Ever thought of using any computer which is not yours, with all your personal stuff and configuration? It is possible with any Linux distribution. Yes! You can use your own, customized Linux OS on any machine with just a USB drive. This tutorial is all about installing Latest Linux OS on your pen-drive ( fully reconfigurable personalized OS, NOT just a Live USB ), customize it, and use it on any PC you have access to. Here I am using Lubuntu 18.04 Bionic beaver for this tutorial (but, you can use any Linux distribution). So let’s gets started. Requirements: One Pendrive 4GB or More (Let’s call it as Main USB drive/Pendrive). One more Pen drive or DVD disk to use as bootable Linux installation media. Linux OS ISO file, for example Lubuntu 18.04 . One PC ( Warning : Disconnect internal hard drives to prevent boot record alteration). Important : While this procedure will not cause loss of data, some users have experienced changes to their internal drive’s bootup behavior depending on Linux distributions selected. To prevent any possibility of this occurrence, you may wish to disconnect your hard drive before continuing with the USB install portion of the tutorial.” TIP : Use 32 bit Linux OS to make it compatible with any available PC. That’s it! Go, and collect all of these. It’s time to do something new. Step 1: Create Bootable Linux Installation Media. Use your Linux ISO image file to create a bootable USB installation media. You can use any software like Unetbootin, Gnome Disk Utility , Yumi Multi Boot , xboot , Live USB Creator, etc. to create bootable USB with the help of ISO image file. Alternatively, you can use DVD disk by writing that ISO image to it (but that is the old school method). Step 2: Create Partitions On Main USB Drive. You have to make two partitions on your Main USB drive using Gparted or Gnome Disk Utility , etc. The root partition of format ext4 of size according to your use. Optionally you can use the rest of the space as a FAT partition for using it as a normal USB drive. I am having 16GB USB drive and I have created one root partition of 5GB and using rest 11GB as normal FAT partition. So my 16 GB USB drive is converted to 11GB drive for normal use on any PC. Sounds good. This step you can do while installing Linux also, but it will be very complex while installing Operating Systems like Arch Linux . Main USB Drive Partitions. Once you have created required partitions on the Main USB drive. Now take a deep breath because it’s time to go for Linux installation section. Step 3: Install Linux on USB Drive. 1. First, boot Linux OS ( Lubuntu 18.04 ) from your bootable installation media and launch installation application from a live session. Live session of Lubuntu 18.04 will look like this. Lubuntu Live Boot. 2. Installer welcome screen will appear, select Language there and hit Continue . Select Lubuntu Installation Language. 3. Select Keyboard Layout and continue… Select Lubuntu Keyboard Layout. 4. Select Wifi internet if you want to update Lubuntu while installation. I will skip it. Select Wifi to Update Lubuntu. 5. Select Installation Type and Third-party installation as per your choice and go to next.. Select Lubuntu Software Updates. 6. Here select Something Else Option (It is Mandatory) and go to next… Select Lubuntu Installation Type. 7. This is an Important step, here you need to find out where your Main USB drive is mounted. Find Main USB Drive. In my case /dev/sda are an internal hard disk of the PC and I am using /dev/sdb is USB Lubuntu Installation media from where this live session is booted. And /dev/sdc is my Main USB drive where I want to install my Linux system and where I have made two partitions in step number 2 . If you have skipped step 2, you can also make partitions in this window. First, change the mount point of the first partition on this Main USB drive to ROOT (i.e. “ / ” ). And as shown in the second red square select bootloader installation device as the Main USB drive. In my case it is /dev/sdc . This is the most important step in this tutorial. If it is not done correctly your system will boot only on the current PC you are using, which is exactly opposite of your motivation to follow this tutorial. Once it is completed, double-check it and hit continue . You will get a small window showing devices and drive which will be affected. 8. Make sure that the device and drives shown on this window are of your Main USB drive, which is in my case /dev/sdc . Hit continue … Write Partition Changes to Disk. 9. Now select your Region and hit Continue … Select Lubuntu Region. 10. Add username, password, and hostname, etc… Create a Lubuntu User. 11. Let the installation finish. 12. After completing installation hit restart and remove your installation media and press Enter . Lubuntu Installation Completes. 13. Congratulations, you have successfully installed your own Linux OS on your pen drive to use it on any PC. Now you can connect a USB drive to any PC and start your system on that PC by simply selecting boot from USB option while booting. Step 4: Customize the Lubuntu System. Now it’s time for fun. Just boot your system on any PC and start customizing. You can install any software you want. You can change Themes, Icon themes, install docker. You can add and store your online accounts on it. Install/modify/customize whatever you want. All the changes will be permanent. They will not change or reset after rebooting or booting on other PCs. The following figure shows my customized Lubuntu 18.04 . Lubuntu Running on USB Drive. The main advantage of this method is you can use your personal stuff, your online accounts securely on any PC. You can even do secure online transactions as well on any available PC. I hope it will be helpful for you, if you have questions regarding this article, please feel free to ask in the comment section below. If You Appreciate What We Do Here On TecMint, You Should Consider: TecMint is the fastest growing and most trusted community site for any kind of Linux Articles, Guides and Books on the web. Millions of people visit TecMint! to search or browse the thousands of published articles available FREELY to all. If you like what you are reading, please consider buying us a coffee ( or 2 ) as a token of appreciation. Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3. Universal USB Installer aka UUI is a Live Linux Bootable USB Creator. It allows users to make a USB Boot from a Linux distribution, Windows Installer, Windows To Go, Antivirus Scanner, Disk Cloning Software or any other System Tool that can be put on a flash drive. The software is easy to use; Simply choose your distribution from the list, browse to the ISO file, select your target flash drive, and then click Create. Once finished, you should have a ready to run Bootable Flash Drive containing the operating system or tool you selected. It is important to note that the Universal USB Installer allows you to continue using your flash drive for traditional storage purposes. This is unlike some tools that use DD (Copy and Convert) to directly Burn ISO to USB. Those types of tools overwrite the file system, making the device appear as a CD/DVD which is further limited to the size of the ISO file. Another key feature of UUI includes Persistence storage, where available. This Persistent feature allows you to save some changes and then restore them on subsequent boots. Ubuntu based Casper Persistence works with FAT32 or NTFS formatted drives. A larger than 4GB casper-rw or persistent option is also possible when the USB drive is formatted with an NTFS filesystem. NOTE : If you are wanting to add multiple Live Linux Distributions, System Diagnostic Tools, Antivirus Utilities, and Windows Installers, you should use the YUMI Multiboot USB Software , instead. It can help you Boot Multiple ISO files from one flash drive. Universal USB Installer (UUI) Universal-USB-Installer-2.0.0.6.exe – August 4, 2021 – Changes Update AmogOS with persistence download link. SHA-256: D5A3ED21CF3BD740089C7C5FA5D01E0AAB083EBBA8FBBB3CE972E3B95E613DEE. Requirements Changes Supported Distros FAQ. Requirements to Create a Live Bootable USB Flash Drive. IMPORTANT : UUI only shows USB drives detected by Windows as removable media. See the best recommended Fast Flash Drives . Your flash drive must be Fat32/NTFS formatted, otherwise Syslinux will fail to install an MBR ( M aster B oot R ecord), and as a result the device will NOT Boot. Universal-USB-Installer-2.0.0.6.exe Windows to make the USB bootable Greater than 2GB *Fat32 or NTFS Formatted Flash Drive. MBR partition table Computer with a BIOS that can boot from USB Your Favorite Linux ISO. Feel free to inform me of unlisted Live Linux distributions or version revisions, and I will do my best to update the UUI tool to support them. Universal USB Installer Changelog. The following Changelog outlines any recent changes made to the software. Only the latest revisions are listed. 8/4/21 – Version 2.0.6: Update AmogOS with persistence download link. 7/23/21 – Version 2.0.5: Update to support AmogOS and HDClone.