Making a USB dongle with lots of tools and Linux distros
Posted: 08 Nov 2017, 11:39
You may know our Viking Rescue DVD which comes with a lot of tools to aid you when your computer breaks down.
But you may want more and a bootable Linux system as well..right?
Also new laptops come without DVD or CD-rom so you need them on an USB dongle. This should of course be bootable and come with a menu that lets you pick from all the nice apps on the dongle.
Apps that you pick and chose exactly to your liking
The Linux pendrive project has several suggestion on how to achieve this and I am going to recommend Yumi.
So why is this Linux stuff under Windows tips you say?
Answer:
All that Linux stuff are exe files and will "install" under Windows!
The product - aka bootable dongle - will/can contain many Linux apps but you create it in Windows.
In theory it should work with Wine in Linux too....but I never got it working like that.
So I downloaded Yumi.exe and right clicked it in Windows to run it as administrator.
I put my USB dongle in and downloaded all the iso's that I wanted to be on my new super duper dongle rescue tool.
As it happens these were the same as on the Viking Rescue DVD containing Clonezilla, Systemrecuecd,Trinity Rescuekit, REDO Backup ++ and I added Comodo Rescuediskfor good measure.
I downloaded all those iso files and decided to put them on the dongle with Yumi.
Yumi offers to download several Linux distros (directly) too, but I wanted some that were not on Yumi's list!
Yumi does not look like it can handle more than one app but it does you simply add another one after you have added the first and it will be added - not replacing the one you have.
I browsed to my folder where the iso files were and added them.
The apps that are not on the list may give you an error message; you need to select the isolinux option at the bottom of the list for those.
In Fact "Try unlisted (ISOLINUX)" is the option for all iso files that are unlisted. That option will let you browse your folders for other iso files to add.
When you are finished make sure that you have chosen the right address for your dongle and press "create".
That's it! Your dongle will now be bootable with all your apps on it.
.....
If you are booting UEFI style then you need to go into Bios and turn off secure boot and set it to Legacy boot and set your USB drive on top under HDD boot options (Hardware may differ but that's what I have to do).
There is also a beta version of Yumi UEFI that might boot your dongle in UEFI mode (not tested ...yet) if you disable secure boot in BIOS.
But you may want more and a bootable Linux system as well..right?
Also new laptops come without DVD or CD-rom so you need them on an USB dongle. This should of course be bootable and come with a menu that lets you pick from all the nice apps on the dongle.
Apps that you pick and chose exactly to your liking
The Linux pendrive project has several suggestion on how to achieve this and I am going to recommend Yumi.
So why is this Linux stuff under Windows tips you say?
Answer:
All that Linux stuff are exe files and will "install" under Windows!
The product - aka bootable dongle - will/can contain many Linux apps but you create it in Windows.
In theory it should work with Wine in Linux too....but I never got it working like that.
So I downloaded Yumi.exe and right clicked it in Windows to run it as administrator.
I put my USB dongle in and downloaded all the iso's that I wanted to be on my new super duper dongle rescue tool.
As it happens these were the same as on the Viking Rescue DVD containing Clonezilla, Systemrecuecd,Trinity Rescuekit, REDO Backup ++ and I added Comodo Rescuediskfor good measure.
I downloaded all those iso files and decided to put them on the dongle with Yumi.
Yumi offers to download several Linux distros (directly) too, but I wanted some that were not on Yumi's list!
Yumi does not look like it can handle more than one app but it does you simply add another one after you have added the first and it will be added - not replacing the one you have.
I browsed to my folder where the iso files were and added them.
The apps that are not on the list may give you an error message; you need to select the isolinux option at the bottom of the list for those.
In Fact "Try unlisted (ISOLINUX)" is the option for all iso files that are unlisted. That option will let you browse your folders for other iso files to add.
When you are finished make sure that you have chosen the right address for your dongle and press "create".
That's it! Your dongle will now be bootable with all your apps on it.
.....
If you are booting UEFI style then you need to go into Bios and turn off secure boot and set it to Legacy boot and set your USB drive on top under HDD boot options (Hardware may differ but that's what I have to do).
There is also a beta version of Yumi UEFI that might boot your dongle in UEFI mode (not tested ...yet) if you disable secure boot in BIOS.