Deploying the USB version is divided into the following steps:
- First, download a disk image from the range of disk image files provided to suit your needs .
- Then follow the instructions for different operating systems to burn the disc image.
- Make the necessary additional preparations for the first start-up. The system can be set to boot from the stick by default, or you can choose between either the operating system pre-installed on the machine and the stick each time you boot.
- After additional preparations for the first use, the system will boot to the desktop for the first time.
Also note the mixed selection of special instructions for the USB version, e.g. for the deployment of WLANs in educational establishments. If the USB version does not support all parts of your hardware, also note the troubleshooting instructions and especially the listed compatible USB-connected replacement devices to replace the unsupported built-in ones.
Platform image
The virtualization platform is delivered as a disk image with a .img extension . The disk image is "burned" to a USB stick (no files are copied) one byte at a time. This program requires different programs on different operating systems, especially when done graphically. For example, Unix / Linux-based systems typically include the program dd , which can be used to perform an operation on the command line, but this program is dangerous to use because it can also inadvertently wipe the machine's own operating system.
RAW format
Some USB image burning programs do not agree to burn "raw" (RAW) disk images, but require the disk image to be converted to ISO9660 format so that it can also be burned to a CD / DVD. The recommended programs we tested also support the "raw" file format on different operating systems, so the format of the disk image will not be a problem by choosing the right burning program.
Burning the RAW format to a stick basically means copying a disk image from the beginning of a file one byte at a time to the corresponding memory addresses on the USB stick (not as a file in "Explorer"). The result is a byte by byte identical copy. Because the capacity of the stick must be at least the size of a disk image, the rest of the stick can be used for other purposes. The virtualization platform is designed to take this mode from the first stick on startup to access user files. Advanced users can use the space for other purposes as well.
On technical implementation
The disk version of the USB version is MBR / GPT hybrid formatted and works on new and old machines, as well as on both Mac and PC. The disk image is not in ISO9660 format (CD image) and this is a design decision that is unlikely to change. Here are some ISO format issues
- The ISO9660 format does not support writing to disk, but our system writes this. to disk.
- The ISO format takes up space on the stick for useful content, and its support further complicates the construction of the disk image.
- The ISO format does not support long (more than 30 characters) file names.
- On some machines, booting from an USB stick is more buggy than other methods. Today, direct GPT boot is the clearest technology.
Many Linux distributions that burn to USB come in ISO format because they default to burning to a rewritable CD, which we don't support. In reality, using the ISO format when burning to a USB stick is completely useless. There are three ways to boot the operating system in ISO disk images. The disk image first has a 0-445 MBR boot loader at byte indication locations. This is used to chain the actual boot loader if the machine's BIOS recognizes the disk image with a crumb / hard disk emulation.
Locations 512-17407 have a GPT header from which the firmware of the (U) EFI machine finds the ESP system partition. A GPT header can be built on top of the MBR because GPT does not assign content to addresses 0-511. Similarly, the ISO format does not specify content for addresses 0-32767. In that situation, your computer must have the second half of the 90th century or the 2000s the first half of a given manufacturer's BIOS or disk image is burned onto the optical disc, is also the possibility of using the ISO bootata El Torito method. Even then, once the ISO format has been identified, the boot / hard disk emulation is returned at boot time, the boot loader 1 (GRUB) is chain-loaded, after which it is possible to return to the boot loader 2 (ISOLINUX), which utilizes the menus shared by all the above technologies.