Install Debian on USB stick
This is a step by step how to to install debian on a USB stick and make this stick bootable. The stick in the example is found under /dev/sdb. Change to fit your setup.
1. Partition the disk.
If you want you can use also crypto_LUKS and LVM
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 28.9 GiB, 31051513856 bytes, 60647488 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x93e4092b Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdb1 * 2048 1050623 1048576 512M 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 1050624 46679687 45629064 21.8G 83 Linux
The example here will use plain ext4 on two partitions
/dev/sdb1 /boot /dev/sdb2 /
1.a. USB Formatting with GPT
Model: Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 (scsi) Disk /dev/sdb: 60647488s Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: gpt Disk Flags: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 2048s 1001471s 999424s fat32 EFI boot, esp 2 1001472s 2050047s 1048576s ext4 3 2050048s 10438655s 8388608s linux-swap(v1) 4 10438656s 60647454s 50208799s ext4
Use following setup
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/target/boot/efi /dev/sdb2 /mnt/target/boot/ /dev/sdb4 /mnt/target/
mount the partitions and chroot (see below) then install grub (5.2) and do update-grub this should be done from efi booted system
2. Format the partitions
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1 # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2
3. mount the partitions
# mkdir /mnt/target # mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/target # mkdir /mnt/target/boot # mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/target/boot # mount /dev/sdb2 on /mnt/target type ext4 (rw,relatime) /dev/sdb1 on /mnt/target/boot type ext4 (rw,relatime)
4. Debootstrap Buster to /mnt/target
https://wiki.debian.org/Debootstrap
The log can be monitored after starting debootstrap
tail -1000f /mnt/target/debootstrap/debootstrap.log
# debootstrap buster /mnt/target/ http://deb.debian.org/debian/ I: Retrieving InRelease I: Checking Release signature I: Valid Release signature (key id 6D33866EDD8FFA41C0143AEDDCC9EFBF77E11517) I: Retrieving Packages I: Validating Packages I: Resolving dependencies of required packages... I: Resolving dependencies of base packages... I: Found additional required dependencies: adduser debian-archive-keyring fdisk gcc-8-base gpgv libacl1 libapt-pkg5.0 libattr1 libaudit-common libaudit1 libblkid1 libbz2-1.0 libc6 libcap-ng0 libcom-err2 libdb5.3 libdebconfclient0 libext2fs2 libfdisk1 libffi6 libgcc1 libgcrypt20 libgmp10 libgnutls30 libgpg-error0 libhogweed4 libidn2-0 liblz4-1 liblzma5 libmount1 libncursesw6 libnettle6 libp11-kit0 libpam0g libpcre3 libseccomp2 libselinux1 libsemanage-common libsemanage1 libsepol1 libsmartcols1 libss2 libstdc++6 libsystemd0 libtasn1-6 libtinfo6 libudev1 libunistring2 libuuid1 libzstd1 zlib1g I: Found additional base dependencies: dmsetup libapparmor1 libapt-inst2.0 libargon2-1 libbsd0 libcap2 libcap2-bin libcryptsetup12 libdevmapper1.02.1 libdns-export1104 libelf1 libestr0 libfastjson4 libidn11 libip4tc0 libip6tc0 libiptc0 libisc-export1100 libjson-c3 libkmod2 liblocale-gettext-perl liblognorm5 libmnl0 libncurses6 libnetfilter-conntrack3 libnewt0.52 libnfnetlink0 libnftnl11 libpopt0 libprocps7 libslang2 libssl1.1 libtext-charwidth-perl libtext-iconv-perl libtext-wrapi18n-perl libxtables12 lsb-base xxd I: Checking component main on http://deb.debian.org/debian... I: Retrieving libacl1 2.2.53-4 I: Validating libacl1 2.2.53-4 I: Retrieving adduser 3.118 I: Validating adduser 3.118 I: Retrieving libapparmor1 2.13.2-10 I: Validating libapparmor1 2.13.2-10 I: Retrieving apt 1.8.2 I: Validating apt 1.8.2 I: Retrieving apt-utils 1.8.2 I: Validating apt-utils 1.8.2 [...] I: Configuring iptables... I: Configuring tasksel-data... I: Configuring tasksel... I: Configuring libc-bin... I: Configuring systemd... I: Base system installed successfully.
5. Configure the new system
When using debootstrap few additional things need to be setup. Of course you could have copied your running system or other distribution You can skip this step if not using debootstrap
5.1. Chroot
# mount --make-unbindable -obind /proc/ /mnt/target/proc/ # mount --make-unbindable -obind /dev/ /mnt/target/dev/ # mount --make-unbindable -obind /dev/pts /mnt/target/dev/pts # mount --make-unbindable -obind /run /mnt/target/run # mount --make-unbindable -obind /sys /mnt/target/sys/ # chroot /mnt/target/
5.2. Edit /etc/fstab
prepare the UUIDs of boot and root
# blkid /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdb1: UUID="7e953b17-5f57-4001-b326-70cabdf48abe" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="93e4092b-01" # blkid /dev/sdb2 /dev/sdb2: UUID="0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="93e4092b-02"
vi /etc/fstab
UUID=0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c / ext4 defaults 0 1 UUID=7e953b17-5f57-4001-b326-70cabdf48abe /boot ext4 defaults 0 2
5.3 Install linux kernel
# apt-get install linux-image-amd64 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done The following additional packages will be installed: [...] Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-10) ... Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.133+deb10u1) ... update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-6-amd64
5.4 Install grub2
# apt-get install grub2 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following additional packages will be installed: [...]
│ GRUB install devices: │ │ │ │ [ ] /dev/dm-0 (499836 MB; sdb2_crypt) │ │ [ ] /dev/sda (500107 MB; WDC_WDS500G1B0A-00H9H0) │ │ [*] /dev/sdb (31051 MB; DataTraveler_2.0) │ │ [ ] - /dev/sdb1 (536 MB; /boot) │ │ [ ] - /dev/sdb2 (23362 MB; /) │ Installing for i386-pc platform. Installation finished. No error reported. Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-6-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-6-amd64 done
5.5 Check the initramfs for usb modules
# cd boot && lsinitramfs initrd.img-4.19.0-6-amd64 | grep usb
5.6 Check for the root partition in grub.cfg
You should find in the file the UUID
# less /boot/grub/grub.cfg
[...]
set root='hd1,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/ (null)/sas/disk@0,msdos2' --hint-bios=hd1,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos2 0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c
fi
[...]
Note: if the BIOS can not find the partition, change hd1 to hd0 and ahci1 to ahci0.
Some computers assign the lowest number to the booting device
[...]
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/ (null)/sas/disk@0,msdos2' --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0d189f21-dc54-416d-8d85-0bb9df8c8f4c
fi
[...]
5.7. Set root password
root@fujitsu:~# passwd root New password: Retype new password: passwd: password updated successfully
5.8. Set hostname
# vi /etc/hostname
5.9. Install additional software
- WLAN drivers - applications and desktop - others
# vi /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
# apt-get update # apt-get install ............
5.10. Exit and umount the chroot
# umount /mnt/target/proc/ # umount /mnt/target/dev/pts # umount /mnt/target/dev/ # umount /mnt/target/run/ # umount /mnt/target/sys/ # umount /mnt/target/boot/ # umount /mnt/target/
if not using debootstrap
6.1. Install grub2 if not using debootstrap
grub2-install --removable --boot-directory=/mnt/target/boot /dev/sdb
6.2. Inspect grub.conf if needed apply from 5.6
# vi /mnt/target/boot/grub.conf
6.3. Set hostname
# vi /mnt/target/etc/hostname