You can run the bash script "create_bootable_usb.sh" or follow the steps provided below. This is a quick and dirty guide to creating a bootable Linux USB stick with your favorite tools.
1.A
On your host system, first update your package list and install live-build:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install live-build -y
1.B Switch to Root User
sudo su -
- Download the OS Using debootstrap
Download the base system. You can check debootstrap for other OS versions you can install:
debootstrap --variant=minbase focal /tmp/focal_tree
- Customize Your OS Using chroot
Make changes to your new OS. Note that changes made after this point are stored only in the new live version.
chroot /tmp/focal_tree
3.A Prepare apt
Update the package list and install necessary tools:
apt update -y && apt upgrade -y && apt install apt-transport-https
3.B Add Universe Repository
Add the universe repository and update the package list:
add-apt-repository universe
add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main universe restricted multiverse"
apt-get update
3.C Install Common Software
Install common tools and applications:
apt install software-properties-common net-tools terminator filezilla vim xfce4 xfce4-terminal xfce4-goodies xubuntu-desktop openssh-server tldr tigervnc-viewer sudo wireless-tools laptop-detect locales curl clamav-daemon nano less gparted gedit
3.C.1 For Server Recovery
apt install ipmitool
3.C.2 Improve Battery Life for Laptops
apt install tlp tlp-rdw
tlp start
systemctl enable tlp.service
3.D Optionally Install apt-fast
add-apt-repository ppa:apt-fast/stable
apt-get update
apt-get install apt-fast
If asked, select lightdm.
- Add VSCodium for Development
Download and add the VSCodium key:
wget -qO - https://gitlab.com/paulcarroty/vscodium-deb-rpm-repo/raw/master/pub.gpg | gpg --dearmor | dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/vscodium-archive-keyring.gpg
4.A Add the VSCodium Repository
echo 'deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/vscodium-archive-keyring.gpg ] https://download.vscodium.com/debs vscodium main' | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscodium.list
- Add Chrome Browser
5.A Add Key
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add -
5.B Add Repository
echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
5.C Update apt
apt-get update
5.D Install Google Chrome browser
apt-get install google-chrome-stable
- Purge Unwanted Software
apt-get purge -y transmission-gtk transmission-common gnome-mahjongg gnome-mines gnome-sudoku aisleriot hitori
- Generate Locales
Select en_US.ISO-8859-1 and en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8, and then C.UTF-8 as the default:
dpkg-reconfigure locales
- Add a User with a Home Directory
useradd -m <your_username_here>
- Clean up apt
apt-get autoremove -y && apt-get clean
- Set Hostname
echo "ubuntu-fs-live" > /etc/hostname
- Configure Machine-ID and Divert
dbus-uuidgen > /etc/machine-id
ln -fs /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
- Remove Machine-ID
truncate -s 0 /etc/machine-id
- Clean up bash_history
rm -rf /tmp/* ~/.bash_history
export HISTSIZE=0
- Exit from chroot
exit
- Generate the Bootable Image
debootstick --config-root-password-ask /tmp/focal_tree /tmp/img.dd
15.A Enter Root Password for Your New Live Stick
Follow the prompts to enter and confirm the root password.
- Insert a USB Stick and Find the Device Name
lsblk
- Write the Image to the USB Stick
Replace /dev/sdb with your USB device name:
sudo dd bs=10M if=/tmp/img.dd of=/dev/sdb
You should see an output similar to:
554+1 records in
554+1 records out
5812256768 bytes (5.8 GB, 5.4 GiB) copied, 175.691 s, 33.1 MB/s
- Test the Image
Create a test copy and simulate the USB stick on a virtual machine:
cp /tmp/img.dd /tmp/img.dd-test # Work on a copy, the test is destructive
truncate -s 2G /tmp/img.dd-test # Simulate a 2G-large USB stick
kvm -m 2048 -hda /tmp/img.dd-test # Test in BIOS mode
- Copy the Boot Image to a USB Stick or Disk
dd bs=10M if=/tmp/img.dd of=/dev/your-device
The USB device is now ready to be booted on any BIOS or UEFI hardware.