Unable to boot Puppy from USB Flash drive

Booting, installing, newbie
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Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#16 Post by Aitch »

Marc Noel

You don't give much detail about the PCs you are trying to boot USB drives with
IF they have floppy drives, I suggest downloading and making a BOOT FLOPPY, which WILL allow you to boot from floppy, ZIP, CD/DVD, USB flash or HDD, or HDD drives, in fact ANY bootable device - whether allowed in BIOS or not

Smart boot manager here

http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm

see also here

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=3988

Good Luck

Aitch :)

Jeffreytooker
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed 04 Jun 2008, 07:12

#17 Post by Jeffreytooker »

<<<Aitch wrote:
You don't give much detail about the PCs you are trying to boot USB drives with
IF they have floppy drives, I suggest downloading and making a BOOT FLOPPY, which WILL allow you to boot from floppy, ZIP, CD/DVD, USB, or HDD drives>>>

Aitch:

I stumbled across a way to boot from the Puppy 431 iso and save to USB.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48828

It allows one to boot from the 431 iso and save to the USB. I am using it with a Dell Dimension 2350 which will not boot from USB. I made the USB by forcing the iso to save to the USB because I had removed the HDD. I can copy the forced USB to other USB's so I do not have to repeat the force. I keep the iso and the USB as a set. This allows the benefits of HDD type operation while using a USB. As the HDD is not used there is no partitioning. The USB allows portability, and it all runs on a computer which will not boot from USB.

Jeffrey

Marc Noel
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon 16 Nov 2009, 06:15

#18 Post by Marc Noel »

Thanks to everyone who responded. It turns out that I don't need to have a USB drive, since Puppy would only be used on one computer anyway, so loading from a CD is fine. However, I have had to download something called Pwireless2 to get the wireless connection to work, and it appears that it needs to be installed each time Puppy is loaded. That, combined with some other issues, has dictated that I stick with Windows at this time, as the person who will use this computer won't be willing to have to perform a fresh install every time.

Marc Noel

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Wheres One
Posts: 215
Joined: Fri 21 Nov 2008, 23:30

#19 Post by Wheres One »

You don't have to install it every time; when you shut down, after running from the live CD, you should be given a prompt to save your session. Do this, and you won't have to reinstall the program every time that you boot.

Wheres One

Marc Noel
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon 16 Nov 2009, 06:15

#20 Post by Marc Noel »

Wheres One:

Okay, IF I can get PWireless2 to work again (it didn't the last time I installed it), then you mean that, once I finish my session with Puppy, then save to CD, it will boot up from the CD again the next time I re-boot or turn the computer on, all ready to go? I will try that tonight. I told my wife (it's her computer) that she could just leave the Puppy CD in until she needs to do something else (like play another CD/DVD, or else to boot Windows). Also, will the CD continue to save data indefinitely, or else will a message eventually come up saying that the CD is full and a new one must be made? Should I be using a CD-RW instead of a CD-R?

By the way, I also tried installing Linux Mint, but I didn't partition right (I need to learn more about the process), and, no matter what I did, I could not get a wireless connection (Broadcom wireless adapter), so Puppy was one of the two choices I was trying. I couldn't even get an Internet connection with the Ethernet cable plugged in! Figure that out.

Marc Noel

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Wheres One
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Joined: Fri 21 Nov 2008, 23:30

#21 Post by Wheres One »

You could save to the CD; however it will eventually fill. I, for one, would just create a save file on a hard disk, flash drive, etc. and boot off that, if I didn't want to do an install.

Also, you probably should take a look at some of the posts and other literature about the various and sundry methods of installing and booting puppy. A google search will likely provide a good amount of reading material on the subject.

Wheres One

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