Arch Linux

Xi0N

Member

From: Bilbao - Spain

Registered: 2007-11-29

Posts: 832

Website

Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

I've been searching and found a couple posts that talk about how to achieve this, but i still don't get it quite clear.

My idea is to have a bootable USB that I can carry around and use on multiple different computers: SOme of them BIOS, some other UEFI ones.
At first, I thought of making it BIOS, but you can't get it to boot atr all when the computer is UEFI only.

So, arch install ISO comes to mind: I think it's the most compatible one and AFAIK, does not need to disable secure boot.
How can one achieve this for a USB installation?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 24,076

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

The Arch ISO needs you to disable secureboot. And read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mu … T/MBR_boot

Last edited by V1del (2019-09-26 18:54:48)

Roken

Member

From: South Wales, UK

Registered: 2012-01-16

Posts: 1,306

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

My idea is to have a bootable USB that I can carry around and use on multiple different computers: Some of them BIOS, some other UEFI ones.
At first, I thought of making it BIOS, but you can't get it to boot atr all when the computer is UEFI only.

I only have my own experience to go on, but I have two USB HDs, both booting to Arch (one boots a basic arch and then launches virtualbox, whilst the other boots a full portable desktop). Both are BIOS boot drives, and both boot just fine on my UEFI only desktop.

What bootloader are you using. I found GRUB problematic, but syslinux works with no issues.

---

Ryzen 5900X 12 core/24 thread - RTX 3090 FE 24 Gb, Asus B550-F Gaming MB, 128Gb Corsair DDR4, Cooler Master N300 chassis, 5 HD (2 NvME PCI, 4SSD) + 1 x optical.
Linux user #545703

/ is the root of all problems.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,428

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Set it up GPT with an ESP. install UEFI bootloader. Install BIOS bootloader. Done.

Xi0N

Member

From: Bilbao - Spain

Registered: 2007-11-29

Posts: 832

Website

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

My idea is to have a bootable USB that I can carry around and use on multiple different computers: Some of them BIOS, some other UEFI ones.
At first, I thought of making it BIOS, but you can't get it to boot atr all when the computer is UEFI only.

I only have my own experience to go on, but I have two USB HDs, both booting to Arch (one boots a basic arch and then launches virtualbox, whilst the other boots a full portable desktop). Both are BIOS boot drives, and both boot just fine on my UEFI only desktop.

What bootloader are you using. I found GRUB problematic, but syslinux works with no issues.

My idea was to go with GRUB for BIOS and systemd for UEFI, but I guess I'l look into syslinux better.

I want to use btrfs on top of LUKS for the whole device except the boot partition.

Xi0N

Member

From: Bilbao - Spain

Registered: 2007-11-29

Posts: 832

Website

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Set it up GPT with an ESP. install UEFI bootloader. Install BIOS bootloader. Done.

Any particular bootloader?

@V1del Thanks for the tip!!!

Last edited by Xi0N (2019-09-27 03:57:14)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,368

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Set it up GPT with an ESP.

Older BIOS using systems can't handle GPT drives.

Xi0N, do you expect to use this usb drive on systems manufactured before 2010 AND is it smaller then 2 TiB ?

If yes, going for an EFI System Partition on a MBR formatted disk is a better choice.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EF … oned_disks

I can verify you can boot UEFI that way (for personal reasons I don't use GPT.)

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,428

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Set it up GPT with an ESP.

Older BIOS using systems can't handle GPT drives.

There are a few, but most of them aren't older; most BIOS systems don't read the partition table at all, it wasn't until the end of BIOS's life that some firmwares decided to start checking the partition table for no good reason.

Easily worked around with a hybrid MBR setup.

Xi0N

Member

From: Bilbao - Spain

Registered: 2007-11-29

Posts: 832

Website

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Set it up GPT with an ESP.

Older BIOS using systems can't handle GPT drives.

Xi0N, do you expect to use this usb drive on systems manufactured before 2010 AND is it smaller then 2 TiB ?

If yes, going for an EFI System Partition on a MBR formatted disk is a better choice.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EF … oned_disks

I can verify you can boot UEFI that way (for personal reasons I don't use GPT.)

The disk is going to be 16 Gb, it's a kingston key.
And I hope I don't have to boot anything older than 2010, yeah

hamster007

Member

Registered: 2015-03-11

Posts: 8

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Hi folks,
I would like to do something similar. I would go tiwh EFI on MBR as I made sure that this works on most systems in an unrelated project. But what about secureboot? Should I use Refind boot manager?
I created similar project with Fedore, where it uses Grub and Shim. Will it work the same here with Grub and Shim?
Thanks.

pmark33

Member

Registered: 2019-11-18

Posts: 1

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Hey, I have used everytime the gnome-disk-utility for that. Right-click on the .iso file, open with it, select the flash drive, done! On my laptop, Asus X450LCP, I can boot with UEFI or BIOS with the exact same flash drive

hamster007

Member

Registered: 2015-03-11

Posts: 8

Re: Installing on USB - Trying to make it compatible with BIOS and UEFI

Hey, I have used everytime the gnome-disk-utility for that. Right-click on the .iso file, open with it, select the flash drive, done! On my laptop, Asus X450LCP, I can boot with UEFI or BIOS with the exact same flash drive

That's nice, but you are solving a different problem. I don't want to use ISO file as a live image, I want to perform regular installation on the USB drive. And I don't want to boot it only on my computer, I want to boot it on as many computers as possible.