Arch Linux

lyntux

Member

Registered: 2017-06-28

Posts: 20

Moving M.2 to USB Stick

For various reasons, I need a windows laptop for a class I'm taking in a couple of weeks. My main computer is an Arch laptop. I'd like to take my laptop and use it in the class, but it would be nice to use my computer normally between classes. I have tried a couple of solutions.

I bought a spare M.2 drive and a USB-C enclosure. I tried to install Windows on it, but Windows refuses to install on USB drives.

Then, I removed the M.2 drive with Arch from my computer, put in in the enclosure, and tried to boot it, but I get an error:

(I'm using 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 as the drive's UUID, because I only have cell phone pictures of the error and don't want to retype the whole thing. I want to point out that the first line of the error is missing the first two digits of my drive's UUID and was replaced by a square icon, for some reason.)

[ TIME ] Timed out waiting for device /dev/■000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.
...

I tried a couple of variations of my drive's /etc/fstab and grub-mkconfig via the Arch live installer thingy, but it kept giving me the above error.

I guess that by moving my M.2 drive from /dev/nvme0n1p2 to /dev/sda2 is screwing up the config. Is there a good way of moving my drive to a USB stick so I can install Windows on the internal drive for class? I'd appreciate any guidance that someone can give me.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,453

Re: Moving M.2 to USB Stick

Boot the fallback initramfs.

lyntux

Member

Registered: 2017-06-28

Posts: 20

Re: Moving M.2 to USB Stick

Huh, that... that could work. It's a bit late here but let me try that in the morning and I'll get back to you. Thanks!

lyntux

Member

Registered: 2017-06-28

Posts: 20

Re: Moving M.2 to USB Stick

Wow, that worked. Thank you very much!