Create FatDog64 Live USB from Live CD

We used to create LIVE USB’s out of LIVE CD, for performance reason. It will boot faster than a Live CD. Also you can reuse the USB to make another Live USB for another distro, when your existing distro is no longer needed. This happens all the time, as new releases comes out and goes all the time, for all major distros.

OK. I used to create Live USB using ‘UNetBootin’ application. Installer is available for WIndows.

You can install it in Ubuntu using

‘apt-get install unetbootin’

The usage is simple, Just have your LIVE CD image in your machine. Open UnetBootin, select the ‘ISO’ cd image as the source. Select the destination as your ‘USB’, that should be used as a Live USB.

This technique works for Ubuntu, Lubuntu and other distros. But when I used the same for ‘FatDog64-631.iso’, it does not works at all. The USB does not boots and only a blinking cursor on the screen. After much research, We’ve found our that, ‘Unetbootin’ does not copy all the files for ‘FatDog64.

But there is a solution to circumvent this problem. Please follow the below steps, to convert a ‘FatDog64’.

1. Format your USB as ‘FAT32’

We use Lubuntu14.04. So we open ‘Disks’, and can select the USB disk and go for a format. You can do the same with GParted as well.

2. Manually copy the contents inside the Live CD, to the USB

We use Lubuntu14.04. So we can directly click on the Live CD Image (ISO). It will automatically open the archive. Now we can opt ‘Extract’ option to extract all contents. We’ve given the destination path as the ‘USB’, already formatted in step#1.

For windows, mount the ISO in a Virtual CD drive and copy its contents is an option.

3. Open ‘UNetBootin’ as usual and convert Live CD to Live USB

OK. This is the normal step. Just open ‘Unetbootin’ and select the source as the Live CD Image. Destination is our ‘USB’. Now opt ‘Overwrite/Replace All’ for existing files.

4. Set Bootable flag on the USB

Now make the bootable flag on for the USB partition. I’ve just opened the disk program again and selected the partition in the USB. Then opted ‘Edit Partition’ option and checked the ‘Bootable’ checkbox. You can also use GParted for this, but the steps may be a bit different.

5. In BIOS set the USB mode as ‘FDD’/ ‘Force FDD’

This is important. Some where is in your BIOS screen, you can select your USB device and set this option.

6. In BIOS, Move the USB to the very top in ‘Boot Priority’ settings

7. Reboot to the Live USB

Now you will boot into the Live USB. Select appropriate menu entry for the startup screen. You’re good to go!