How do I make a USB stick from which to install different OS's?

Posted by Hanno Fietz on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Hanno Fietz
Published on 2011-02-16T14:01:15Z Indexed on 2012/12/14 5:08 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 283

Filed under:

installation

|

multi-boot

|

iso-image

|

usb-storage

Recently, I have made a number of USB sticks to install OS's (several Linux flavors, BSD, Windows) from, on machines that didn't have CD drives.

Now, I would prefer to not overwrite the install USB sticks all the time, since it's handy to have them, but neither do I want to pile up USB sticks that I only need every 6 months.

It would be great to have a bootable USB stick that fires up some minimal system, lets you choose an ISO image and then reboots from there. How would I go about this? Do I use some minimal Linux? Is there some kind of modified / specialized boot loader? Can I set up GRUB to do this? Should I use virtualization?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about installation

Installation stuck on "Installation Type" screen

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am trying to install Ubuntu 11.10 with Windows 7 from a CD. I am using an HP Pavilion dm4. I've never used Ubuntu (or any Linux) before. Everything goes alright until I get to the "Installation Type" screen. Instead of giving me options, it just has a blank menu, and all the buttons are disabled… >>> More
Visual Studio 2010 Installation Screenshots, links to installation Guides, Forum

as seen on Microsoft .NET Support Team - Search for 'Microsoft .NET Support Team'
Today Installed Visual Studio 2010 in my new Sony Vaio laptop. I’ve habit of taking screen shots while setups are running. It helps me if I want to find the items what I installed earlier for that software. but taking screen shots is not required for the software's like Visual Studio as it provides… >>> More
OpenIndiana installation hangs at 2% - Preparing disk for OpenIndiana installation

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I've been trying to install OpenIndiana on an HP DL320 G6 for a while now. I've got a 16GB HP SDHC card in the onboard slot and a SATA CD-Rom with oi-dev-151a-text-x86.iso burnt to a disc. Installation seems to progress fine until I get to the actual installation portion. The SD card is picked up… >>> More
local wordpress installation, plugin installation and file permissions

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have a local wordpress installation and got everything working, until I tried to install a new plugin. Trying to activate the plugin, wordpress asked me for FTP connection information, which I understood to be a failure of write-access to the plugins directory. Apache runs as www-data, so I ran… >>> More
Messed up installation of mysql-server - cannot complete installation or deinstallation

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
apt-get got stuck while installing mysql-server. I don't know why but it just stopped working and never continued. I had to reboot the machine in the middle of the setup process. Now, if I try to install or purge the mysql-server package, apt-get tries to configure mysql-server first (tells me its… >>> More

Related posts about multi-boot

boot.ini Issue - Multi-boot System, Linux, XP and XP64 - Missing File in system32 Message

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have an interesting issue that has me stumped. Not that I'm a computer whiz or anything. I have a multi-boot system with two hard drives: one drive has CentOS and Windows XP 64-bit and the other drive has Windows XP 32-bit. CentOS grub boot loader works great, and I have it set to default to… >>> More
Application that allows access to the other os in a multi-boot computer

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Is there any application that allows access to the other os in a multi-boot computer? Access like in a virtual machine. Wherein you are able to see your other installation through it. Make file modifications, installs, and uninstalls. And those changes are being mirrored in your physical os when… >>> More
how to make a multiboot usb key ?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I wanna cut my 8 gb usb key into several partitions to use wintoflash for a windows xp (maybe nlited before) and I wanna put also the Framakey ubuntu-fr remix pack into it has the second bootable OS and tweak and mod it a little cause if I can I wanna switch ubuntu 9.04 included to the LTS version… >>> More
How to install kaspersky on the other os in a multi-boot computer

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a laptop with windows vista and windows 7 as the os. The vista has an installation of kaspersky antivirus 2009 with original license. Since I am not using Vista frequently, can I transfer or make use of that installation on windows vista to be utilize by Windows 7? Without having to uninstall… >>> More
Disabling partition just for one OS on multi-boot system

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi Regarding to the solution there: http://serverfault.com/questions/36385/how-can-i-mount-a-hard-drive-as-read-only-on-windows-xp I have a system with three partitions. One runs windows 7, one runs windows XP and is for some experimental programming and testing. I don't want to mess up anything… >>> More