KizarnyTizeeth
2015-02-18, 08:11
Hi all,
I had a tremendous difficulty attempting to use a Kali virtual machine to install Kali to a usb 3.0 flash drive. It just wouldn't work for me. So I read up on creating live USB's with persistence and cobbled this method together. It may work for you if all else fails.
You will need:
USB Flash Drive of at least 8gb (I used a Lexar 16 gb USB 3.0 connected to a USB 2.0 port)
A windows PC (I used Win 7, Service Pack One)
MiniTool Partition Wizard (http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html)
DiskPart
Win32 Disk Imager
Kali Image v 1.0.7 or greater (I used kali-linux-1.0.9a-amd64.iso)
Step One--Run diskpart from windows (Only necessary if multiple partitions already exist)
Select Start → run → diskpart
From diskpart prompt, use capacity to determine the number of your USB drive ‘x’
list disk
Select your USB drive
select disk x
Effectively remove all data
clean
And finally, create the primary partition
create partition primary
Step 2--Quick format your USB drive FAT32 from My Computer
Step 3--Render Kali Image on to USB Drive
Start-->run>win32diskimager
Select Kali Image Path
Select USB drive to be written letter
Select write
Step 4--Test your Kali Live USB
Select Live USB during boot
Step 5--Return to Windows, open MiniTool Partition Wizard
Select Kali Imaged USB drive from the GUI
Select the unallocated, ie rightmost, partition. (Note size, you’ll need it next step)
Select a file format of either ext2 or ext4
Label/Name the partition ‘persistence’
Apply changes (top left of GUI)
Step 6--Boot into Kali Live USB again
Open Terminal
lsblk
Match partition size to available space, referenced as sdbx (sbd5 for
mine)
mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdbx /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdbx
Step 7--Verify that persistence.conf has been written to the ‘persistence’ partition
Step 8--Boot with Live USB Persistence, celebrate
Note: I have tried this three times on two different flash drives and its worked 2/3. If it fails for you once try switching ext2 with ext4. I used one drive extensively and it worked flawlessly
This post has been edited to correct an error. Modifications have been submitted in the color red.
I had a tremendous difficulty attempting to use a Kali virtual machine to install Kali to a usb 3.0 flash drive. It just wouldn't work for me. So I read up on creating live USB's with persistence and cobbled this method together. It may work for you if all else fails.
You will need:
USB Flash Drive of at least 8gb (I used a Lexar 16 gb USB 3.0 connected to a USB 2.0 port)
A windows PC (I used Win 7, Service Pack One)
MiniTool Partition Wizard (http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html)
DiskPart
Win32 Disk Imager
Kali Image v 1.0.7 or greater (I used kali-linux-1.0.9a-amd64.iso)
Step One--Run diskpart from windows (Only necessary if multiple partitions already exist)
Select Start → run → diskpart
From diskpart prompt, use capacity to determine the number of your USB drive ‘x’
list disk
Select your USB drive
select disk x
Effectively remove all data
clean
And finally, create the primary partition
create partition primary
Step 2--Quick format your USB drive FAT32 from My Computer
Step 3--Render Kali Image on to USB Drive
Start-->run>win32diskimager
Select Kali Image Path
Select USB drive to be written letter
Select write
Step 4--Test your Kali Live USB
Select Live USB during boot
Step 5--Return to Windows, open MiniTool Partition Wizard
Select Kali Imaged USB drive from the GUI
Select the unallocated, ie rightmost, partition. (Note size, you’ll need it next step)
Select a file format of either ext2 or ext4
Label/Name the partition ‘persistence’
Apply changes (top left of GUI)
Step 6--Boot into Kali Live USB again
Open Terminal
lsblk
Match partition size to available space, referenced as sdbx (sbd5 for
mine)
mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdbx /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdbx
Step 7--Verify that persistence.conf has been written to the ‘persistence’ partition
Step 8--Boot with Live USB Persistence, celebrate
Note: I have tried this three times on two different flash drives and its worked 2/3. If it fails for you once try switching ext2 with ext4. I used one drive extensively and it worked flawlessly
This post has been edited to correct an error. Modifications have been submitted in the color red.