LIVE USB on Windows: blank screen after Kaili boot menu

[nigelmercier]

I've followed the tutorial in the thread How to make a PERSISTENT live usb on windows using ext2 filesystem

...Run Universal USB Installer ...

When I booted from the USB drive, I got a message saying "SYSLINUX 4.07 EDD 2013-07-25 ..." and nothing else. It seems this is not unknown, so I'm going to try Rufus...

[LATER]

OK, I installed the ISO using Rufus, then tried to boot from it. I got the KALI LINUX boot menu, I chose Live (686-pae). The PC beeps, and displays two lines at the bottom of the screen

loading /live/vmlinuz ... ok
loading /live/initrd.img...

Then the screen clears, and the PC beeps again. Zilch! Just a flashing cursor.

The PC is a Dell mini-9, with latest (A07, 03 Nov 2011) Phoenix BIOS.

[nigelmercier]

OK, I'm back to square one, and trying the original Linux method as detailed in Kali Docs. I put a copy of the kali-linux-1.0.9a-i386.iso file in the root folder, then used:

dd if=kali-linux-1.0.9a-i386.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

Note that I have discovered that this must not specify the partition (/dev/sdb1), just the drive (/dev/sdb). Otherwise you get an error: isolinux.bin missing or corrupt

I plan to use gparted to create an EXT2 persistence partition (as this tutorial), then do the following:

mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdb2

I'm confused as to why the original Linux tutorial specifies /dev/sdb3 and the new one /dev/sdb2. Is there an extra partition being created?

size=5gb
read bytes _ < <(du -bcm kali-linux-1.0.8-amd64.iso |tail -1); echo $bytes
parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary $bytes $size
mkfs.ext3 -L persistence /dev/sdb3
e2label /dev/sdb3 persistence
mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdb3

[phantom1bc]

I had issues with one live usb, nothing worked...this did...

Image the Kali Linux ISO to your USB stick. We used the “Linux Method” and dd.

dd if=kali-linux-1.0.8-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

when that completes,

4. Type gparted /dev/sdb

5. You will find /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb2
unallocated area

6. Right Click within the unallocated section, then select new from the drop-down menu that appears.

7. Create a Primary Partition, Choose ext 4 as the file system, and label the partition with the word:

persistence

8. Click on "Add" then "Apply" and let the computer format the partition in ext 4 with the label persistence.

9. When the process is completed open up a terminal window and enter the following:


For unencrypted

mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdb3

Post by mmusket33

[nigelmercier]

Thanks, yes I see now that there is a second partition after dd.

Is there a way to make the "persistence" menu option the default?

[LATER][LATER STILL Doesn't WORK]

I think I found it: USB | EFI | BOOT | live.config

Open with LeafPad, move "menu default" to just under " menu label ^Live USB Persistence"

[Keiyentai]

I had issues with one live usb, nothing worked...this did...

Image the Kali Linux ISO to your USB stick. We used the “Linux Method” and dd.

dd if=kali-linux-1.0.8-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

when that completes,

4. Type gparted /dev/sdb

5. You will find /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb2
unallocated area

6. Right Click within the unallocated section, then select new from the drop-down menu that appears.

7. Create a Primary Partition, Choose ext 4 as the file system, and label the partition with the word:

persistence

8. Click on "Add" then "Apply" and let the computer format the partition in ext 4 with the label persistence.

9. When the process is completed open up a terminal window and enter the following:


For unencrypted

mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/my_usb
echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
umount /dev/sdb3

Post by mmusket33

Thank you. I finally got it working right and can now save my scripts and make custom images. Thank you again.