How to install and use mkusb to create a persistent storage live USB with Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa sudo apt update sudo apt install --install-recommends mkusb mkusb-nox usb-pack-efi

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mkusb/ppa/ubuntu bionic main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mkusb.list sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 54B8C8AC sudo apt update sudo apt install --install-recommends mkusb mkusb-nox usb-pack-efi

dus

YES

OK

Install (make a boot device)

OK

'Persistent live' - only Debian and Ubuntu

OK

OK

not your HDD/SSD

OK

upefi

usb-pack-efi

msdos

OK

OK

usbdata

Go

Go

When you create a regular Linux live USB, you can install software, download files, make changes to the system, and so on, but all of these changes are lost after a reboot. A persistent live USB allows saving any changes you make to the live system, so the they are still present the next time you boot to it.(it seems you may be able to install mkusb on other Linux distributions, but there's no list of dependencies to install manually, and it may or may not work).If you're a Microsoft Windows user, you'll probably want to read this instead:, unlike some other similar tools.This tool can not only create persistent storage live USB drives, but also regular bootable live USBs of Linux distributions, wipe a device, and more. The only downside of mkusb is its user interface, which uses Zenity and can be a bit confusing, but other than that the application works great.A few related articles from Linux Uprising that might interest you:1. Install mkusb on Ubuntu, Linux Mint or DebianIn, mkusb can be installed by using its official PPA:For, the mkusb developer recommends using the same Ubuntu PPA. That's because mkusb is only a series of scripts which don't depend on specific Ubuntu package versions, so it works on Debian (unlike most PPA repositories). Manually add the mkusb PPA and install this tool in Debian:See the mkusb wiki page for how to do this.2. Launch mkusb from the applications menu. When it starts, the application asks you if it should run theversion of mkusb (a revamped interface of mkusb), or another version:In this dialog pressto continue with the "dus" version.3. Next, you'll see a mkusb window that asks to enter your password on top of a terminal window:Enter your password and pressto continue. Make sure you don't close the terminal window, as that's where mkusb runs the commands required to create a persistent storage, bootable live USB!4. mkusb will now present a list of options:Select the first one --, and pressto continue.5. Next, another list of options is presented:To create a persistent storage live USB, click on the third option --, and click6. mkusb will now ask you to select an ISO or IMG file:Select the Ubuntu (including Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, etc.), Debian or Linux Mint (Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce) image from your filesystem, and clickto continue.7. For the next step, mkusb will present a list of storage devices. Make sure to select an USB or some other removable drive in this step, and, and clickto continue.8. mkusb will now present some persistent live drive settings:In this dialog you can enable(comes from the package named, used by mkusb), in which Grub works in UEFI and BIOS mode. You can also enable theoption, which can help with some HP computers that can't boot with Grub and GPT. Clickwhen you're done.9. It's now time to select the percentage of available space for persistence:This is the space that will be available for the Linux distribution you're going to install on the USB stick. Drag the slider to the desired persistence percentage and press thebutton. Don't worry about the size of the persistence partition, mkusb doesn't have the maximum 4 GB persistent storage limit present in some other bootable USB creators.The remaining storage space on the USB drive will be used for a newpartition that's formatted as NTFS, which can be accessed from Linux, Windows and macOS - use this partition to store data on the USB drive that you want to access from other operating systems.10. In this final step you'll be presented with a confirmation screen:If you're sure you've selected the correct storage device and ISO file, you can now proceed to start creating the persistent live USB.Select the line that says(Yes, I want to go ahead) and press thebutton at the bottom of the window. After this, mkusb will start creating the persistent storage Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian live USB.Now boot the new live USB and select one of the Grub menu entries that says "persistence" (there will also be some non-persistence Grub menu items).inspired by El Atareao