Trouble installing and saving changes on 5.0

[pablos_g]

Hi. I'm new here. I've been trying to search for the answers for quite a long time before creating this topic. Sorry for bothering you
to
I will just create a list of questions/problems, so it will be easier for all of us.
First of all I'm trying to install Porteus 5.0 on my USB stick.
1.I got error code '1' and the installer shuts down.
2.I got error lilo.menu no such file or directory
3.After I create save.dat on my internal SSD it's impossible to change the porteus.config as its read-only, I can't also change the permissions using chmod 777.

I tried:
-different formats like; fat32,ntfs, ext4
-always setting bootable flag
-installing from local linux system
-installing from live USB Porteus which i flashed using BalenaEtcher via pinstaller

nothing works.

[Ed_P]

Hello pablos_g. Welcome to the forum.

Based on #3 I would have assumed your USB drive had become read only. That happens with some when they get over heated or there is a power surge or etc. and the only solution is to replace the drive.

But you also said you have formatted the drive with different formats which means it is writeable. You didn't mention how big the drive is or what type of machine you're booting with.

Are you following the steps in the USB_INSTALLATION.txt file in the ISO? My experience with USB drives 32GB and smaller is to format them with FAT32 (never with NTFS), copy all files and folders in the ISO to the drive and run the appropriate Porteus-installer . By being FAT32 the drive boots on BIOS and UEFI machines.

[pablos_g]

I tried it on two different USB sticks both from SanDisk. The first one is 16GB and the 2nd one is 120GB. I had similar issues on both of them.

I finally got it to work by doing what You said with formatting 16GB USB to FAT32 in gparted, setting boot flag also its on msdos partition table. Didn't know if its correct way to do it but I also chmod -R 777 my /mnt/sdx (where x is the letter of my/your USB partition), then executed the installer and it finished without errors.
I can now change the config files as I like. Didn't check if it works on the bigger one (120GB).

Maybe tomorrow I will check if i can run it on other formats and bigger USB stick. If its successful I will post the solutions here.

What is the best file format for this distro on USB stick?
Do you also change the permissions on your USB stick and boot/porteus folder for it to work?
Any Tips for newcomers? ( I don't have time to read the whole documentation ) I will gladly take your advice for "first things to do after installing Porteus"

[Ed_P]

Happy to hear you got it to work pablo_g.

USB sticks both from SanDisk

SanDisk is known for USB drives that become readable only.

Do you also change the permissions on your USB stick and boot/porteus folder for it to work?

No. I believe the Porteus_installer_* does that.

What is the best file format for this distro on USB stick?

In my opinion FAT32, because that's what is required for UEFI systems, and it is basically universally accepted by all hardware. However it doesn't support drives over 32GB. For larger drives I prefer exFAT but they won't boot on UEFI systems. What Linux purist recommend is partitioning larger drives and having a 128MB partition for EFI files/folders and the rest of the drive for a second partition of ext4 format. Thus for Porteus the /EFI folder would go to the 1st partition and the remaining folders and files to the 2nd partition. An advantage to this approach is Porteus doesn't need a save.dat file.