How to install Linux on Macbook Pro USB Drive
Normally you can boot Linux CDs in Mac and install Linux on hard disk. But what happens when your hard disk is corrupted, or you just want to install Linux on a pendrive that boots in Linux. Well that’s when you realize the problem that I faced. Here’s what I did
- Installed Unetbootin and created a live usb of Elementary OS
- Booted up my Macbook while pressing the Alt/Option key to see the EFI boot option for the USB drive
- Booted from Live USB
- Everything except Wifi adapter worked out of box
- To install Wifi adapter, launched the Elementary OS installer and went through the steps of selecting language options and installing proprietary drivers
- Quit the installer as soon as Wifi signal started showing
- Used the live environment to play and understand if this is going to work
- Once convinced, attached another pendrive to install elementary on this second pendrive
- The installation went fine but failed in last step where grub was to be installed
- Researched on how to repair the corrupted Grub, it seemed too much of work and also none of the online guidance actually worked
- I suddenly remembered that back in the early days there used to be a mechanism of making Linux USB drives persistent
- Found the mechanism now as mkusb
- Followed this guide https://phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/mkusb/mkUSB-quick-start-manual.pdf
- Created a Live persistent pendrive from mkusb
- Connected the live persistent pendrive into Macbook and booted with Alt/Option pressed to select booting from it
- It worked! and I landed up into a Live Persistent USB Elementary OS running on (flying on) my Macbook