Linux Live CD/USB.

I have had great success with Linux Live DVDs; however, I have had almost no success with creating a Linux Live USB with persistent storage. The computer simply won't boot into Linux when I use the USB; but it always boots into Linux when I go the DVD route. (I don't know if a CD is big enough to do Linux Live; but a DVD is big enough. Honestly, I've never tried a CD, only a DVD.)

I have tried several different USB creation programs to try to make a Linux Live USB; but none of them have worked. There is some indication that my flash drives were bad - all three that I tried were pretty old. I have one newer USB drive, but I haven't tried it. So this could be just a case of bad USB flash drives.

Others have had success running Linux Live from a USB flash drive, with persistent storage. So I probably need to just buy a new flash drive and try it again. But after it failed so many times, I got tired of messing with it.

As far as which versions I recommend, if your computer is really old and lame (not much memory, slow, etc.), then I highly recommend Elementary OS. It looks and feels like you are using a MAC; and it is not at all a resource hog; your old machine will perform well with Elementary OS. And I haven't found very many, if any, bugs in Elementary OS, like I have in some other "light" distros of Linux.

If your computer is not old and lame, then I suggest that you go with Linux Mint. There are a few different desktops you can use with Mint - I use xfce, because it is supposed to be the most light-weight of the bunch.

In fact, even with an old computer, I would start with Linux Mint xfce. If it works well enough, then you are good to go. If not, then go with Elementary OS.

You can download Linux Mint here: https://linuxmint.com/download.php
You can download Elementary OS here: https://elementary.io/

Here's some info about setting up Elementary OS as Linux Live on a USB flash drive: https://elementary.io/docs/installation#installation

I think the ideal way to use a public computer (such as in the business center of a hotel) would be with a Linux Live USB flash drive with persistent storage, IF you could configure it to automatically turn off all hard drives in the computer. In this way, there would be no way that the abundance of malware which is sometimes on these computers could get onto your flash drive, or could in any way inject itself into what you are doing while on the computer.

If you just want a live DVD/USB then you can always try the excellent Windows 10 one made by our very own Kyhi - Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

I'm interested in what exactly you would like to accomplish. My advice would be to use it on my own computer just to learn how to use it. If you boot this from someone else's computer you could cause them problems.

I know that the Live CD is read-only making it quite secure since malware etc can't make any changes to the core system (because the disk image cannot be modified), and if you do get infected the infection immediately disappears when you next reboot.

This is simply not true, so be careful what you are doing, especially if on someone else's computer. When you boot linux you are giving that OS access to your Windows Installation also, and if you go to a bad link where malware exists you could infect the Windows computer. Even if there is no HDD in the computer in question you can Corrupt the USB, not sure about a DVD, but the point being, don't get to crazy while using this, and believe that you can visit infected sites and be okay.

Persistent Storage on a USB makes Linux run very Slow, so I don't bother.

I would definitely create a USB Drive and try it out with the suggested versions above, I think you will be impressed.

I think that the biggest appeal value for me is the ability to boot into the Linux OS on any machine from anywhere.

Not so bad on old Pre UEFI Machines, but can be very frustrating on newer UEFI machines to get Linux to boot from.

mrjimphelps said:

I have had great success with Linux Live DVDs; however, I have had almost no success with creating a Linux Live USB with persistent storage. The computer simply won't boot into Linux when I use the USB; but it always boots into Linux when I go the DVD route. (I don't know if a CD is big enough to do Linux Live; but a DVD is big enough. Honestly, I've never tried a CD, only a DVD.)

I have tried several different USB creation programs to try to make a Linux Live USB; but none of them have worked. There is some indication that my flash drives were bad - all three that I tried were pretty old. I have one newer USB drive, but I haven't tried it. So this could be just a case of bad USB flash drives.

Others have had success running Linux Live from a USB flash drive, with persistent storage. So I probably need to just buy a new flash drive and try it again. But after it failed so many times, I got tired of messing with it.

Update: I have just discovered yet another way to create a Linux Live USB flash drive.

Download the .ISO file for Redo Backup (www.redobackup.org), and create a CD with it. You will then have a Ubuntu Linux Live CD. Boot the computer with that CD, putting you into Ubuntu/Redo Backup.

In the lower left of the screen, click the gear wheel and choose "Accessories" (or whatever it is called). This will bring up a menu of a few Ubuntu utilities. One of these utilities is for creating Ubuntu Live / Redo Backup on a USB flash drive.

I haven't tried this option for creating a Linux Live USB flash drive; but I'm guessing I will have more success this way than the ways I have already tried, because this program was put here specifically by the Redo developers - likely they tested it ahead of time to make sure it would work.

Once you have created your Ubuntu Live flash drive, you can boot to it and install whatever programs and updates you want. And best of all, you'll have what appears to be a great backup / restore program -- Redo Backup.

@mrjimphelps, I would consider the problem your USB's as you've suggested before all the software you tried. I've used at least Four of the popular USB Writers and they all work fine for the most part. CD is too small for most Linux Distro's. DVD's work better/easier for those with UEFI. If you are booting UEFI than you may need to create the USB as UEFI also. Or change the UEFI Boot options.

Forget Persistence as it is just to slow IMO.

Once you have created your Ubuntu Live flash drive, you can boot to it and install whatever programs and updates you want.

You can't really Install anything you want unless you have Persistence Installed. You can install some stuff while using the Live Session though it won't stay on the stick after shutdown.

You can create your own custom Linux Live USB without Persistence but I've not done that yet.

Thanks for all of that information.

Even though it will run slow, I would like to get persistence running on a flash drive, so that I can do updates, installs, config, etc., and have it "persist". I don't intend to work much off of the flash drive, but I do at least want to be able to operate that way if I choose to.

I think my USB problems are related to the three flash drives I tried - they are quite old. And my computer is quite old, which means that neither the flash drive nor the computer are as resilient with USB errors as newer equipment would be.