Running Linux from USB stick on a machine with secure boot
Daniel Nashed – 19 October 2024 14:24:05
Booting from USB isn't always easy. My Thinkpad has secure boot enabled.
Even Ubuntu on my USB stick was signed, the boot failed.
The root cause was that only Windows root certificates had been enabled.
Allowing 3rd party boot key signing CAs is tricky
The solution is to allow 3rd part signing certificates.
But you need to be very careful when disabling secure boot or enabling 3rd party signing certificates.
If you have Bitlocker enabled, you will need your recovery key to get Windows working again!
If you don't have your key, you are in real trouble. You should note your recovery key anyhow! Not just for this operation..
In my case it was a new Thinkpad and the setup had synced the recovery key to my Microsoft account already.
Not that I asked for it or allow they sync/backup, but in this case it was great to have it.
Once the secure boot has been updated, I could boot from my Ubuntu Desktop distribution.
Bootable USB sticks with persistent partition size
A bootable USB stick is good to have as a recovery option.
But you can also use it to setup a Linux with a ready to use configuration.
Rufus can add a persistent volume partition to setup a workstation or server which you could run on any kind of hardware without using the local disk.
Provided you get the secure boot working ..
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