So, you want to carry an entire enterprise-grade operating system in your pocket? You’re tired of the neutered, locked-down environments on public or work computers. You want a fault-tolerant environment if your main computer crashed. Or you want your tools, your configs, your entire digital life, available anywhere, anytime, on any machine.
You don’t want a volatile live USB that forgets everything on reboot. You want a full, proper, persistent installation on a USB stick.
The Power of Portable OS
- Privacy & Security: Using a public computer at a library, hotel, or cafe? Booting your own OS means no trace of your activity is left behind on the local machine. Your browsing history, passwords, and files live only on your encrypted USB drive.
- For troubleshooting: It can help you recover files from a corrupted system, reset forgotten passwords, or scan a malware-infected computer without risk of reinfection.
- A Consistent Work Environment: Carry your ideal development suite and use it on any computer you find.
Material List
- 2 USB sticks: one for booting and one for the OS.
- A machine
- OS iso file
The hardware matters. I choose Kingston Data Traveler 64GB as the USB stick with USB 3.x for the portable OS.
Operating Steps
Things are quite similar to installing a regular operationg system. The difference is that some unexpected issues may occur due to different environment.
Download iso File
This indeed means choose your operating systems.
I have tried Silverblue, but got a GNOME empty shell. This time I tried CentOS Stream 10.
Creating the Installer Media
An easy way: Fedora Media Writer
An universal way: dd
Insatllation
Power on while hitting F2 or other keys. It depends on the machine.
Boot with the boot usb and go into the installation program.
WARNING:
Pay Attention to Installation Destination! DO NOT CHOOSE THE WRONG DISK!
Advices:
- Enable encryption. Without it, whoever finds it has all your data.
- Disable kdump. It may cause an installation failure.
- Auto partition is OK but when some error occurs, you may need partition manually.
After that, drink a cup of coffee and wait patiently. It’ll be slower than a normal internal SSD install.
Reboot
Success or failture will be determined here.
The Verdict: Was It Worth It?
Absolutely. The feeling of plugging a stick into a random computer, interrupting its boot process, unlocking your encrypted drive, and being greeted by your environment is pure digital magic. It’s independence. It’s power. It’s security.