How to install CentOS 5 on a USB stick (pendrive) via Windows

Dipin Krishna

15 years ago

Here is the how to install the CentOS 5 Linux distribution on a pen drive (USB) using MS Windows. This will create a CentOS LiveUSB which can be run on any PC that allows booting (boot) from a USB port. That is, a true CentOS Portable.

This works just like a LiveCD, the only difference being the boot from a LiveUSB is generally faster than from a LiveCD (if you have USB 2.0).
Permanent configuration feature is not taken into account in this tutorial, so the changes you make in shaping the course of using the CentOS LiveUSB will be lost with every boot or reboot.
CentOS is a Linux distribution based on RedHat Enterprise Linux and is aimed at businesses. Its use is very popular in web hosting server by its extreme stability.
Because CentOS is based on RHEL, you can use the program Fedora LiveUSB Creator to install CentOS on a USB stick.

Prerequisites to install CentOS to a USB flash memory:

* A computer with Microsoft Windows installed (tested on Windows XP).
* A USB pendrive or memory of at least 1GB.
* CentOS 5.2 ISO Image.
* The Fedora software LiveUSB Creator.

How to install CentOS on a pen drive

1. Download the ISO image of CentOS Linux 5.2 LiveCD. [size approx. 700MB]2. Download the latest version of Fedora LiveUSB Creator (liveusb-creator-2.X.zip). [size approx. 8.8 MB]3. Decompress liveusb-creator-XX.zip in a folder with the same name.
4. Enter the folder liveusb-creator liveusb-XX and-run creator.exe.
5. In “Use existing LiveCD” must find and select the location where it was downloaded the LiveCD ISO image of CentOS (CentOS 5.X–i386-LiveCD.iso).
6. In “Target Device” must select the appropriate leltra Flash USB device that will be used to install CentOS.
7. Click on “Create Live USB to begin the process of CentOS instalacioón in pendrive.

progress bar shows the progress of the CentOS installation on your USB stick. Once the process is complete, simply restart your PC and remember to enable the option to boot via USB in the BIOS