Installation of MeX Linux to a USB stick
(To perform the installations you must be root)

NEWS 211211
The MeX ISO is now a ISO-hybrid, which means that it can very easily be transferred (copied) to a USB pen drive. You can then even run MeX from the USB stick and save all your system changes on the stick. I.e. you will enjoy persistence!

A) "Normal" installation without persistence
MeX Linux can be installed/transferred to a USB stick directly from the ISO file. It might be good to use this method if your computer lacks a CD/DVD drive, or if you just prefer to run Linux systems from a USB stick.This is the way to perform the installation:

1. Boot up a Linux system (Ubuntu or...) and download the ISO file mex-64bit-efi-gnome-kodi-refracta-1480mb-211211.iso
2. Open up a terminal and cd to the folder where the ISO file is
3. Insert a USB stick and make sure which name it was given (/dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdc1 or ...)
4. Run the installation command cp mex-64bit-efi-gnome-kodi-refracta-1480mb-211211.iso /dev/sdb
5. Then run the command sync
Done!

NOTE1: It is not necessary to format the USB stick.
NOTE2: Do not use /dev/sda. (You will then delete the partition on which you probably have a Windows system).
NOTE3: You shall not write /dev/sdb1 (which is easy to believe).
After following the instruction 1 - 5:
Restart your computer with the USB stick in place and change the BIOS so that the computer in the first place is booting from the USB stick.
NOTE4: If the above described method doesn't work for you, you should try with another USB stick. (Another brand). All different versions of SanDisk are known to work very well. See also below.

B) Installation with perfect persistence using the regular installation program Refracta Installer
Do it like this:
1. Start up MeX from a DVD and log in as live.
2. Insert a USB stick of 8GB, 16GB or 32GB and format the stick as ext4. Use GParted (installed in MeX) for that so you can be absolutely sure that the stick is known as /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc or…
3. Replace grub-efi-amd64 with grub-pc. I.e. run the command sudo apt install grub-pc
4. Start Refracta Installer from Menu >> Administration >> Refracta Instraller . Be sure to choose the Installation type “Expert“.
5. Then choose your USB stick (/dev/sdb1, /dev/sdc1 or…) to install to and set the mount point to /. No need to format the stick again. Be sure not to choose /dev/sda as “Device for boot loader installation”. The correct place is /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc or…I.e. on the stick!
6. Again be sure to install the boot loader (Grub2) to the USB stick.
7. Start the installation and follow the instructions.

Error messages when running from USB
Common error message when trying to run MeX from an USB stick: (initramfs) mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on //filesystem.squashfs failed: Invalid argument. Can not mount /dev/loop0 (/cdrom/casper/filesystem.squashfs) on //filesystem.squashfs
Solution: Try with another USB stick (another brand). NOTE: It appears that not all USB sticks are suitable for topical purposes. I.e. they can not be made bootable. I myself have experience of brands Kingston DataTraveler, SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 and Sony Micro Vault. The first two works (for me). You shall not use USB sticks of older model. They may work, but mostly bad. If you - after the installation of MeX to the USB stick -  get different error messages (see above) when you try to run the system from the stick it is often because the stick is not "good enough".

B) Alternatives in Windows
The installation can also be done in Windows with Rufus (Create bootable USB drives the easy way). Download Rufus. Rufus will recognize your inserted USB stick automatically (but check it carefully anyway). Find your downloaded ISO file and start Rufus. The created MeX USB stick with Rufus will work perfectly! Just restart your computer and have fun! NOTE: Persistence won’t be enabled. For persistence you have to follow my advice’s under B). NOTE2: A very good alternative to Rufus is Etcher. Works in the same way. I use it myself all the time.

BIOS settings
To be able to run your computer from the USB stick you’ll have to change the BIOS settings. For example from UEFI to Legacy boot. View this screenshot from one of my computers. As you can see I’m using SanDisk Cruzer Blade. Works very well (and you can buy it for about 7 $).

exton /211211