Install Damn Small Linux On a USB

This how to explains a step by step procedure to install Damn Small Linux (DSL) onto a memory stick (USB Card, "Thumb" or "Pen" drive) in Microsoft DOS or FreeDOS.

Steps

  1. Open the DOS Command Prompt. First click on the "Start" button, on the Windows taskbar.
    • Click on "Run" and place your cursor in the text box.
    • Type in cmd.exe and press Enter on your keyboard.
  2. Save any files you might need from the USB drive, either through windows or the command-line:
    • Note: In this and the steps below, replace X: with the actual drive letter of your USB drive.

  3. Format your USB Card as FAT32: either from DOS or from Windows

  4. Download a zipped archive called syslinux from kernel.org.
  5. Unzip the archive to a directory.
  6. Run Syslinux by typing . (Make sure to be in the correct directory on command prompt. It would be C:\win32 if you extracted the files to C:.)
  7. Download the latest archive (dsl-embedded.zip) from a Damn Small Linux mirror site.
  8. Unzip the archive to a directory.
  9. Copy all the files from the DSL directory to the root of your USB drive.
  10. Restore any files you saved from the first step


  11. Restart and boot from your USB drive.

Tips

  • To save any configuration changes, such as your shared keys, make sure to run the Backup utility from the System menu, obtained by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. When prompted for a device name, leave off the /dev part, that is, you'd normally just type sda1. It will automatically restore the backup on your next boot.
  • The Damn Small Linux "embedded.zip" image, if used, may be booted within Windows.

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Sources and Citations

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