How to Run Any Linux Distribution Directly from Hard Disk in Ubuntu Using Grub Menu
Abstract: to host other Linux ISO files you can add another hard disk and move all your Linux distribution ISO files there. After you create a partition and add
Most of Linux distributions provide ISO files that are designed and built to run in Live Mode directly from a bootable media such as CD /DVD, Flash/USB cards or even directly from a Hard Drive using Linux Grub menu without the need to burn it to a CD/DVD or create a bootable USB.
Run Linux From Hard DiskThis tutorial will concentrate on presenting a way you can run some Linux ISO distributions directly from your hard disk by editing Ubuntu 20.04 GRUB2 (works on Ubuntu 18.04 or earlier) menu which is the default boot loader in most modern Linux distributions, which provides a faster way of using a Linux Operating System, and also has a great impact on privacy because all your settings and live sessions are not preserved by default.
The distributions presented in this topic are CentOS, Fedora, Kali Linux and Gentoo Live DVD.
RequirementsUbuntu 20.04 ( or any other Linux distributions with GRUB2 boot loader) installed on your system hard drive.
- Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop Installation Guide
1. To able boot and run any Linux distribution without installing them to your hard drive, make sure to download the 「Live CD/DVD」 release of each Linux ISO image.
- Download CentOS Live ISO Image
- Download Fedora Live ISO Image
- Download Kali Linux Live ISO Image
- Download Gentoo Linux Live ISO Image
2. After you have downloaded your favorite Linux ISO Live DVD Images, open Ubuntu Nautilus with root privileges using ‘sudo nautilus‘ command from Terminal and create a directory called live
in your system root path and move ISO file to this folder.
$ sudo nautilusCreate Directory in Ubuntu Root Location Copy Linux ISO Files to Live Directory
3. To continue further will need to provide Grub2 with our disk partition UUID – Universally Unique Identifier (the partition where ISO files are located). To get partition UUID run the following blkid command.
$ sudo blkid
For automatically mounted partition or hard disks on system boot run following cat command.
$ sudo cat /etc/fstabGet Partition UUID
4. Another method to get your partition UUID is, to open visualize grub.cfg
file content located in /boot/grub/ path and search for --fs-uuid
a string (in case you don’t have a separated partition for /boot).
5. After you obtained your root partition UUID code move to /etc/grub.d/ directory, open 40_custom file for editing and add the following lines at the bottom of this file.
menuentry 'CentOS 8 Live' --class os --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --group group_main { set isofile="/live/CentOS-8-x86_64-1905-dvd1.iso" insmod ext2 insmod loopback insmod iso9660 loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$isofile search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3b87d941-8ee7-4312-98fc-1f26828d62ab linux (loop)/isolinux/vmlinuz boot=live fromiso=/dev/sda1/$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=centos initrd (loop)/isolinux/initrd.img }Add CentOS Boot Kernel Parameters
Here the following directives represents:
- set isofile = A variable the holds ISO system path location.
- (hd0,msdos1) = First partition from first hard disk (In Linux disks are numbered starting with 0) – the same as /dev/sda1.
- –fs-uuid –set=root 59036d99-a9bd-4cfb-80ab-93a8d3a92e77 = First partition from first hard disk UUID code.
- linux and initrd = Custom kernel booting parameters – they are different depending on every Linux distribution.
6. After you finish editing the file, update-grub to add the new ISO (in this case CentOS) to your Grub2 menu. To verify it open /boot/grub/grub.cfg and search at the bottom for your ISO entry.
$ sudo update-grubUpdate Grub to Add ISO Images Verify Grub Entry
7. To run CentOS Live ISO, reboot your computer, select CentOS entry from GRUB menu then press Enter key.
Select CentOS from Boot Menu CentOS 8 BootingIn the same way, you can add the other Linux Live ISO distribution images to the GRUB2 menu as shown. Again open and edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom grub file and add the following entries.
For Fedora Live DVDmenuentry 'Fedora Live' --class os --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --group group_main { set isofile="/live/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-32-1.6.iso" insmod ext2 insmod loopback insmod iso9660 loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$isofile search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3b87d941-8ee7-4312-98fc-1f26828d62ab linux (loop)/isolinux/vmlinuz boot=live fromiso=/dev/sda1/$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=fedora initrd (loop)/isolinux/initrd.img }For Kali Linux Live DVD
menuentry 'Kali Linux Live' --class os --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --group group_main { set isofile="/live/kali-linux-2020.2-live-i386.iso" insmod ext2 insmod loopback insmod iso9660 loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$isofile search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3b87d941-8ee7-4312-98fc-1f26828d62ab linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live fromiso=/dev/sda1/$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=kalilinux initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img }For Gentoo Live DVD
menuentry 'Gentoo Linux Live' --class os --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --group group_main { set isofile="/live/livedvd-amd64-multilib-20160704.iso" insmod ext2 insmod loopback insmod iso9660 loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$isofile search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3b87d941-8ee7-4312-98fc-1f26828d62ab linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live fromiso=/dev/sda1/$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=gentoo initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img }
8. Then update your GRUB menu again, reboot your computer and choose your preferred Linux distribution ISO from the GRUB menu.
$ sudo update-grub
9. If you don’t have enough free space on your root partition, to host other Linux ISO files you can add another hard disk and move all your Linux distribution ISO files there. After you create a partition and add a file system mount it on /mnt path to make it available.
$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
10. Then move all ISO on the new hard disk and grab its UUID using blkid command.
$ sudo blkidMove ISO Images and Verify UUID Verify All ISO Images
11. Again open and edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom grub file and add other Linux Live ISO distribution images to GRUB2 menu using the same procedure but pay attention to every distribution Live Kernel booting parameters which can be inspected by mounting the ISO image using mount -o loop option or consult distribution Wiki pages.