More often than not, when trying to install several Linux distributions (or releases) via a USB stick created from the downloaded iso live or install image, I’ve experienced the frustration of being dropped to a busybox (which is the Linux way of not ending up in a Windows-like blue screen, but exactly as useless. Who on earth knows what to do in such cases with a busybox?)
After lots of googling and reading dozens of posts where people report the same problem and nobody offers any useful solution, I finally found a very easy workaround that, at least for me, fixes the problem: when booting off your created USB, at the first splash screen with the typical boot options, hit the Tab key for inserting kernel boot parametres and write the following one: LIVEMEDIA=/dev/sdb1. Then hit Enter. That’s it: many chances are that now your install USB will boot correctly.
Note: The Merry Ubuntu Crew say that this problem is because of a “buggy BIOS”, but I think that this is crap. My BIOS may or may not be buggy, I don’t know; but the fact is: other distributions’ USB sticks (Debian, Aptosid, Arch) boot perfectly in my machine; therefore, what other distros implement for being able to boot in “buggy BIOSes”, Ubuntu and Mint could also do. Why they don’t? It’s not that difficult.
I hope this post can help someone out there. If any constructive ideas, please feel free to comment below.
“Why they don’t? It’s not that difficult.”
Don’t you think that’s quite arrogant?
Arrogance from a user is not a big issue. Not implementing a properly bootable USB image from a developer team is.