Note: I am new to linux - this is my first time switching over from windows 10.
I would like to install Manjaro to a persistent USB, since I want to be able to switch between windows and Manjaro on my laptop, on the fly, until I can get a new computer on which I intend to install Manjaro to disk. I am, however, having issues.
After flashing the .iso file for Manjaro with KDE plasma (downloaded yesterday, from this website) to a USB (hereafter USB1) using rufus, I booted into USB1 from windows 10 (via shift+restart → us a device → EFI USB Device).
When the boot options menu popped up, I configured the live Manjaro session to boot with the nvidia proprietary drivers (as well as the GB keytable and with British English).
When booting completed, I inserted the USB onto which I want to install Manjaro to persistently (hereafter USB2). I connected to the internet, and launched the installer from the on-screen wizard. According to the Sikaris installer that popped up, I am attempting to install Manjaro 22.0.1.
After setting my language, timezone, and selecting the default keyboard layout, I selected USB2 from the drop-down selector for storage device. I selected the erase disk option, without the option of creating a swap partition. According to the wizard, I should have ended up with a 300 MiB FAT32 partition (I assume this is my boot partition), and a 499.7 GiB ext4 (root) partition on which Manjaro is installed (note that USB2 is 512 GB in size).
I then entered my name, named the computer, entered a password, set this same password to the “administrator account”, and started the install.
When unpacking the image files, the installer hangs (typically at 4 to 8% completion, or on file 9041/73916 in this case), and eventually closes without a confirmation that the installation has been completed.
While the partitions have been created (as I can see on the installer when trying again), USB2 cannot boot - the computer just ends up booting to windows 10. I have tried to boot USB2 the same way I have USB1.
Note that I have tried installing to USB2 multiple times, erasing the previous contents during each (failed) attempt.
I have also tried manually creating the boot and root partitions, but the result is the same. I followed the instructions in a youtube video entitled “Linux Tips - Install Full Persistent Manjaro on a USB Drive (2022)”, but omitted the mkdir and grub-install steps, since the boot directory ended up containing different files to the example in the video, and I didn’t want to make a mistake.
When I run lsblk in the terminal, I find the following under sdc:
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO MOUNTPOINTS
sdc1 8:33 1 300M 0 part /tmp/calamares-root-m5w6nfjb/boot/efi
sdc2 8:34 1 499.7G 0 part
In the /boot directory (found under the devices filed in dolphin), I have the following files:
. grub - containing: gurbenv
. memtest86+ - containing: memtest.bin; memtest.efi
. amd-ucode.img
. intel-ucode.img
. linux61-x86_64.kver
. vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
Reading the comments to the video, I have also found that the manual partitioning technique might not be necessary, and that the automated method I selected first should have worked.
Is it possible that I have downloaded a corrupted .iso, or that I have to run a mkdir, or something else entirely?
Thank you very much