I'm part of a project called One2One2Go - we're developing a Live USB Ubuntu variant for use in schools in Somerville, MA. We have the project files compiled into an iso, and when installed using the native Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator, the USB works fine. When installed using a tool on a Windows machine (LiLi at linuxliveusb.com or liveusb-creator at fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator), the USB works, but does not have persistence. This happens even if the creator is specifically set to allocate an area for persistent files.

When comparing files on sticks created in Windows or Ubuntu, the one file that is different is syslinux/syslinux.cfg. I have printed the contents of the file below:

Installed on Windows:
DEFAULT nomodset
LABEL debug
menu label ^debug
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append boot=casper xforcevesa initrd=/casper/initrd.gz --
LABEL nomodset
menu label ^nomodset
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append boot=casper quiet splash nomodset initrd=/casper/initrd.gz --
LABEL memtest
menu label ^Memory test
kernel /install/memtest
append -
LABEL hd
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
localboot 0x80
append -
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 1

Installed on Ubuntu:
DEFAULT nomodset
LABEL debug
menu label ^debug
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent boot=casper xforcevesa initrd=/casper/initrd.gz --
LABEL nomodset
menu label ^nomodset
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent boot=casper quiet splash nomodset initrd=/casper/initrd.gz --
LABEL memtest
menu label ^Memory test
kernel /install/memtest
append -
LABEL hd
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
localboot 0x80
append -
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 1

For troubleshooting reasons, I changed the Windows-created syslinux.cfg to match the one created by Ubuntu and persistence worked on it.

I think the problem is that on the stick created by Windows, there is no "persistent" flag, but I don't know why. Is this a problem with our disk image or with the creator? How would I go about fixing this problem?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Derek Redfern