# Live OpenBSD USB  Stick



## SPlissken (Nov 16, 2009)

For those who want to try , i found this on internet
OpenBSD 4.6 USB live stick

http://liveusb-openbsd.sourceforge.net/

Didn't try yet , bu will do soon.

Don't know if same thing exist for FreeBSD or NetBSD


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## fronclynne (Nov 19, 2009)

The "install to a qemu image then dd > /dev/usbdrive" method looks pretty universal.  Does OpenBSD support something like labels, so one does not have to worry about device numbers?


(I've tried to cross-build for i386 and make installworld with the mounted usb drive as the target directory, & while it booted fine on my amd64 laptop, the i386 laptop was unhappy for some reason.  It was a lark & I gave up and ate pasta instead of fighting the good fight)


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## SPlissken (Nov 20, 2009)

I tried it on my eeePC
It works fine , i added an other user , changed keybord to french.
Surprisingly i didn't achieve to mount the internal SSD.
The SSD is ffs partition beacause it's NetBSD on it , it should work easily with mount but did not.

$ uname -a
OpenBSD liveusb.my.domain 4.6 GENERIC#58 i386
$


```
OpenBSD 4.6 (GENERIC) #58: Thu Jul  9 21:24:42 MDT 2009
    deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
cpu0: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 900MHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 631 MHz
cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,CFLUSH,D
S,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,TM,SBF
real mem  = 527527936 (503MB)
avail mem = 501256192 (478MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 03/03/08, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf0010, SMBIOS 
rev. 2.5 @ 0xf06e0 (37 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "0910" date 03/03/2008
bios0: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 701
acpi0 at bios0: rev 0
acpi0: tables DSDT FACP APIC OEMB MCFG
acpi0: wakeup devices P0P3(S4) P0P4(S4) P0P5(S4) P0P6(S4) P0P7(S4) MC97(S4) USB1
(S3) USB2(S3) USB3(S3) USB4(S3) EUSB(S3)
acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits
acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
cpu0: apic clock running at 70MHz
ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 1 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins
acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0)
acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 5 (P0P3)
acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 3 (P0P5)
acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 1 (P0P6)
acpiec0 at acpi0
acpicpu0 at acpi0: C3, C2
acpitz0 at acpi0: critical temperature 90 degC
acpibat0 at acpi0: BAT0 model "701" serial   type LION oem "ASUS"
acpiac0 at acpi0: AC unit offline
acpiasus0 at acpi0
acpibtn0 at acpi0: LID_
acpibtn1 at acpi0: SLPB
acpibtn2 at acpi0: PWRB
acpivideo0 at acpi0: VGA_
acpivout0 at acpivideo0: CRTD
acpivout1 at acpivideo0: TVOD
acpivout2 at acpivideo0: LCDD
bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0xf800!
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82915GM Host" rev 0x04
vga1 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "Intel 82915GM Video" rev 0x04
wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
intagp0 at vga1
agp0 at intagp0: aperture at 0xd0000000, size 0x10000000
inteldrm0 at vga1: apic 1 int 16 (irq 5)
drm0 at inteldrm0
"Intel 82915GM Video" rev 0x04 at pci0 dev 2 function 1 not configured
azalia0 at pci0 dev 27 function 0 "Intel 82801FB HD Audio" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 
16 (irq 5)
azalia0: codecs: Realtek ALC662
audio0 at azalia0
ppb0 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel 82801FB PCIE" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 16 (irq
 5)
pci1 at ppb0 bus 4
ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 1 "Intel 82801FB PCIE" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 17 (irq
 11)
pci2 at ppb1 bus 3
lii0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Attansic Technology L2" rev 0xa0: apic 1 int 17 (
irq 11), address 00:1f:c6:52:fa:cd
ukphy0 at lii0 phy 1: Generic IEEE 802.3u media interface, rev. 2: OUI 0x001374,
 model 0x0002
ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 2 "Intel 82801FB PCIE" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 18 (irq
 10)
pci3 at ppb2 bus 1
ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5424" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 18 (irq 10)
ath0: AR5424 14.2 phy 7.0 rf 0.0, WOR0W, address 00:15:af:78:e3:c3
uhci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 0 "Intel 82801FB USB" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 23 (irq
 3)
uhci1 at pci0 dev 29 function 1 "Intel 82801FB USB" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 19 (irq
 7)
uhci2 at pci0 dev 29 function 2 "Intel 82801FB USB" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 18 (irq
 10)
uhci3 at pci0 dev 29 function 3 "Intel 82801FB USB" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 16 (irq
 5)
ehci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 7 "Intel 82801FB USB" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 23 (irq
 3)
usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub0 at usb0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
ppb3 at pci0 dev 30 function 0 ichiic0 at pci0 dev 31 function 3 "Intel 82801FB SMBus" rev 0x04: apic 1 int 19 
(irq 0)
iic0 at ichiic0
spdmem0 at iic0 addr 0x50: 512MB DDR2 SDRAM non-parity PC2-5300CL5 SO-DIMM
usb1 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub1 at usb1 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb2 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub2 at usb2 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb3 at uhci2: USB revision 1.0
uhub3 at usb3 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb4 at uhci3: USB revision 1.0
uhub4 at usb4 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
isa0 at ichpcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
pms0 at pckbc0 (aux slot)
pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot
wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61"Intel 82801BAM Hub-to-PCI" rev 0xd4
pci4 at ppb3 bus 5
ichpcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0 "Intel 82801FBM LPC" rev 0x04: PM disabled
pciide0 at pci0 dev 31 function 2 "Intel 82801FBM SATA" rev 0x04: DMA, channel 0
 wired to compatibility, channel 1 wired to compatibility
wd0 at pciide0 channel 1 drive 0: <SILICONMOTION SM223AC>
wd0: 1-sector PIO, LBA, 3815MB, 7815024 sectors
wd0(pciide0:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 4
```


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## Oko (Nov 21, 2009)

SPlissken said:
			
		

> OpenBSD 4.6 USB live stick


Wow! Somebody invented hot water. Stick your flash drive into the USB. Boot the computer of the OpenBSD installation CD and when asked where to install the system chose SCSI drive device node corresponding to your Flash drive.
As long as your BIOS supports booting from the USB you got yourself a LiveUSB installation of OpenBSD. If your BIOS doesn't not support boot from USB boot it from the floppy or CD (with USB Flash drive plugged) and type 


```
boot> boot -a
root device (default cd0a) sd0a
swap device (default sd0b) Enter
```


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## aragon (Nov 21, 2009)

SPlissken said:
			
		

> Don't know if same thing exist for FreeBSD or NetBSD


Well, there are no prerolled live USB images for FreeBSD, but there are guides that show you how easy it is to create your own with personal customisations you won't get from someone else's pre-roll.


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## SPlissken (Nov 21, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> Wow! Somebody invented hot water. Stick your flash drive into the USB. Boot the computer of the OpenBSD installation CD and when asked where to install the system chose SCSI drive device node corresponding to your Flash drive.
> As long as your BIOS supports booting from the USB you got yourself a LiveUSB installation of OpenBSD. If your BIOS doesn't not support boot from USB boot it from the floppy or CD (with USB Flash drive plugged) and type



Well , it s not an USB Stick to install OpenBSD , it 's an USB Live OpenBSD Stick. Usage is not to install but to work/use your computer with this USB Stick without install.


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## Oko (Nov 21, 2009)

SPlissken said:
			
		

> Well , it s not an USB Stick to install OpenBSD , it 's an USB Live OpenBSD Stick. Usage is not to install but to work/use your computer with this USB Stick without install.


You do not know what are you talking about! Read my original post again.


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## SPlissken (Nov 21, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> You do not know what are you talking about! Read my original post again.



Yes , you are right , i did know read well your post.
So this guy invented hot water as you said.
Sorry for misunderstood your original post.


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## aragon (Nov 21, 2009)

I wonder who did invent hot water...


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## domtechno (May 29, 2011)

Hey everyone, 

Just been working hard on setting an OpenBSD live USB stick. It works as a portable OS and an install media. The big lines are, first, install OpenBSD with the USB device as target. If you are not sure where to find your USB drive, run `dmesg | less` and then look for umass0, then the next line will tell you what device the USB stick is associated with. Should look like this: 


```
sd0: 968MB, 512 bytes/sec, 1982464 sec total
```

Once the install completed, boot from the USB stick, download a copy of the install ISO and mount it using vnconfig, should be similar to this:


```
vnconfig /dev/svnd0 /tmp/installX.X.iso
mount /dev/svnd0 /tmp/
```
Copy everything from the mounted ISO to the folder /install (make sure you place it at the root of the drive, this will save you some typing in the future). Once everything is copied, reboot and when you get the prompt boot>, enter the following:


```
boot> boot sd0:/install/X.X/i386/bsd.rd
```

this will boot the install. 

There are a few things that might change based on you ps version and hardware. Might not be i386 for the platform or sd0 for the device ... obviously X.X represents your version number. 

Enjoy.


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## davidgurvich (May 29, 2011)

Is this the same technique where you create an image using qemu and modify /etc/fstab so that the image can be used from a USB stick?

I've done that with 4.8 and 4.9.  Works well on most systems and not at all on others.  I haven't tried the same trick with FreeBSD.


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