In Part 1 I mentioned two options for installing Porteus v5.0 onto a USB: 1) using a fat32 formatted partition. 2) using two partitions – a smaller fat32 formatted partition plus an ext4 formatted partition. As most Windows users know, formatting a USB drive is limited to a size of just 32 GBs max when using fat32, which is why fat32 formatting is generally found on the smaller USBs.

Porteus Linux works great on a 32 GB USB…heck, the updated Porteus-CINNAMON-v5.0-x86_64.iso I downloaded this morning was just 359 MBs…1 MB smaller than the 360 MB one I got a few days ago. No *BLOAT* on Porteus Linux! I’ve recently tested it on a 16 GB USB wid no problems ‘n plenty of room. I even formatted that 16 GB USB wid Two Partitions – a fat32 plus ext4 partitions.

Both NTFS & Ext4 formats are a lot faster than Fat32. NTFS & Ext4 formats can also work on bigger SSD & NVMe drives.

  • In Linux, fat32 partitions are mainly for EFI/UEFI bootable partitions and/or creating ‘Live‘ bootable USBs on.

Here is the Official Porteus Installation Guide, which I have stopped using, but had found it useful back when I first started testing it. Their Forum is probably the best source for quick and helpful information. The actual Porteus Home page seems to run behind its Forum, but there are also helpful info, info about, pics, links, etc. there.

Username for root is root and password is toor. User name for guest is guest and password is guest.

Porteus 5.0 on a Fat32 USB

The following pics ‘n info are from my 1st Porteus post: Porteus 5.0-rc3: Install to USB + create a savefile.dat container + add Firefox – ‘Special *PURPOSE* Linuxes‘.

When booting into a newly installed fat32 Porteus OS you will see this – ‘Changes are not saved‘:

Porteus doesn’t automatically save sessions, settings, etc. in the fat32 format so you need to create a savefile.dat container.

Porteus SaveFile Manager:

The Porteus SaveFile Manager is under System. Open it and you get this:

We want to create a new savefile…click it.

There’s more before that fat32 only partition method gets done. That post is from 3/31/2022 ‘n I have learned a lot about Porteus since then. However, we are only going to use this new fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB to create fat32 + ext4 partitions on a Target drive, and don’t need a savefile.dat container to do that.

If you want to keep that USB for testing, then the Porteus 5.0-rc3: Install to USB + create a savefile.dat container + add Firefox – ‘Special *PURPOSE* Linuxes‘ post shows the final steps for that savefile.dat container.

BTW, installation info on that post is tougher than my new fat32 + ext4 partitions method, IMHO. That savefile.dat container doesn’t need to be created if you are using an ext4 partition.

I need to clean up the Porteus Linux page to reflect this new Porteus v5.0 ‘n my new knowledge on Porteus. UPDATE: Done! 😉 Yeah, did it right after writing that line.

I use Win 11 Pro as my primary OS, but Porteus & Sparky & Fedora are my three main secondary OSes – tho Porteus is my main ‘Working‘ Linux OS. In Linux, if I want a really sloooow 250 GB SSD, then I open GParted ‘n format the whole ‘Thang in fat32. Wasteful, but can be done wid Linux.

For Windows users looking for a secondary Linux OS, they probably don’t have a GParted USB, or any other method of formatting a USB or other drive wid ext4. This is why, in Part 1, I offer some steps ‘n these two pics – Pic 1 & Pic 2 – on how to create a fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus USB.

We are now getting ready to use that new fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB to prep a Target USB (or other drive) *AND* then to install Porteus v5.0 onto the newly prepped Target drive – *USING* the same ‘Components‘ (folders) that are located on that new fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB!

Porteus 5.0 on a Fat32 & Ext4 USB

Using the new fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB, plus its GParted app, we’re going to prep a 128 GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB Target drive. You could use a SSD or different size USB as your Target drive, but make sure that the fat32 partition is around 350-360 MBs…that’s my recommendation and not the Official Porteus guide (not sure what theirs is?). Make the rest ext4. Like this:

Now we’re going to open the new fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB. Then in new windows, we’re going to open the new 377 MB fat32 partition & the new 123 GB ext4 partition of the 128 GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB we just prepped. Like this:

We’re going to be copying and/or dragging ‘n dropping some important folders, so I try to get the windows set up for easy moving.

Next, we’re going copy and/or drag ‘n drop the EFI & boot folders from the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB to the 377 MB fat32 partition we just created on the Target 128 GB USB. Then, we’re going to copy and/or drag ‘n drop the porteus folder from the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB to the 123 GB ext4 partition we just created on the Target 128 GB USB. Like this:

That’s it…we have now created a final installation of Porteus 5.0 on our Target drive, by using the EFI, boot, and porteus folders that were located on the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB. Porteus is extremely flexible for a Linux OS.

At this point, I shutdown the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB, and get ready to try the new Porteus 5.0 installation on Fat32 & Ext4 partitions.

Will add this post to the Windows 11 & Porteus Linux & Special *PURPOSE* Linuxes pages…

…to be continued.

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