Richard Owlett <rowl...@cloud85.net> writes: > Yes, I know the subject line looks strange. It's intentional. > I wish to do something not quite normal ;/ > > I wish to "install" to an arbitrary ext2/ext4 partition in such a > manner that: > 1. Grub2 will recognize it as a legit OS. > 2. if the partition is on a USB flash drive it will boot normally > on suitable hardware. > 3. all directories and files shall be modifiable. > > I had done > xorriso -osirrox on:auto_chmod_on -overwrite nondir \ > -indev "/home/richard/Downloads/debian-9.1.0-i386-netinst.iso" \ > -extract / /media/richard/netinst1 > > There were no error messages but Grub2's "update-grub" would not > recognize it nor would my hardware boot it. > > I suspect there something of the boot process that I don't grok. > Guidance please.
You want debootstrap. See https://verahill.blogspot.com/2013/03/361-installing-debian-on-usb-stick-from.html, for example. -- regards, kushal