HOWTO: change or update kernels on a Live USB
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:43 am
Installing a different kernel in the Live USB is a wee bit more complicated than on an installed MX system where you just install another kernel then select it in grub's boot menu, as the Live USB doesn't use grub. However, it can be done fairly easily:
1. Boot with the live USB.
2. In MX Package Installer, install your preferred kernel from either Popular Applications/Kernels, Stable Repo or Test Repo. (If the kernel's headers aren't automatically installed you'll need to install them after the kernel's installation finishes.)
3. Run Live USB Kernel Updater and follow the on-screen instructions. (This is a terminal-based utility, not GUI-based, so you'll have to navigate using the keyboard instead of a mouse.) It will first prompt you to remaster the USB which will take several minutes, the speed depending on how powerful your CPU is and how many cores it has:
a. Select a General remaster.
b. Say no when it asks if you want to include files from the home directory.
c. You can bypass entering a title for the remaster by just hitting Enter.
d. When prompted to select a compression type, choose the default lz4 as it's the fastest.
(NOTE: The Debian 4.9 kernel isn't compatible with an lz4-squashed filesystem. If you've installed that kernel you'll need to select one of the other compression options, gzip or xz, when remastering.)
4. It will then restart the Live USB Kernel Updater process. Tell it you want to update the livefs then select the kernel that you installed. This will only take a moment or two to complete.
5. When it's finished, reboot with the live USB then run Quick System Info to verify that MX on the live USB is now using the kernel you installed.
If you have persistence enabled the remastering process will also prompt you to create a new rootfs and/or homefs after the remaster has completed. Upon rebooting you will be prompted to create new passwords for demo and root as well as select how rsync should save changes, just as it did when you first enabled persistence. Persistence is not required to update the kernel, however.
1. Boot with the live USB.
2. In MX Package Installer, install your preferred kernel from either Popular Applications/Kernels, Stable Repo or Test Repo. (If the kernel's headers aren't automatically installed you'll need to install them after the kernel's installation finishes.)
3. Run Live USB Kernel Updater and follow the on-screen instructions. (This is a terminal-based utility, not GUI-based, so you'll have to navigate using the keyboard instead of a mouse.) It will first prompt you to remaster the USB which will take several minutes, the speed depending on how powerful your CPU is and how many cores it has:
a. Select a General remaster.
b. Say no when it asks if you want to include files from the home directory.
c. You can bypass entering a title for the remaster by just hitting Enter.
d. When prompted to select a compression type, choose the default lz4 as it's the fastest.
(NOTE: The Debian 4.9 kernel isn't compatible with an lz4-squashed filesystem. If you've installed that kernel you'll need to select one of the other compression options, gzip or xz, when remastering.)
4. It will then restart the Live USB Kernel Updater process. Tell it you want to update the livefs then select the kernel that you installed. This will only take a moment or two to complete.
5. When it's finished, reboot with the live USB then run Quick System Info to verify that MX on the live USB is now using the kernel you installed.
If you have persistence enabled the remastering process will also prompt you to create a new rootfs and/or homefs after the remaster has completed. Upon rebooting you will be prompted to create new passwords for demo and root as well as select how rsync should save changes, just as it did when you first enabled persistence. Persistence is not required to update the kernel, however.
