Tazusb is a tool that can create bootable usb media with a few simple commands. It can also compress and backup the entire current filesystem to the media, thus preserving all modifications for future use. Type tazusb usage for a full list of commands or read the TazUSB manual.

To generate your own LiveUSB media, first you need to login as root with su and locate your usb storage device using the command:

# fdisk -l     # normally /dev/sdb1 

Then format and label your device (Warning: this will erase all data, make sure you specify the right device):

 # tazusb format /dev/sdb1 

And finally generate your LiveUSB media device:

 # tazusb gen-liveusb /dev/sdb1 

And that's all you need to do, you can now boot SliTaz from usb media (providing your computer bios supports this method).

When you finish your LiveUSB session, make sure you maintain your installed packages, system settings, etc, by backing up the entire current filesystem with one the following commands:

• fast compression, average filesize:

   # tazusb writefs gzip 

• slow compression, smaller filesize:

   # tazusb writefs lzma 

• no compression, larger filesize:

   # tazusb writefs none 

Each of these writes everything to a 'rootfs.gz' archive to be loaded the next time you boot.

If anything should go wrong when writing your filesystem, you can simply rollback to your previous filesystem by typing 'previous' at the 'boot:' prompt. Older backups are named 'rootfs.gz.unixtimestamp' and can be safely deleted from the /home folder to save disk space using tazusb clean.

The official Tazusb manual can be found in the SliTaz Web site documentation; this contains a lot more useful information. The manual is also available through the documentation menu on the LiveCD.

Slitaz can be installed on USB media from windows. The following description has been tested on Windows XP and Vista. Before starting you need to download:

1. the latest SliTaz iso from Get SliTaz.
2. the syslinux tool for the SliTaz version you install:

• syslinux-4.05.zip for SliTaz 4.0
• syslinux-3.82.zip for SliTaz 3.0
• syslinux-3.73.zip for SliTaz 2.0
• syslinux-3.61.zip for SliTaz 1.0

1. Extract the SliTaz ISO file to the USB stick. For this, use a tool like 7-Zip or Winimage (shareware). Once extracted, you should get the following:

\boot
\boot\isolinux
\boot\grub

2. On your USB stick, rename the \boot\isolinux directory to \boot\syslinux.

3. In the new directory \boot\syslinux, rename isolinux.cfg file to syslinux.cfg and isolinux.msg file to syslinux.msg. This is not mandatory but makes more sense.

4. Now extract the syslinux archive previously downloaded and copy the syslinux.exe file from its win32 directory into the \boot\syslinux directory of the USB stick.

5. Modify the \boot\syslinux\syslinux.cfg: replace all isolinux.* appellations with syslinux.*.

...
kernel /boot/isolinux/ifmem.c32
...

to

...
kernel /boot/syslinux/ifmem.c32
...

display syslinux.msg
label slitaz
	kernel /boot/bzImage
	append initrd=/boot/rootfs.gz rw root=/dev/null lang=C kmap=uk vga=normal autologin

include common.cfg

Note : In the example above, compared to the original file, the line display isolinux.msg has been replaced by display syslinux.cfg and the parameters lang=C kmap=uk have been added to the line append so that, lang and keyboard are automatically selected at boot.

In file \boot\syslinux\common.cfg, modify

...
F3 isolinux.msg
...

to

...
F3 syslinux.msg
...

6. Now, from the terminal in Windows, run syslinux.exe to install the bootloader. For example, here the USB stick is shown as letter K, type:

k:
cd \boot\syslinux
syslinux -ma -d \boot\syslinux k:

7. You can now restart your computer. Change option in BIOS to boot first from USB.

LiveUSB Guide: From Windows To SliTaz