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. latest Slitaz from Get SliTaz.
2. the syslinux tool from syslinux-3.82.zip.

1. Extract ISO file to 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
\boot\syslinux

2. On your USB stick, copy the following files into directory \boot\syslinux :

\boot\isolinux\*.txt 
\boot\isolinux\*.msg
\boot\isolinux\*.cfg
\boot\isolinux\*.lss

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

4. Now extract syslinux.exe from the archive previously downloaded from kernel.org and copy it to USB stick into directory \boot\syslinux.

5. Adapt the file syslinux.cfg to your needs. For example:

display syslinux.msg
default slitaz
label slitaz
	kernel /boot/bzImage
	append initrd=/boot/rootfs.gz rw root=/dev/null lang=fr kmap=fr vga=normal
implicit 0	
prompt 1	
timeout 80
F1 help.txt
F2 options.txt
F3 isolinux.msg
F4 display.txt

Note : The original file was changed with the following:

1. line display isolinux.msg to display syslinux.msg.
2. parameters lang=fr kmap=fr added to line append.

6. Run syslinux.exe to install the bootloader. For example, here the USB stick is shown as letter K:

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

1. Download zip file syslinux.zip.
2. Extract syslinux and copy it to USB stick into directory \boot.
3. Run the script \boot\syslinux\bootusb.bat.