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MikroTik RouterOS is based on Linux. Following that fact and knowing that Linux has the live USB versions, I decided to try to install RouterOS on a USB flash drive. The purpose of such installation could be testing, the live demo system or to use this flash drive instead of hard disk in ye olde computer.
Nov 10, 2016 At MikroTik RouterBoard 951Ui-2Hnd there are one USB port. So I connect my 3G modem through that port. For some router series don't have usb port, we can connect through a small USB extender. – Next check whether is it registered under ports menu. This is crucial, as we would always connect to the USB 3G via the port name. This version install Mikrotik on USB, I tried many options but unfortunatly without result. RouterOS will be installed on USB wuthout problem but I need on x86. I have a server maybe the problem is in HDD Controler. I will try to change option on HDD controler. Maybe UEFI is the problem. Mikrotik From Usb Drive License From MikroTik; In this case, it will be easy and faster for maintaining a large network with this MikroTik PC router (Note: PC or Server processors are specially designed for working at layer 7 and working with application. Here, my piece of advice is to avoiding low memory configuration PC or Server. Jul 30, 2019 RouterOS on a USB stick The ISO file. I downloaded the ISO file from the MikroTik site. You can choose between LTS, latest stable and latest. Use a VM to install RouterOS. I created one VM with one vCPU and 32MB RAM. It doesn’t need any hard disk, only the CD.
Here is the story how I made it. Let’s begin!
In this recipe I used:
- The MikroTik RouterOS x86 6.44.5 LTS ISO image
- One 4GB USB 2.0 flash drive
- One VirtualBox VM
I tried to use the Netinstalltool, but it failed to format this USB.
The RouterOS specifications are a low demanding. You need as less as 32MB RAM and 32MB disk. You can boot virtually any PC using RouterOS.
In the real world, there could be incompatibilities between RouterOS and your hardware. The main limitation is a WiFi support. RouterOS can support mostly Atheros chips. Many other chips are not supported and you can’t add drivers for them.
Unfortunately, the Wiki page for the supported hardware is not maintained anymore and you need to try this by your own.
The ISO file
I downloaded the ISO file from the MikroTik site. You can choose between LTS, latest stable and latest beta versions.
Install Mikrotik From Usb Stick Driver
If you don’t need any special feature from the newer version, you can use the LTS version. That version is always the most stable.
As I mentioned, I used the x86 (PC) 6.44.5 LTS version, but you can use any other. As we will use this USB on any PC, you just need to use the x86 version.
This ISO file is bootable, but this is not a live disk. You can’t boot the system with this disk and got working environment. This is the installation only CD.
Use a VM to install RouterOS
Install Mikrotik From Usb Drive
I created one VM with one vCPU and 32MB RAM. It doesn’t need any hard disk, only the CD drive on the IDE controller.
I chose the RouterOS ISO image file and added it to this virtual CD drive.
I also attached my USB flash drive (formatted as FAT32) to my PC and later redirected it into this VM.
You need to enable the USB controller for VM. Moreover, the controller options must correspond with your USB drive. You can’t redirect a USB 3.0 drive to the USB 2.0 emulated controller.
When everything was ready, I started my VM. It booted from the ISO image and recognised my USB stick as the C: drive.
I chose almost all packages and started the installation process. My goal was to build the universal demo system and I may need different packages. It’s easier to have them all already installed. I omitted only the calea and gps packages.
This process will last for about minute. Just be patient.
When the process is finished, the installer would prompt you to press the [ ENTER ] key to restart.
I just turned my VM off. The keyboard shortcut is [ Host ] + [ Q ]. The Host key is usually the right Ctrl key.
When I turned my VM off, Windows took back the control over my USB. As this USB is now formatted in Linux EXT file system, Windows could not recognise it.
Just click on [ Cancel ] and eject your USB disk from your PC.
Testing this installation
I had a few laptops here to tested this USB drive.
The first was Dell Inspiron with the AMD processor. RouterOS booted fine and, as expected, didn’t identified the built-in WiFi NIC. All other functions worked fine.
The second laptop was HP ProBook 4540s. Unfortunately, this laptop didn’t boot at all. It started and just lost USB boot device. I tried a few BIOS tweaks, like Legacy boot, but without success.
The third test was on Toshiba Satellite U500. The results were the same as with Dell Inspiron. RouterOS booted successfully and everything was OK, but WiFi. Again, the WiFi NIC wasn’t recognised.
Keep in mind that every computer has the different NIC or at least the NIC with different MAC. Therefore, every time you run RouterOS on the new machine, it will recognise your NIC under a new name (in my case, it was ether1 on Dell and ether2 on Toshiba). In case that you plan to use the DHCP client for this RouterOS, you will need to update its settings after boot for any new machine.
Later I found also a few desktop machine. If their BIOS is in UEFI mode, this stick will not boot.
The next step
As this installation works fine, you can use it in the different ways. I decided to use it for the tests on real hardware. Therefore, I left it with the license level 0 – 24 hours of the unrestricted work.
You can use it with the license level 1 – the demo mode (the restricted mode without the WiFi support and limited support for any advanced service).
Even better, you can use it instead of the hard disk for your old PC. Of course, any USB stick is faster than any mechanical hard disk but still slower than SSD. In addition, it’s not recommended to perform the heavy writing operations on such disk or it can fail.
If you plan to use it as the disk for the real router, you need to license it using any paid license level 4-6. After that, you can build the powerful router with many different interfaces or devices (like a GPS receiver or an ISDN BRI interface board). The possibilities are endless.
Stay tuned.
-->Here's how to create a bootable Windows installation USB drive starting with a Windows .iso file or a Windows Setup DVD.
Note
For new Windows 10 installations, we've got a tool that does this for you. See Download Windows 10.
What you need
- Windows 10 install .iso or DVD
- USB flash drive with at least 5GB free space. This drive will be formatted, so make sure it doesn't have any important files on it.
- Technician PC - Windows PC that you'll use to format the USB flash drive
- Destination PC - A PC that you'll install Windows on
Step 1 - Format the drive and set the primary partition as active
- Connect the USB flash drive to your technician PC.
- Open Disk Management: Right-click on Start and choose Disk Management.
- Format the partition: Right-click the USB drive partition and choose Format. Select the FAT32 file system to be able to boot either BIOS-based or UEFI-based PCs.
- Set the partition as active: Right-click the USB drive partition and click Mark Partition as Active.NoteIf Mark Partition as Active isn't available, you can instead use diskpart to select the partition and mark it active.
Step 2 - Copy Windows Setup to the USB flash drive
- Use File Explorer to copy and paste the entire contents of the Windows product DVD or ISO to the USB flash drive.
- Optional: add an unattend file to automate the installation process. For more information, see Automate Windows Setup.
Step 3 - Install Windows to the new PC
- Connect the USB flash drive to a new PC.
- Turn on the PC and press the key that opens the boot-device selection menu for the computer, such as the Esc/F10/F12 keys. Select the option that boots the PC from the USB flash drive.Windows Setup starts. Follow the instructions to install Windows.
- Remove the USB flash drive.
Troubleshooting: file copy fails
This can happen when the Windows image file is over the FAT32 file size limit of 4GB. When this happens:
Install Mikrotik From Usb Sticks
- Copy everything except the Windows image file (sourcesinstall.wim) to the USB drive (either drag and drop, or use this command, where D: is the mounted ISO and E: is the USB flash drive.)
- Split the Windows image file into smaller files, and put the smaller files onto the USB drive:Note, Windows Setup automatically installs from this file, so long as you name it install.swm.