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Comments on Run programs of normal OS from a live USB

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Run programs of normal OS from a live USB

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I am experiencing hardware or software problems that I cannot explain, or find a solution for. As part of the troubleshooting process, I have now arrived at running an older version of the OS from a USB stick, and attempting to run the failing applications in this environment. However, I am not sure how to actually run the applications that are stored on the disk.

I always run these from the GUI launcher, so I located the ".desktop" file for one of them, opened it in Text Editor, and found a line starting with "Exec=". I then copied this command, and pasted it into the Terminal. For instance, with Steam:

>> /usr/games/steam steam://open/games
bash: /usr/games/steam: No such file or directory

That fails because the path goes to the USB, not the disk, so I located the mounting folder for the disk, and prefixed the path with that:

>> /media/pop-os/<\some-uuid\>/usr/games/steam
  %  Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                  Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0      0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0curl: (6) Could not resolve host: repo.steampowered.com

Aha, that fails. Not sure why, so I try another application:

>> /media/pop-os/<\some-uuid\>/usr/bin/winetricks --gui
winetricks GUI enabled, using Zenity 3.42.1
------------------------------------------------------
warning: wineserver not found!
------------------------------------------------------

So, how do I actually run programs stored on the disk, when the OS is on the USB stick?

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1 comment thread

Suggested edit is more ambigious (2 comments)
Suggested edit is more ambigious

matthewsnyder‭ I do agree my title isn’t the best, but I personally find the suggested title less descriptive. I keep reading it as if using an application bundled with the OS on the USB stick. I haven’t rejected the edit, so I’ll leave it to somebody else to also provide their opinion.

matthewsnyder‭ wrote 4 months ago

The reason I suggested an edit is that there is also the problem of "How do I install stuff on the hard disk when using a live OS, so I don't run out of RAM?" which is completely separate from your question, but the title sounds like it as well. I was trying to make it so that when someone asks that other question it's clear which is which. I do wish I knew a better term than "normal OS", but I can't think of a better phrasing.

I agree, hopefully someone else can suggest something better.