How to install and run Xenserver from a usb drive

Prerequisites:

USB drive

Xenserver CD (get it here)

  • Physically disconnect all attached hard drives other than the UBS thumb drive.
  • Boot and install Xenserver to the USB drive as you normally would to a hard drive.
  • Once the install is complete, boot from the Xenserver CD again and hit F2 when you see the “Welcome to Xenserver” splash screen.
  • Type “shell” without the quotes and hit enter
  • Once booted, type “mkdir /tmp/sda” without the quotes and hit enter
  • Type “mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /tmp/sda” without quotes and hit enter
  • Type “chmod -R 644 /sys/block” without the quotes and hit enter
  • Next we need to copy some system files.  You’ll most likely get some I/O errors, you can ignore them.  Type “cp -R /sys/block/ /tmp/sda/sys/block/” without quotes and hit enter.
  • We need to chroot to the tmp folder on the usb drive, so type “chroot /tmp/sda”

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