Linux on an External SSD: Why Won’t It Boot on Other Machines?

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Asked By CreativePanda94 On

Hey everyone! I'm trying to set up Linux on an external SSD so I can use it on different machines, but I'm running into issues. I installed Linux on the external drive, and while it boots just fine on the machine where I did the installation, it throws errors and fails to boot on other computers. I'm looking for some advice or solutions to make this setup work for all my devices. Any tips?

1 Answer

Answered By TechieTraveler22 On

This is a pretty common issue when installing Linux on external drives. The main problem is that GRUB, the bootloader, usually installs to the first EFI partition it finds on the machine's boot order, which often isn't your external drive. To fix this, you'll need to install GRUB directly on your external drive. Make sure it has an EFI partition, then boot into Linux and run `grub-install /dev/sdX`, replacing 'X' with your external drive letter. This should help it boot on other machines too!

LinuxJunkie77 -

I actually had a similar problem and fixed it by using a dummy machine with no internal drives for the installation. The external drive booted fine on that setup, but still crashed halfway through on my main machine. So it’s not just you!

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