Access USB stick on live ISO

[QuentinC]

Hello,

First of all thanks a lot for this GREAT software !! I am going to use it a lot !

I have a question, is it possible to access the main partition when booted on a live CD ? For example it would allow to backup a machine on the USB stick directly. For now the tested OS (Ubuntu/Clonezilla) are blocking the mount because the drive is already in use.

Thanks !

[ventoy]

After boot, ventoy must mount the iso file in the USB drive. Here there are two ways to do the mount.

1. Use device-mapper to directly mount the iso file
2. Use fuse to mount the USB partition first, then mount the iso file

Currently Ventoy select the first way. A device mapper will be created based on the iso file, this will make the whole USB drive readonly.

Maybe in the future version, I can add an option, if you want to write something to the USB after boot, you can choose fuse.

But for current version, this is NOT supported.

[QuentinC]

Maybe in the future version, I can add an option, if you want to write something to the USB after boot, you can choose fuse.

Thanks for your reply !

[INAX93]

Hi, thanks for opening this issue, i was about to explode thinking i was doing something wrong... Its a verry bad point not being able to use the usb device (the first partition or even another partition) inside a live usb... I'm using a 128Go usb flash drive and having around 100Go unused and unusable is a really bad point... Especially when there is only 1 usable usb port for exemple... Waiting for this function impatiently!

[kevinnls]

Hi, thanks for opening this issue, i was about to explode thinking i was doing something wrong... Its a verry bad point not being able to use the usb device (the first partition or even another partition) inside a live usb... I'm using a 128Go usb flash drive and having around 100Go unused and unusable is a really bad point... Especially when there is only 1 usable usb port for exemple... Waiting for this function impatiently!

@INAX93 you can reserve a portion at the end of your pendrive to use as storage (this is actually a better option)

[INAX93]

Hi, thanks for opening this issue, i was about to explode thinking i was doing something wrong... Its a verry bad point not being able to use the usb device (the first partition or even another partition) inside a live usb... I'm using a 128Go usb flash drive and having around 100Go unused and unusable is a really bad point... Especially when there is only 1 usable usb port for exemple... Waiting for this function impatiently!

@INAX93 you can reserve a portion at the end of your pendrive to use as storage (this is actually a better option)

Yes, half a year after it has been solved already... ^^ But thanks, if I was not following the Ventoy project maybe your notification would have been the little thnig that brings me back! Hehey :)

[kevinnls]

Yes, half a year after it has been solved already... ^^ But thanks, if I was not following the Ventoy project maybe your notification would have been the little thnig that brings me back! Hehey :)

hey i had the same question and popped by :stuck_out_tongue: \ besides the issue was open :tipping_hand_person: \ but wdym solved? Ventoy now mounts with FUSE?

2. Use fuse to mount the USB partition first, then mount the iso file

when i checked yesterday, i wasn't able to access the usb drive...

[Ripper346]

Pinging this. @INAX93 I don't get how it is solved as I currently can't access to the drive and how I can make it to. If you care to explain. Thanks

[fiddyschmitt]

In the case of Clonezilla, you can select 'Other modes of running Clonezilla' and then choose 'To RAM'. After Clonezilla has booted, if you disconnect & reconnect your USB device you can then mount it fine.

[fiddyschmitt]

Pinging this. @INAX93 I don't get how it is solved as I currently can't access to the drive and how I can make it to. If you care to explain. Thanks

Hi Ripper, I think INAX just used the feature which Kevin suggested, which is to reserve a portion at the end of the drive using this feature:

I assume you can create a partition in that space, which you can then mount when you have booted your live CD.

[acklenx]

I would still like to see the fuse option added. When booting to older windows machines, they can only see the first partition so reserving space and using partition 3 doesn't help in that case.

I also really like to use toram - it would be nice if that could be baked into ventoy, but even that won't solve this problem without fuse (or something else).

[bunnxr]

Maybe in the future version, I can add an option, if you want to write something to the USB after boot, you can choose fuse.

First of all ventoy!! is AWESOME!!.. Thanks For Writing it.. and please please please add fuse option, it's so practical to access the drive while the ISO is mounted.. Thanks Again!

[rvvh472]

Hi I hope you're all well. I boot from ventoyed USB Stick and in live ISO, whenever I need to access USB data to copy some data (ISO files or other files) to some internal disk, I was unable to do so. Could you implement some way to make mounted/booted iso/other as read-only and other files could be writable. May be fuse method you mentioned would work. Plzzzz fix/enable this issue/feature.

[hajisml]

Fresh in #436, ventoy version 1.0.64, new experimental option to enable remounting of the partition after boot. I really hope this feature gets better over time ASAP. It really has numerous uses.

[sebma]

@halimke By

It really has numerous uses.

, do you mean it has numerous issues ?

[hajisml]

@halimke By

It really has numerous uses.

, do you mean it has numerous issues ?

No, I meant it is a really useful feature and I hope it will continue evolving.

[bunnxr]

Fresh in #436, ventoy version 1.0.64, new experimental option to enable remounting of the partition after boot. I really hope this feature gets better over time ASAP. It really has numerous uses.

How do i add it properly on the json file? It isn't stated yet in the forums..

[h7io]

How do i add it properly on the json file? It isn't stated yet in the forums..

it is the VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT property, but I just did it with "Plugson".

[andrevmatos]

@bunnxr Create in your images (main) partition: 1. a folder called ventoy; 2. inside the folder, a plain text file called ventoy.json (full path /ventoy/ventoy.json), and inside it, paste the following:

{
    "control": [
        { "VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT": "1" }
    ]
}

Save the file, remove the driver safely, and reboot into a Linux image on the USB drive; then, from this linux, you should be able to mount and access the image partition without the error.

[Ripper346]

Does anyone have a compatibility list for VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT option, or experience of successful mounts? I have tried with ubuntu 20.04 with persistence without success. Also, I don't know if I have to do something particular to mount the partition, the notes don't say anything about it

[steve6375]

Why not search the Ventoy Forum for VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT https://forums.ventoy.net/index.php Did you use the ventoyplugson app to edit the ventoy.json file?

[Ripper346]

@steve6375 because on the forum there isn't anything about it except a topic from 2020. And of course I didn't use the app you mentioned, I am still able to write a key-value in a json file that it is also written here https://www.ventoy.net/en/plugin_control.html

[steve6375]

Did you check for unwanted spaces? Can you upload zip file containing your ventoy.json here https://forums.ventoy.net/showthread.php?tid=130&pid=5398#pid5398 Why not use the official app?

[h7io]

Does anyone have ... experience of successful mounts?

I do - works great. I used Plugson to set up the config and recommend it.

[Ripper346]

Ok, I tried this app (btw of course I didn't hear of it, it exists only from December and using ventoy from almost its beginning it came under my radar), all it did different was to invert the order in the json in the control array from

{
    "control":[
        { "VTOY_DEFAULT_SEARCH_ROOT": "/ventoy/ISO" },
        { "VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT": "1" }
    ],
    ...
}

To

{
    "control":[
        { "VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT": "1" },
        { "VTOY_DEFAULT_SEARCH_ROOT": "/ventoy/ISO" }
    ],
    ...
}

I loaded the os and the partition went online. Then I retried to change manually back to the first version that I had and I was still able to use the partition. It is written that that application change only the json file, so what happened there?

[steve6375]

Well obviously your original .JSON file had something strange in it. The JSON syntax is very weird and fussy. Unless you have the original file we will never know!

[Ripper346]

I have, I've made a backup before. I posted in my last post part of it, it missed only the persistence part, this is my old full file:

{
  "control": [
      { "VTOY_DEFAULT_SEARCH_ROOT": "/ventoy/ISO" },
      { "VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT": "1" }
  ],
  "persistence": [
    {
      "image": "/ventoy/ISO/kali-linux-2020.2-live-amd64.iso",
      "backend": "/ventoy/persistence/kali_2020.2.dat"
    },
    {
      "image": "/ventoy/ISO/ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso",
      "backend": "/ventoy/persistence/ubuntu_20.04.dat"
    }
  ]
}

[steve6375]

So you are saying that old original unmodified file does not work or now does work? Check timestamp!

[Ripper346]

My old file didn't work. I used the VentoyPlugson and it started working. I restored my old file and now it works too

[steve6375]

And modified timestamp date on the original file is before today?

[Ripper346]

Yes, 2022-01-11 23:33 CET

[steve6375]

No idea then🙄

[GlassGruber]

This is excellent! Thank you @andrevmatos for pointing out VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT.

I can confirm it works fine with alpine-extended-3.16.0-x86_64.iso and usb partition can be mounted.
Is there some page where this can be reported or listed?

Also, shouldn't this issue be mentioned in the FAQ page?

Luckily some google foo got me here, but guess it should be pointed somewhere more clearly (if I haven't missed something obvious in the manual, excluding the plugin page where it is listed, but I guess the whole plugin section can be a bit daunting and not really considered by basic users like me 🙃 ).

[ventoy]

@GlassGruber I have added this in the FAQ page. https://www.ventoy.net/en/faq.html#faq_linux_remount

[GlassGruber]

@GlassGruber I have added this in the FAQ page. https://www.ventoy.net/en/faq.html#faq_linux_remount

That's great! I think this will help many users!

[Animeshz]

It should also be noted ventoy/ventoy.json has to be made in the iso holding partition, rather than efi partition (which contains folder named ventoy which can be easily mistaken).

[GregTonoski]

Thank you. I confirm that it possible to mount usb drive if the configuration in the file /ventoy/ventoy.json is present.