Linux on USB questions

[th3coolst3r]

So i have a dell inspiron 11 3000 series 2 in 1 and i want to use kali linux on it, but its windows 10, so i want to take linux and put it on a usb drive to boot it up, heres some questions

#1: If i Run linux on a windows computer, when i unplug the usb will it go back to windows?
#2: can i switch between windows and linux?
#3: how big is linux? i have an 8gb usb drive
#4: is kali linux the best one to use? or should i use backtrack?

thanks.

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[TheBlackParrot]

#1: no, you'll cause a kernel panic and the system will freeze until you do a hard poweroff (holding down the power button for an x amount of seconds)
#2: yes
#3: 8gb is plenty
#4: kali's fine

[th3coolst3r]

#1:  hard poweroff (holding down the power button for x amount of seconds)

k so after i poweroff hard it will revert back to windows?

[TheBlackParrot]

as long as you have your system not booting into the USB drive automatically, yes

i'm going to assume that laptop is UEFI as well, so installing any flavor of linux to a USB drive to use on your system will be a little more tedious
dualbooting as well

if i were you, i'd try something like ubuntu (15.10) first

EDIT: also don't just unplug the USB while it's in use, that can cause issues

[th3coolst3r]

ok i am currently downloading it onto my drive using the universal usb installer, so far so good, 7zip is doing something, bit i saw this in a tutorial so im assuming its ok, will update in a bit

[th3coolst3r]

(srry for dble post)

k its on the usb file, now when i reboot the pc after using it, i chose the CD-RW drive, right?

[TheBlackParrot]

you choose your USB drive

[th3coolst3r]

you choose your USB drive

ok, i tried and it didnt even show the usb in the startup options, it if uefi, what do i do?

[Foxscotch]

ok, i tried and it didnt even show the usb in the startup options, it if uefi, what do i do?

did you just stick the files on the drive or did you mount them?

[th3coolst3r]

did you just stick the files on the drive or did you mount them?

i used the universal usb installer with the kali linux iso file, so i just stuck them in, thats all the tutorial i found said to do

[Foxscotch]

i used the universal usb installer with the kali linux iso file, so i just stuck them in, thats all the tutorial i found said to do

I don't think I've ever used this "universal USB installer" but it does seem to mount the image
but saying that you "just stuck them in" is kinda confusing. can you just post what you see on the flash drive from the file browser?

[th3coolst3r]

Here ya go

[Foxscotch]

that seems to be right. I guess it's kind of irrelevant in the first place, because I think it would have shown up on the list of drives to boot from whether it was actually bootable or not
but I have no idea why it wouldn't show up in the list or how to fix it. the best thing I can come up with is maybe try a different USB port?

[TheBlackParrot]

ok, i tried and it didnt even show the usb in the startup options, it if uefi, what do i do?

UEFI is irrelevant to this not showing up in boot options

try a different USB port?

[th3coolst3r]

For stuffs and giggles here's the booting options