Create bootable Pendrive with Multiple Linux distros with Multisystem

If you are a noob like me, you will very quickly conclude that there is no single page on the web which has all the relevant info to create a bootable pendrive with multiple linux distros using Multisystem - as I found out. And then you landed here...

Multisystem (http://liveusb.info/) is by far the most versatile tool available for the job. It runs on Linux (only?).

These are the methods that I successfully used, to install Multisystem on an installation of Linux Mint 17.2. Please note this is not an expert opinion - I am just a GUI guy looking for a way to get the job done.

1. Automated by script

There is a script which seems to be the first thing that people on this path confront (thanks to Googles Algo and the fact that the liveusb.info site is not in English). The script can be found here : http://liveusb.info/multisystem/install-depot-multisystem.sh.tar.bz2.

The steps to follow after downloading the file above are listed here : 
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/

The instructions on the site above suffer from two lapses:
1. What to do if the script does not run on the installation.
On my Mint 17.2 installation, I do not get a pop up asking "Make it executable and run", it just opens up the file in a text editor.

If that occurs, you need to open a terminal, and run this :

sudo bash install-depot-multisystem.sh

2. Sometimes, the above command does nothing, it opens the software management tool and stops. On closing the window, you get a "xterm error" message.
What is not mentioned is that the script requires xterm to run. If your OS doesn't have it, you need to install xterm first.

How? Run this :

sudo apt-get install xterm

This I discovered here : https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1219 under the comments section. Thanks to

berghsg  :  I am running Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela 32 bit. I followed the above steps and kept getting 'Error: xterm' when selecting "Run in terminal". To solve this i opened my terminal and ran sudo apt-get install xterm. The error went away and i could then run 

Once xterm is installed, you can run the command in the first step.


If that fails, as in my case, there is the second method 

2. Manual, with commands

The individual commands install Multisystem are here : http://liveusb.info/dotclear/index.php?pages/install

(just copy paste the following commands in the terminal)

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main' wget -q -O - http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot/multisystem.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install multisystem
sudo /usr/sbin/usermod -a -G adm "$SUDO_USER"

There seems to be no reason to run the last command, I didn't bother and it worked well.

Ofcourse, all the above steps involve being connected to the Net as files have to be downloaded (about 37 MB).

3. Installing Multisystem offline
If you have installed Multisystem once, you can install Multisystem in future without going online.

This involves taking a backup of the files downloaded during the installation.
Atleast in the case of Linux Mint 17.2, these files are downloaded at /var/cache/apt/archives. Should work with all distros based on Ubuntu.

Note, the files are different for 64 bit and 32 bit installations.
Here are screenshots of the files downloaded in each case : about 37 in number and totalling 37MB approx.

Files for 64bit installation

Files for 64 bit installation

My files for 64bit version can be downloaded here : Google Drive

Once you have backed up all these files, whenever you want to install Multisystem, open a terminal in that folder and run :

sudo dpkg -i *.*

 By far the easiest route, if you are on ubuntu based distro.


What next?

What to do after installing Multisystem is detailed here https://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/