We will show how to set up the memory stick to use the first partition, instead of the entire device. Since most USB sticks come pre-configured with a single FAT16 partition, you probably won't have to repartition or reformat the stick. If you have to do that anyway, use cfdisk or any other partitioning tool to create a FAT16 partition Don't forget to set the bootable bootable flag. , install an MBR using: # install-mbr /dev/sdX The install-mbr command is contained in the mbr &debian; package. Then create the filesystem using: # mkdosfs /dev/sdX1 Take care that you use the correct device name for your USB stick. The mkdosfs command is contained in the dosfstools &debian; package. In order to start the kernel after booting from the USB stick, we will put a boot loader on the stick. Although any boot loader should work, it's convenient to use syslinux, since it uses a FAT16 partition and can be reconfigured by just editing a text file. Any operating system which supports the FAT file system can be used to make changes to the configuration of the boot loader. To put syslinux on the FAT16 partition on your USB stick, install the syslinux and mtools packages on your system, and do: # syslinux /dev/sdX1 Again, take care that you use the correct device name. The partition must not be mounted when starting syslinux. This procedure writes a boot sector to the partition and creates the file ldlinux.sys which contains the boot loader code. Mount the partition (mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt) and copy the following installer image files to the stick: vmlinuz or linux (kernel binary) initrd.gz (initial ramdisk image) You can choose between either the text-based or the graphical version of the installer. The latter can be found in the gtk subdirectory. If you want to rename the files, please note that syslinux can only process DOS (8.3) file names. Next you should create a syslinux.cfg configuration file, which at a bare minimum should contain the following line (change the name of the kernel binary to linux if you used a netboot image): default vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz For the graphical installer you should add vga=788 to the line. Other parameters can be appended as desired. To enable the boot prompt to permit further parameter appending, add a prompt 1 line. If you used an hd-media image, you should now copy the ISO file of a &debian; ISO image You can use either a netinst or a full CD/DVD image (see ). Be sure to select one that fits. Note that the netboot mini.iso image is not usable for this purpose. onto the stick. When you are done, unmount the USB memory stick (umount /mnt).