Creating your own Custom Live CD - the manual way.

1. Preparations

• 
  

  First you download the Live CD ISO. While it is downloading install some software that is needed for rebuilding: sudo apt-get install squashfs-tools dchroot

  
  
  

  Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux.

  
  
  

  dchroot allows users to execute commands or interactive shells in different chroots.

  
  


• 
  

  Mount the Live CD:

  
  
  

  mkdir /tmp/livecd
  
  sudo mount -o loop ~/Downloads/ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso /tmp/livecd
  
  

  
  
  

  If you use another ISO or another location for your download please adjust accordingly.

  
  


• 
  

  Create a working area and copy contents over to the working area:

  
  
  

  mkdir -p ~/livecd/cd
  
  rsync --exclude=/casper/filesystem.squashfs -a /tmp/livecd/ ~/livecd/cd
  
  mkdir ~/livecd/squashfs  ~/livecd/custom
  
  sudo modprobe squashfs
  
  sudo mount -t squashfs -o loop /tmp/livecd/casper/filesystem.squashfs ~/livecd/squashfs/
  
  sudo cp -a ~/livecd/squashfs/* ~/livecd/custom
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  If you get an error like this while doing modprobe:

  
  
  

  sudo modprobe squashfs 
  
  WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, 
  
  all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/
  
  

  
  
  

  move the modprobe.conf mv /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.conf.OLD and try again!

  
  


• 
  

  Network access:

  
  
  

  sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/hosts ~/livecd/custom/etc/
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Create a pseudo filesystem:

  
  
  

  sudo chroot ~/livecd/custom /bin/bash -l
  
  mount -t proc none /proc/
  
  mount -t sysfs none /sys/
  
  

  
  

2. Customizing

• You can get a list of all packages with
  dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Package}n' | less




• You can remove games with apt-get remove --purge gnome-games




• Update your sources withsudoedit /etc/apt/sources.list. Comment out lines you do not want and uncomment the ones you do want, add in PPAs if you want and then you need to update with apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade




• Adding packages like thunderbird, Samba, Samba system config and SSH is done the same way as you would normally install from command line. So sudo apt-get install thunderbird samba system-config-samba ssh will add those.



• 
  

  If you've manually downloaded the package from you can install it with sudo dpkg -i {file_name}.deb

  
  
  
  
  
  • You can check Ubuntu Software Center, Synaptic or the packages website for the names if more need to be installed.
  
  
  • You might consider adding (wireless) network utilities.
  
  
  • You will quickly run over 800 Mb; if you do you either remove more packages to get under 800 or you need to use a DVD when burning. Removing libre office will free up you 33+ Mb if you do not need it.
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  To create an AskUbuntu shortcut on the desktop:

  
  
  

  mkdir -p /etc/skel/Desktop && printf '[Desktop Entry]nVersion=1.0nName=Ask UbuntunComment=Ask Questions About UbuntunGenericName=Question and AnswersnExec=xdg-open http://askubuntu.comnTerminal=falsenX-MultipleArgs=falsenType=ApplicationnIcon=firefoxnCategories=Internet;n' > /etc/skel/Desktop/askubuntu.desktop && chmod a+x /etc/skel/Desktop/askubuntu.desktop
  
  

  
  
  

  You can add more of these (skip the mkdir part) by editing the URL to something else.
  _{Courtesy of dv3500ea}

  
  


• 
  

  Changing settings inside gconf-editor.

  
  
  

  You can change any gconf option if you know what the path is of that option and the value you want it to be (and the type of the value of course).

  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  Changing the wallpaper is done with the path I pointed arrows to: /desktop/gnome/background/, it is a string value and it uses picture_filename as an option. The value it currently holds on my desktop is /discworld2/Downloads/fantasticwall_2.jpg. The background itself should be copied into /usr/share/backgrounds/. Make sure to set permissions and owner.

  
  
  

  Examples:

  
  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    To change the wallpaper (change the filename in the 1st command to your own image) to this image and to change the theme to Radiance you can use this information to create commands to set this for your live cd:

    
    
    

    gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults --set -t string /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename  /discworld2/Downloads/fantasticwall_2.jpg
    
    
    
    gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults --set -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme Radiance
    
    

    
    
    

    _{Courtesy of dv3500ea}

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Enable remote desktop:

    
    
    

    gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults --set -t bool /desktop/gnome/remote_access/enabled true
    
    

    
    
    

    Settings for icons, panels etc are all done by adding a command like this.

    
    
  
  

  • Alternatively you can edit /etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults/%gconf-tree.xml (or when you are down save this file for future usage). All the configuration settings done through gconftool-2 are stored in this file.

  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Change the default timezone used by the live cd

  
  
  

  dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Change locale setting to english (of course change it to what you want)

  
  
  

  locale-gen en
  
  update-locale LANG=en LANGUAGE=en LC_ALL=en
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Configure configuration files.

  
  
  

  If you want to have a custom configuration file for a certain package you can do this in several ways.

  
  
  

  The difficult (but most logical) way would be to either find the package, change the configuration file and repackage it or to find the source files, figure out where they store their dummy config file and change that and then rebuild the package.

  
  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    Of course this only works if the default configuration file is included in the source package. Many packages auto-generate their config files in the {packagename}.postinst script so it would make it rather difficult to get this done.

    
    
    

    The easiest way would be to create a script and copy your current config to /etc/skel so they get added to your desktop (similar to adding firefox shortcuts as explained above) and after installing click the desktop link to set the config file to the place it needs to be. The script could both do the copying and removal of both the script and config file from your desktop after it succesfully installed. This method can be used to update the Samba configuration (put your current config in /etc/skel/. Put a script in there that has execute permissions and contains a move of said config to /etc/samba/smbd.conf and all you need to do afterwards is execute the script).

    
    
  
  

  • This basically always works since it replaces a post-install manual action with a post-install manually activated script. But it also means it is not part of the custom live cd.

  
  
  
  

3. Cleaning up

apt-get clean

rm -rf /tmp/*

rm -f /etc/hosts /etc/resolv.conf

umount /proc/

umount /sys/

exit

This removes all the temporary files; not what we created. ~/livecd/ is readonly so a normal rm will not remove these files. You need to mount it with write access (or as I did use the new live cd to boot and mount the home and rm it from there.

4. Setting up the ISO

• 
  

  Manifest files.

  
  
  

  chmod +w ~/livecd/cd/casper/filesystem.manifest
  
  sudo chroot ~/livecd/custom dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Package} ${Version}n' > ~/livecd/cd/casper/filesystem.manifest
  
  sudo cp ~/livecd/cd/casper/filesystem.manifest ~/livecd/cd/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Regenerate squashfs file.

  
  
  

  sudo mksquashfs ~/livecd/custom ~/livecd/cd/casper/filesystem.squashfs
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  Update md5 sums.

  
  
  

  sudo rm ~/livecd/cd/md5sum.txt
  
  sudo bash -c 'cd ~/livecd/cd && find . -type f -exec md5sum {} +' > md5sum.txt
  
  

  
  

5. Creating the ISO.

cd ~/livecd/cd

sudo mkisofs -r -V "Ubuntu-Live" -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -cache-inodes -J -l -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o ~/Downloads/ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso .

6. Unmount & Clean

sudo umount ~/livecd/squashfs/

sudo umount /tmp/livecd

sudo rm -fr ~/livecd/

7. Comments:

• Everything was tested with an Ubuntu 11.04 Live CD. Only thing that went wrong was chrooting: I added dchroot to the files you need to install to do this.




• Regarding "should create some firefox shortcuts on desktop", "Should change the default theme to radiance" and "Should change the default ubuntu wallpaper". I edited these in after dv3500ea put it into the comments; I did not test this while creating the 11.04 live cd.

Creating a live CD from an existing/new installation

EDIT: This method doesn't seem to work anymore. I suggest you try other methods suggested in this QA.

A good way would be making a live CD from a current installation. This can be done using a virtual machine (just don't install any VM tools inside the guest OS)

So, first we need a fresh install(if you can't install it for real, try using a virtual machine) with only things that you need (in your case thunderbird, samba and ssh). Then we tweak the system and record where the tweaks are (e.g. you change your desktop background, the settings are in ~/.gconf or you add firefox shortcuts, they are located in ~/Desktop). This is needed for step 4.

1. 
   

   Set up some variables:

   
   
   

   export WORK=~/temp
   
   export CD=~/livecd
   
   export FORMAT=squashfs
   
   export FS_DIR=casper
   
   

   
   
   

   Replace ~/temp with a path to a temporary
   directory in which we will work in.
   Replace ~/livecd with a path to the
   CD tree.

   
   



2. Make the folder structure. sudo mkdir -p ${CD}/{${FS_DIR},boot/grub} ${WORK}/rootfs



3. 
   

   Now we will need to install some packages:

   
   
   

   sudo apt-get install grub2 xorriso squashfs-tools
   
   

   
   


4. 
   

   Now we will copy the current installation, modify the exclude flags to fit your needs:

   
   
   

   sudo rsync -av --one-file-system --exclude=/proc/* --exclude=/dev/* 
   
   --exclude=/sys/* --exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/home/* --exclude=/lost+found 
   
   --exclude=/var/tmp/* --exclude=/boot/grub/* --exclude=/root/* 
   
   --exclude=/var/mail/* --exclude=/var/spool/* --exclude=${WORK}/rootfs 
   
   --exclude=/etc/fstab --exclude=/etc/mtab --exclude=/etc/hosts 
   
   --exclude=/etc/timezone --exclude=/etc/shadow* --exclude=/etc/gshadow* 
   
   --exclude=/etc/X11/xorg.conf* --exclude=/etc/gdm/custom.conf 
   
   / ${WORK}/rootfs
   
   

   
   
   

   If you have a separate boot partition, execute this: sudo cp -av /boot/* ${WORK}/rootfs/boot
   
   In your case, you want to copy settings and some files from the home directory. First, define what directories we want to copy:
   CONFIG='.config .gconf Desktop someotherfolder andanotherfolder'
   And now we copy that:

   
   
   

   cd ~ && for i in $CONFIG
   
   do
   
   sudo cp -rpv --parents $i ${WORK}/rootfs/etc/skel
   
   done        
   
   

   
   


5. 
   

   Now we chroot into the new system and modify it.

   
   
   

   sudo mount  --bind /dev/ ${WORK}/rootfs/dev
   
   sudo mount -t proc proc ${WORK}/rootfs/proc
   
   sudo mount -t sysfs sysfs ${WORK}/rootfs/sys
   
   sudo mount -t devpts devpts ${WORK}/rootfs/dev/pts
   
   sudo chroot ${WORK}/rootfs /bin/bash
   
   

   
   
   

   The next commands are done in chroot:

   
   
   

   LANG=
   
   apt-get update
   
   apt-get install casper
   
   

   
   
   

   Casper contains live scripts.
   If you want an installer too, run this:

   
   
   

   apt-get install ubiquity ubiquity-frontend-gtk
   
   

   
   
   

   Or if you want KDE:

   
   
   

   apt-get install ubiquity ubiquity-frontend-kde
   
   

   
   


6. 
   

   Update modules.dep and initramfs:

   
   
   

   depmod -a $(uname -r)
   
   update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)
   
   

   
   


7. 
   

   Remove non-system users - do not worry, we have copied the settings and data into the "skeleton" of users. That means all new users will have them.

   
   
   

   for i in `cat /etc/passwd | awk -F":" '{print $1}'`
   
   do
   
       uid=`cat /etc/passwd | grep "^${i}:" | awk -F":" '{print $3}'`
   
       [ "$uid" -gt "999" -a  "$uid" -ne "65534"  ] && userdel --force ${i} 2>/dev/null
   
   done
   
   

   
   


8. 
   

   Clean up:

   
   
   

   apt-get clean
   
   find /var/log -regex '.*?[0-9].*?' -exec rm -v {} ;
   
   find /var/log -type f | while read file
   
   do
   
       cat /dev/null | tee $file
   
   done
   
   rm /etc/resolv.conf /etc/hostname
   
   

   
   



9. Exit chroot. exit



10. 
    

    Now, we copy the kernel:

    
    
    

    export kversion=`cd ${WORK}/rootfs/boot && ls -1 vmlinuz-* | tail -1 | sed 's@vmlinuz-@@'`
    
    sudo cp -vp ${WORK}/rootfs/boot/vmlinuz-${kversion} ${CD}/boot/vmlinuz
    
    sudo cp -vp ${WORK}/rootfs/boot/initrd.img-${kversion} ${CD}/boot/initrd.img
    
    sudo cp -vp ${WORK}/rootfs/boot/memtest86+.bin ${CD}/boot
    
    

    
    


11. 
    

    If you have installed the installer, you will need to do this, so that the installer doesn't install things like casper:

    
    
    

    sudo chroot ${WORK}/rootfs dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Package} ${Version}n' | sudo tee ${CD}/${FS_DIR}/filesystem.manifest
    
    sudo cp -v ${CD}/${FS_DIR}/filesystem.manifest{,-desktop}
    
    REMOVE='ubiquity casper user-setup os-prober libdebian-installer4'
    
    for i in $REMOVE 
    
    do
    
        sudo sed -i "/${i}/d" ${CD}/${FS_DIR}/filesystem.manifest-desktop
    
    done        
    
    

    
    


12. 
    

    Unmount what we have mounted:

    
    
    

    sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/proc
    
    sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/sys
    
    sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/dev/pts
    
    sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/dev
    
    

    
    


13. 
    

    Convert to squashfs:

    
    
    

    sudo mksquashfs ${WORK}/rootfs ${CD}/${FS_DIR}/filesystem.${FORMAT}
    
    

    
    



14. Make filesystem.size:
    echo -n $(sudo du -s --block-size=1 ${WORK}/rootfs | tail -1 | awk '{print $1}') | sudo tee ${CD}/casper/filesystem.size




15. And md5: find ${CD} -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum | sed "s@${CD}@.@" | grep -v md5sum.txt |sudo tee ${CD}/md5sum.txt



16. 
    

    Now grub.cfg:

    
    
    

    sudo nano ${CD}/boot/grub/grub.cfg
    
    

    
    
    

    (replace nano with your fav text editor, it doesn't matter)
    Paste this and save:

    
    
    

    set default="0"
    
    set timeout=10
    
    
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu GUI" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu in safe mode" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper xforcevesa quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu CLI" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper textonly quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu GUI persistent mode" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper boot=casper persistent quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu GUI from RAM" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper nopersistent toram quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    menuentry "Check Disk for Defects" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Memory Test" {
    
    linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
    
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    menuentry "Boot from the first hard disk" {
    
    set root=(hd0)
    
    chainloader +1
    
    }
    
    

    
    


17. 
    

    If you want, you can add an additional menu entry, which allows you to jump straight into Ubiquity.

    
    
    

    menuentry "Install Ubuntu" {
    
    linux /boot/vmlinuz boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash
    
    initrd /boot/initrd.img
    
    }
    
    

    
    



18. Make the CD/DVD!
    sudo grub-mkrescue -o ~/live-cd.iso ${CD}




19. Test it using a virtual machine!

All credit goes to capink, because the guide is from here.

You can use uck or the live-magic to customize your Live CD.

uck is available from Ubuntu's official software sources, in all versions of Ubuntu since 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx. You can install uck from the Software Center, with apt-get on the command-line, or by clicking here .

Ubuntu Customization Kit

It is a collection of scripts that make it easier to create a custom LiveCD from an existing .iso image. It is very similar to Remastersys, with the difference that it is actively maintained. It has a GUI to help with the customization, but one can also use the command-line to do the same.

1. It will ask to select which language packs to include in the CD.


2. Then, it will ask to select the .iso image file, which will be used as the base for the new CD.


3. Give a name for the new .iso image that will be created.


4. Then, it will ask for the packages that are to be added/removed to/from the LiveCD. It will give you an option between the command-line and the default GUI (Ubuntu Software Center). Note: You should select command-line. From the command-line, you can add/remove packages either using apt-get or using Ubuntu Software Center (type software-center from the command-line). You can also modify configuration settings for all the software/apps.


5. After you have finished (it might take some time to download the required packages), continue.


6. Now, just sit back and relax. After some time, your customized LiveCD will be ready.

If you need more control over exactly what changes are made, it is possible to make the modification manually.

The process consists of unpacking the SquashFS data file containing the live OS's root filesystem, chrooting into the extracted filesystem, making your modifications, exiting the chroot, repacking the SquashFS file, and then regenerating the ISO image.

Complete details are described on the LiveCDCustomization page of the Ubuntu wiki.

In Ubuntu Software Center

Edit>Software Sources>Other Software>Add..

Paste the following line in the box and click add source.

deb http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/repository karmic

Reload the sources and install Remastersys from Software Center.

Once done, install all the media codecs and apps you'd like on your custom ubuntu.
Start remastersys from

System>Adminstration>Remastersys

Pick dist mode, click ok and Wait for the process to finish. Once done, you'll find your custom iso in

/home/remastersys/remastersys/custom.iso

Remastersys could be the answer to your needs. You need to go to http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu.html and follow the instructions. This program makes an iso from your running os including all settings and apps. Than you can burn a CD using this iso. Unfortunately, there was in the past an issue to get it running as a live cd, while installing was no problem (I dont know if this is still a problem).

There is no "GUI" that I know of outside of Lucid, however gNewsense, which is a fork of Ubuntu makes their scripts to take an Ubuntu release and make a custom fork freely available and rather well documented.

Its basically a process of:

1. Placing your custom artwork where the scripts can find it


2. Deciding what you want in your kernel (or what you don't want)


3. Deciding what packages you want (or what you don't want)


4. Running a script that mirrors an apt repository


5. Creating the distribution CD / ISO.

While not exactly 'novice friendly', their tools are relatively easy to use.

I have tinkered with a new web-based service called Reconstructor. According to their website,

Reconstructor is a toolkit for
creating custom versions of the
GNU/Linux operating system,
specifically Debian and Ubuntu.

According to a Linux Journal article about Reconstructor, they charge small fees for customizations. Whether it's worth it depends on your needs.

I would advise you to try Reconstructor

"Reconstructor is an Ubuntu GNU/Linux CD Creator that allows you to modify an existing Ubuntu distribution and save as your own Linux distribution. It uses the Desktop(Live), Alternate(Install), or Server disc as a base, and then allows for user customization.
You can basically customize the entire environment, such as add/remove software, change the default look (splash, themes, fonts, wallpaper, etc.), add desktop links, etc."

Also for more info you should read these links: http://maketecheasier.com/reconstructor-creating-your-own-ubuntu-distribution/2008/07/05

http://maketecheasier.com/build-your-own-ubuntu-based-distro-with-novo-builder/2010/07/02

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869659

You can use JLIVECD too to customize a ISO image. It's a command line tool to customize Ubuntu and Ubuntu based distros. It gives you complete control over things that needs customization but you need to know what needs to be done i.e it only prepares the chroot environment for you (the rest is upto you) and builds the final ISO. You can keep adding new changes to the existing changes and keep checking the ISOs built on them.

Download http://sourceforge.net/projects/uck/files/uck/2.4.6/uck_2.4.6-0ubuntu1_all.deb/download
follow the instructions and when it asks to run package manager, a console application or continue packing, select Console application.

Now you can run

nautilus

unity-2d-launcher

unity-2d-panel

and do everything.

If this doesn't work first try running the package manager, then try again with the console.

Hope this helps.

You can modify the default /etc/hosts file (as well as some other default files) by editing /usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py

I thought it would be helpful to share as I needed to know how to do this.