CreateCustomLiveCD

This page was last updated on October 19, 2011.

Create a custom Live CD with UCK

1. Download the Live CD .iso file of the Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or Eduibuntu release you want to customize.
2. Install UCK (Ubuntu Customization Kit) from within the Software Center or a package manager or on the command line.
3. Run UCK by choosing Ubuntu Customization Kit from the Applications –> System Tools menu in Ubuntu or from the K menu –> System menu in Kubuntu.
4. A welcome screen will come up, letting you know what UCK’s requirements are. Verify that you meet the requirements:

   1. You must have at least 5 GB free on your computer. Check how much space you have available by typing this command in a terminal window:

   df -h

   2. You must have an internet connection so that UCK can download language files, packages, etc.
   3. You must have the apt-source line shown in the welcome screen in your sources.list file. The line shown on the welcome screen will depend on the Ubuntu release you are using. To view your sources.list file, type this command in a terminal window:

   cat /etc/apt/sources.list

5. Click the OK button on the welcome screen when you’re finished verifying that you meet the requirements.
6. Choose the language packs you’d like the CD to have from the list that comes up.
7. Choose a bootloader language from the list that comes up.
8. Choose the desktop environment you’d like the Live CD to use.
9. Browse to the .iso file of the Ubuntu release you downloaded.
10. Type in a name for the CD you’re creating.
11. Choose yes in answer to the question of whether you want to customize the CD manually.
12. Choose yes in answer to the question of whether you want to remove all Windows-related files from the CD. These are only needed for inserting the CD into a Windows machine.
13. A window will come up informing you that UCK will now begin building the CD. Click the OK button and type in your password.
14. Wait for UCK to process the CD. This may take a while.
15. A customization menu will come up.
16. Choose Run package manager, to open the UCK package manager. where you can decide which packages to add or remove from the CD.
17. Close the UCK package manager to return to the customization menu.
18. Choose Run console application to open an UCK terminal window at the root of the CD. Here you can:

    • Perform any command line actions you’d like, including copying, moving, and deleting files, using apt-get to install packages, etc.
    • Tweak the configuration settings for the CD’s desktop and applications by typing gconf-editor in Ubuntu or kcontrol in Kubuntu.
    • Copy files to the CD by opening a terminal window on your computer and accessing the CD at ~/tmp/remaster-root/ which has the same basic directory structure as your computer. Note that ~ represents your /home/username directory.

19. Close the UCK terminal window to return to the customization menu.
20. Choose Continue building from the customization menu.
21. Wait for UCK to create the CD. This will take some time.
22. You’ll find the .iso file for your custom Live CD in your /home/username/tmp/remaster-new-files directory.

See also:

• Wikipedia page with a list of Linux remastering software.




Obligatory Happy Ending

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.