Why doesn’t Linux with Persistence keep settings after reboot? (SOLVED)

Persistence is a partition on a flash drive with a Live Linux system, thanks to which the programs and settings installed on the system are saved.

A live image with a Linux distribution can be written to a USB flash drive. The result is a bootable USB flash drive with Linux. That is, you can boot into Linux and use the programs and tools of this operating system. A feature of the Live image is that you can install programs, save files and make other changes and settings in the operating system. All settings are stored in the virtual file system. That is, within one session, work in the Live system does not differ from work in any other Linux. But immediately after reboot, all changes made will be lost and the system will return to its initial state.

In order for files and changes in the OS to be saved between reboots, you can create a Persistence partition, in which all changes will be stored. For an example of how to create a bootable USB with Persistence, see “How to make Kali Linux 2022 Live USB with Persistence and optional encryption (on Windows)”.

After creating Persistence, all changes should be “remembered” and be visible after a reboot. But some users are faced with the fact that even after creating a persistent storage, files and installed programs disappear after a reboot. What could be the problem?

The fact is that even after creating the Persistence volume, the user still has several boot options, for example:

• Live system – OS boot without using persistent storage
• Live USB Persistence – OS boot using persistent storage
• Live USB Encrypted Persistence – OS boot using encrypted persistent storage

As you might guess, if you select “Live system” from the boot menu, then your system will be a regular Live system that does not use Persistence. In this case, the Live system option is the first item in the boot menu, that is, it will be used by default if no other option is selected.

Thus, to see the changes made before rebooting Linux, select one of the following options from the boot menu:

• Live USB Persistence
• Live USB Encrypted Persistence