How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

Message

watchdog · #261 Post by **watchdog** » Mon 31 Dec 2018, 04:16

fredx181 wrote: EDIT: Tried earlier GRUB2 booting with Debian and Ubuntu ISO's, now tried a Puppy, and it didn't boot to the desktop.
Error is: main .sfs not found. Maybe needs some special parameter that I don't know of.

Fred

Extract the main sfs from the iso to the same partition where it is and boot again. This worked for me in several cases.

rcrsn51 · #262 Post by **rcrsn51** » Sun 27 Jan 2019, 18:55

Update: Some BIOSes won't boot an ISObooter flash drive because they mistake it for a ZIP drive. Your flash drive may appear in the BIOS incorrectly under Removable Devices. Here is a work-around.

1. Run Gparted and make two partitions:
a. Make a SMALL ext2 partition and flag it bootable.
b. Make the rest of the drive into a FAT32 partition.

2a. Copy the ISObooter script onto the first partition. Do NOT put any ISOs there.
2b. Run ISObooter. Make the drive bootable.
2c. Add the following menu.lst file:

Code: Select all

timeout 10
default 0

title More ISOs (see the instructions)
configfile (hd0,1)/menu.lst
commandline

3a. Copy the ISObooter script onto the second partition. Add an ISO file.
3b. Run ISObooter. Do NOT make the drive bootable. Create the menu entry for your ISO.

4. Boot the flash drive.

Semme · #263 Post by **Semme** » Sat 16 Mar 2019, 19:37

Bill,

Do you know how I may need to setup the latest 64b Slax ISO in order to gain persistence?

My 2g stick is partitioned with a 262mb FAT primary with the remainder as an ext4 primary.

Thoughts or suggestions?

rcrsn51 · #264 Post by **rcrsn51** » Sat 16 Mar 2019, 20:35

No. But there is lots of documentation for installing Slax on a USB device.

fredx181 · #265 Post by **fredx181** » Sat 16 Mar 2019, 20:53

Semme wrote:Bill,

Do you know how I may need to setup the latest 64b Slax ISO in order to gain persistence?

My 2g stick is partitioned with a 262mb FAT primary with the remainder as an ext4 primary.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Sorry, off-topic reply because it hasn't got to do with Isobooter, anyway:
Don't know how to do with Isobooter, but for a frugal install I've created 'slax' directory on sdb1 (ext4 filesystem), copied the contents of the Slax ISO to it and have as grub4dos menu.lst entry:

Code: Select all

title Run Slax (Persistent changes)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /slax/boot/vmlinuz from=/slax/ vga=normal load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 slax.flags=perch,automount
initrd /slax/boot/initrfs.img

(change "root (hd0,0)" to what it is for you)

Fred

Semme · #266 Post by **Semme** » Sun 17 Mar 2019, 00:52

Fred,

While I don't fully understand the menu.lst layout when defining a bootable partition on thumb drives, I believe the answer lies within this post.

I suppose there's no harm in a little trial-n-error to navigate the waters..

lewoo · #267 Post by **lewoo** » Fri 12 Apr 2019, 23:01

used rcrsn51 isobooter fredx181 respin on inostar 8 gig usb
pup slacko 6.0 64, slacko6.2.0 64, antix 7, thar.6.0.6 64,
all run. enter y terminal, boot like cd this good
try save in slacko 6.0 it work then run like frugal [save icon on desk top]
thanks

Sky Aisling · #268 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Sun 29 Mar 2020, 00:07

rcrsn51 Your ISOboot is brilliant. Thank you so much for all the professional quality work you do for Puppy. You have given so much help over the years in such a clear, concise manner.
Do you have another name other than 'rcrsn51' that's easier to remember? I'd like to break my habit of calling you that 'distinquished bronze head' contributor.

Sky

Mike Walsh · #269 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Sun 29 Mar 2020, 11:14

Sky Aisling wrote:rcrsn51 Your ISOboot is brilliant. Thank you so much for all the professional quality work you do for Puppy. You have given so much help over the years in such a clear, concise manner.
Do you have another name other than 'rcrsn51' that's easier to remember? I'd like to break my habit of calling you that 'distinquished bronze head' contributor.

Sky

@ Sky Aisling:-

Well, if you do a bit of detective work:-

Lives in Stratford, Ontario. --> Stratford, UK?

The avatar is that of a bust of the playwright William Shakespeare, who was born in Stratford, here in England....

So, some of us refer to, and address rcrsn51, as..... "Bill". I doubt it's his real name, but it's a bit easier to remember!

Mike.

proebler · #270 Post by **proebler** » Thu 23 Apr 2020, 11:34

A surprise experience.

I have used ISObooter many times, running it from USB flashdrive.
I got a surprise today, when I used it to test an iso which I had produced after a remaster.
The OS booted ok, but the loaded base sfs was not the one in the iso. What’s more, a fdrv got loaded that was not included in the iso .
Both these ‘foreign’ sfs were shown in /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/
After scratching my head, I realized that on booting, init first checks the (unmounted) computer partitions before it checks the USB to find the base sfs.
First found, best served .... the two sfs that got loaded were in / of one of the computer’s partitions.
It does not matter which partition they are on, as long as they are in /, init does not check sub directories.
The lesson: When tinkering with Puppy, place files in a subdirectory, ISObooter will then do what you expect from it.
cheers
proebler

rcrsn51 · #271 Post by **rcrsn51** » Thu 23 Apr 2020, 12:19

Just to be clear, your situation is not the "fault" of ISObooter. Its ONLY job is to build a menu.lst file that Grub4Dos will use when the USB boots.

What happens after that is the responsibility of Grub4DOS and the stuff inside the ISO.

It's the same situation as booting off a CD. Some Puppies will give higher priority to SFS files found on the hard drive over those on the CD.

If your ISObooter menu contains "pmedia=cd", try changing it to "pmedia=usbflash".

proebler · #272 Post by **proebler** » Thu 23 Apr 2020, 12:57

Understood.
I do not consider it to be a "fault" of ISObooter.
Thanks for the tip about changing the pmedia parameter.

EBored · #273 Post by **EBored** » Thu 30 Apr 2020, 01:41

where is plik ?

Semme · #274 Post by **Semme** » Fri 19 Jun 2020, 15:53

Morning Bill,

A little help if you would please.. I'm trying to set up the latest Peppermint with persistence.

The section here is the standard ISObooter method and goes off without a hitch:

Code: Select all

title Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64
partnew (hd0,3) 0x00 (hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

This, one of which I've tried doesn't quite fly (code block wrapped beginning with the "noeject" bit so as not to explode our page):

Code: Select all

title Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64
find --set-root /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso
map --heads=255 --sectors-per-track=63 /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=(hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso 
noeject noprompt splash persistent --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz

It hangs on:

Code: Select all

(initramfs) /scripts/casper-premount/20iso_scan:
line 46: Can't open /dev/sr0: No medium found

Advice? Or is there something I could dig out with ISOMaster?

Because I'm unsure as to how big "casper-rw" should be, here's how I've got the stick partitioned...

rcrsn51 · #275 Post by **rcrsn51** » Fri 19 Jun 2020, 17:28

A lot has changed since the early days of ISObooter. It's been years since I even attempted to set up a big-boy Linux with persistence.

Your best bet now is GRUB2 with a boot entry like this:

Code: Select all

menuentry "linuxmint-19.1-xfce-64bit" {
	set isopath="/linuxmint-19.1-xfce-64bit.iso"
	set uuid="7a177726-a6b6-4ef6-a717-98e2e8142080"
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root $uuid
	loopback loop $isopath
	linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isopath noeject noprompt splash --
	initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

I recently wrote a how-to for putting GRUB2 on a flash drive. It may still be posted somewhere in the Starter Kit threads.

fredx181 · #276 Post by **fredx181** » Fri 19 Jun 2020, 20:26

Hi Semme, this should work (it does for me)

Code: Select all

title Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64
find --set-root /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso
map --heads=255 --sectors-per-track=63 /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper findiso=/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso --ignore-floppies cdrom-detect/try-usb=true noeject noprompt persistent --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz

Not sure if it's the change findiso= or the addition "cdrom-detect/try-usb=true" that does it, I think the last.

Fred

Semme · #277 Post by **Semme** » Fri 19 Jun 2020, 21:12

Thank you, Bill.

Because I was already set with a grldr, I went with Fred's suggestion. Your post I'll keep neatly tucked away for the time being.

Yes, Fred - thank you. I tried your stanza. First without your "cdrom-detect/try-usb=true" line, then with. With it seemed a bit faster though I didn't have either on the clock.

Both dumped oodles of code as well, preferred over Peps progress bar. All good.

This was nothing more than a POC exercise. I'll add, persistence flies!

Now (hand-rubbing-smiley), onto the Buster Starter Kit!

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

Re: How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

ISObooter