How to boot Puppy on USB flash from NTFS partition

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tempestuous
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How to boot Puppy on USB flash from NTFS partition

#1 Post by tempestuous »

At http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=1058 drj explained how to boot Puppy Type 1 HD install from an NTFS partition using Grub4DOS/Grub4NTLDR.
This technique can be used to boot Puppy from USB flash drive, too.
For those of us with an existing Window$ installation on a single NTFS partition, and a BIOS which cannot boot directly from a USB device, this is ideal because -
1. no need to boot via floppy
2. no need to create a linux partition on the hard drive
3. no need to mess with the hard drive's Master Boot Record.
4. no need to make the USB flash drive bootable.

There are just 4 files to add to the C drive, less than 8MB in total.

Here is a quick HowTo.
(See http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html for thorough explanation of Grub4DOS.)

Boot your Window$ NT/2k/XP installation.
Get Grub4DOS here http://sarovar.org/project/showfiles.ph ... ase_id=507
Extract the files using WinZip. We only need the Grub4NTLDR component - grldr. Copy grldr to C:\
From the Puppy CD (or ISO) copy vmlinuz and image.gz to C:\boot\
From the Puppy CD (or ISO) copy usr_cram.fs to the flash drive (a pupfile will be created on the flash drive the first time it is booted).

Create a text file with notepad called menu.lst in C:\boot\grub\ This is what it should contain -

default 0
timeout 0

title Puppy USB
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup100-none-262144 PHOME=sda
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/image.gz
boot


Now open C:\boot.ini in notepad (boot.ini may be hidden, and you can back up this file first if nervous), add this text -

C:\grldr="GRUB Puppy USB"

Next time you boot Window$ you will see this extra option.

Jee

Error message

#2 Post by Jee »

Hi,

I tried the steps above to have puppy booting from my USB drive, but unfortunately, it doesn't work.
I always got the following message:

"FAILED TO LOAD USB BASE DRIVER MODULE"

Any idea of how to fix that ?

(My config is a dell latitude with XP on NTFS partition.)

Thanks

Max Raign

Does that really work?

#3 Post by Max Raign »

Hello,
I have a doubt on that. Does this really work if the Mother board has not an option to boot from the USB port? I mean the BIOS. Because I have tried different thumb drives (about 15 makes), and failed to do so. So please post that if you can boot without a compatibe BIOS.
Regards
Max

Valiantineus
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu 06 Apr 2006, 00:15

Does it work or not?

#4 Post by Valiantineus »

Hello,
I was wondering if anybody has had success with this method. My Bios does not allow booting from usb, but I really don't want to carry a fragile (not to mention cumbersome) cd around with for when I want to use linux. All other options are unacceptible to me as well for various reasons. So, if there are any success stories out there, please don't hesitate to brag about it. :wink:

Thanks

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#5 Post by tempestuous »

Sorry, slight error in my original instructions - "PHOME=sda" is wrong, it should be "PHOME=sda1"
Also, the forum's text formatting may be showing a line break when there shouldn't - the line starting with "kernel" is followed by the line starting with "initrd".

I just tried this now with Puppy 1.0.7 and it works fine on a Pentium2 motherboard circa 1999. The onboard USB1.0 port works, and so does the PCI-card-USB2.0 port.
Max Raign wrote:Does this really work if the Mother board has not an option to boot from the USB port?
Yes, because the process I have described boots the kernel and initial ramdisk from hard disk. Then the filesystem (usr_cram.fs) and persistent storage (pup100) are accessed from the USB drive.

slvrldy17
Posts: 292
Joined: Fri 17 Feb 2006, 22:17
Location: Mid western USA

A question...

#6 Post by slvrldy17 »

For the sake of an easily confused newbie could you clarify one point? Are the lines in your instructions starting with "kernel" and "initrd" supposed to be one continuos line or two with no extra spaces between them?

Thanks,

Alice

tempestuous
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Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#7 Post by tempestuous »

Two.

title ...
rootnoverify ...
kernel ...
initrd ...
boot

slvrldy17
Posts: 292
Joined: Fri 17 Feb 2006, 22:17
Location: Mid western USA

Thanks...

#8 Post by slvrldy17 »

Thank You Tempestuous! I may give this one a shot when things quiet down a bit. It's been a zoo the last couple of weeks. I'll let y'all know how it comes out if I do.

Thanks,

Alice

tetraform
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Joined: Sat 15 Apr 2006, 10:55
Location: Vancouver Canada

#9 Post by tetraform »

Hurray!! It works for me on my IBM T22 laptop. If it doesn't work at first just keep going over it and you'll probably find you just made a little mistake somewhere setting it up. :D

shankargopal
Posts: 295
Joined: Sat 03 Dec 2005, 11:30

#10 Post by shankargopal »

I had actually come up with this independently, and it works fine.

By the way some of you who are having problems may be having them because your USB drive is not sda or Puppy is not on the first partition of the drive (sda1 - unlikely but possible).

The easiest way to test this may be to use this line instead of tempestuous' suggested line:

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=ask

Puppy will then boot and ask you which partition you want to use, including both your hard dirves and your flash drive (or it should, if all works properly). Then choose your USB drive as per the instructions and type "pup100" at the prompt for the file name.

This has worked fine for me on multiple computers. I use it all the time.

gianni76
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun 04 Jun 2006, 21:22

#11 Post by gianni76 »

Can anyone say how to adapt this to work with Puppy 2?
Also:
a) should the USB key be formatted in some way before putting the programs up?
b) what size USB is sufficient?

tempestuous
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Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#12 Post by tempestuous »

From the Puppy CD (or ISO) copy vmlinuz and initrd.gz to C:\boot\
From the Puppy CD (or ISO) copy pup_200.sfs to the flash drive.

In menu.lst, the "kernel" and "initrd" lines need to be changed:

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PMEDIA=usbflash #(PMEDIA might not be necessary)
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.gz

I have not tried this.
gianni76 wrote:a) should the USB key be formatted in some way before putting the programs up?
Default FAT32 formatting is fine.
gianni76 wrote:b) what size USB is sufficient?
You need 68MB for pup_200.sfs, plus your saved data file pup_save.3fs, which has a default size of 512MB, but Puppy will create a smaller file if it sees you don't have enough space.
So who knows ... 128MB might be enough? Certainly 256MB should be fine.

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Fossil
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Location: Gloucestershire, UK.

Puppy 109CE USB boot on a Compaq Ipaq

#13 Post by Fossil »

Puppy does it again!
I can confirm that Puppy 109CE will boot and run very easily from a 256 Meg flash drive. Even better, this computer has no CD or a floppy drive, nor a USB boot option in the BIOS..

The story goes like this. I discovered a UK-based PC dealer selling secondhand Compaq Ipaq 500 MHz machines for

PaulBx1
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Location: Wyoming, USA

#14 Post by PaulBx1 »

OK, now explain to me what the point of all this is? :)

I mean, compared to an ordinary "poor man's install", where all this stuff is on the hard drive.

The only thing I can think of, is that you can haul your USB flash around pretty easily, and run it off someone else's computer. But if you do that, you still have to mess around with their autoexec.bat and get grub set up on their machine. Hard to imagine someone going along with that...

Perhaps I am missing something here. Wouldn't be the first time. :lol:

tempestuous
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#15 Post by tempestuous »

Everyone has their own particular circumstances. This technique evolved in response to a private message I received from a forum member who wanted to run Puppy on their employer-owned laptop. The laptop had no floppy drive, so Bootpup could not be used.
The IT department strictly disallowed any "foreign" software on their machines, but made an exception for the 8MB of Puppy bootup files, after the forum member demonstrated how it worked on a separate laptop.

And this system can be made slightly more portable by having the necessary bootup files already on the USB drive, in the correct directories, ready to copy to a Windows machine for the first time just prior to rebooting this machine to the USB drive. This simplifies the initial setup.

mcewanw
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Re: How to boot Puppy on USB flash from NTFS partition

#16 Post by mcewanw »

tempestuous wrote:At http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=1058 drj explained how to boot Puppy Type 1 HD install from an NTFS partition using Grub4DOS/Grub4NTLDR.
I hadn't come across that earlier post on the topic before. The new forum address for it is:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=1058

carolus
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#17 Post by carolus »

Do these methods work with Windows XP and Vista? On XP, I can't find any file C:\boot.ini, hidden or not.

I don't have the BIOS capability to boot from USB, and don't want to touch my MBR nor in any way modify my vendor-installed Windows XP. Nor do I want to write anything to my NTFS hard drive from Puppy. (Copying files to it with Windows is OK, and minor editing of configuration files using a Windows editor is OK)

Currently I'm booting Puppy 2.16.1 from CD, but if that could be avoided it would be more convenient.

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rcrsn51
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#18 Post by rcrsn51 »

Read here for a discussion of how to make a custom boot CD that will launch Puppy off a USB drive.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=16950

carolus
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#19 Post by carolus »

rcrsn51 wrote:Read here for a discussion of how to make a custom boot CD that will launch Puppy off a USB drive.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=16950
That's what I'm doing now. If I understand this thread correctly, it describes a method of interrupting the Windows boot sequence by simply adding a line of text to a DOS/Windows configuration file called "boot.ini" rather than meddling with the MBR. If I save a copy of the original configuration file, this is something I feel confident I can undo. But I have no "boot.ini" that I can find on my Windows XP, so I am guessing that the initiator of the current thread (tempestuous, in 2005) was using an earlier version of Windows.

Apologies - boot.ini is there today. I must have been hallucinating.

Thommo1971
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#20 Post by Thommo1971 »

Will this method work with Windows 98SE on a FAT partition? If not, is there an equivalent method?

I have an Acer travelmate laptop that has no built in drives and wont boot from USB.

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