HOWTO create easy multi-boot USB Puppy from Windows

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Scooby
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HOWTO create easy multi-boot USB Puppy from Windows

#1 Post by Scooby »

0. Try Puppy Installer
This is the easiest way! The new Try Puppy Installer program makes it
easy to install easy2boot to usb drive. It even comes with a windows setup
program.

SetupTryPuppy_AlphaOS.exe
This download includes a Try Puppy Installer program that installs
Easy2Boot and AlphaOS8.iso to a USB Drive.
I include this to show how easy it is to use for a specific puppy.
Just boot to USB Drive and AlphaOS8
will start automatically after 5 seconds

SetupTryPuppy.exe
This download includes a Try Puppy Installer program that installs
Easy2Boot to a USB Drive.

(OBS! For developers!
Release environment.zip
This dowload includes the build Environment. It is included if anyone wants to see code and fiddle for themselves.
You have to download AutoIT and Inno setup to build the Project
and use Windows OS. Any questions, just ask)

Easy2boot and RMPrepUSB is the creation of steve at rmprepusb.com

Try Puppy Installer have only been tested with win7 but should work from
winxp and forwards

If you have any problems do it the hardway and start from 1 below

1. Download and install RMPrepUSB
(To Download directly press Here)

2. Insert a USB Flash memory pen drive (or USB hard disk) into the USB port of your Windows computer and run RMPrepUSB - set the following options:

1. MAX size
2. Enter a name of your choosing as a label
3. MS-DOS
4. FAT32 + Boot as HDD (2PTNS)
5. Leave COPY FILES box unticked
6. Click Prepare Drive to format the USB pen (Note: you will lose all contents as it reformats the drive!)

Image
Fig. 1 Notice that the settings are numbered 1 to 6 for you - just set 1-5 as shown and then click on 6 Prepare Drive

3. Click on the Install grub4dos button - answer 'Yes' to use the MBR option and hit Enter when prompted to copy the grldr file over.
Make sure that the grldr file has been copied across to the USB drive afterwards
(you must hit the Enter key when requested - do not just quit the console window!).

4.
Download, unzip (extract) and copy the Easy2Boot-grub4dos_v0.5.zip
(attached below ) file to your USB drive
Newer versions might be availible at the Easy2Boot page
(If you get a question about overwriting file grldr you
can choose either option.)




Now everything is set up. Download and then place your puppy linux ISO
files into the \_ISO\Linux\Auto folder of your USB drive. Reboot to USB drive
and choose which of your linux ISO's to start from the menu.
98% of linux and DOS and memtest/utility ISOs should just work!


Error 60: - File for drive emulation must be in one contiguous disk area
If you get this error when trying to boot an ISO file it is fragmented.

Make all files on the Easy2Boot USB drive contiguous (most ISO files need to be in one single place on the USB disk) - use RMPrepUSB
and select the Easy2Boot USB drive and press CTRL+F2 to run WinContig and make all files on the drive contiguous - if you have a lot of
files (thousands) or large ISO files on a small drive, this may take a few minutes, but normally it only takes a few seconds!

It may not always work due to lack of spare space. A foolproof way to fix the problem is to copy all the files over to your hard disk, run RMPrepUSB
again on the UFD to reformat the USB drive (and re-install grub4dos) and then copy all the files back to the USB drive again.

Save File
There was a problem with loading the savefile on some puppies, although not on ArchPup.
check out this for a solution.


Tips and Tricks

1. Go straight to the automatically generated list of linux ISO's,

Edit file /grub/MENU.lst

Instead of this line

/grub/automenu.bat .automenu /_ISO

put this line

/grub/autolinuxmenu.bat .automenu /_ISO/Linux/AUTO

2. Boot deafult ISO after 5 seconds

Edit file /grub/LINUXUSER.mnu

At the top of the file change

default 0
#timeout 5

to

default 0
timeout 5


default 0 menas the first itme in the list and hence default 1 would mean
the second item int the list and so forth


Original Information

RMPrepUSB
Easy2Boot
Attachments
filestructure.jpg
Image showing the directory and file structure of my USB drive.
Note some Linux ISO's are already copied into the AUTO directory.
These have to be downloaded separately.
(32.98 KiB) Downloaded 4018 times
Last edited by Scooby on Sat 29 Jun 2013, 23:55, edited 11 times in total.

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

Linux?

#2 Post by Scooby »

Can it be done just as easily from Linux?

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

Yes you can

#3 Post by Scooby »


bark_bark_bark
Posts: 1885
Joined: Tue 05 Jun 2012, 12:17
Location: Wisconsin USA

#4 Post by bark_bark_bark »

Great tutorial
....

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#5 Post by Scooby »

bark_bark_bark wrote:Great tutorial
thankee right kindly sir. :oops:

bark_bark_bark
Posts: 1885
Joined: Tue 05 Jun 2012, 12:17
Location: Wisconsin USA

#6 Post by bark_bark_bark »

I have some notes I want to share: RMPrepUSB is free, but not opensource. That is just a very minor issue. I've used that tool for months here and there. I also found this is THE best restriction-free, most lightweight, and stable method of doing multiboot drives in windows. I've used other tools like YUMI (pendrivelinux.com), Unetbootin (hated it), and some that only do 1 distro for each drive and that all suck. This method, provided by Scooby, is the best and only method I'll use.

Why other method/tools don't work
-YUMI only allows certain distros (some puppies are there, ie: wary, fatdog64, slacko, dpup expremio,etc.).
-Unetbooten is only one distro at a time and still doesn't support ALL puppies yet.

This is the best Windows way to do it.

Again, thank you Scooby for the great and awesome tutorial for windows users.
....

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#7 Post by Scooby »

Observe that it is not possible to use the auto feature in conjunction with Plop boot manager.

Plop boot manager is read-only and auto feature tries to write.

plop is used too boot computers from USB flash when there is no such option in BIOS. You first boot to cd with plop from which you have the option of booting from USB flash drive.

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

Savefile

#8 Post by Scooby »

It was brought to my attention there was a problem with some puppies(not ArchPup)
and savefile.

check out this if you run into problems.

nooby
Posts: 10369
Joined: Sun 29 Jun 2008, 19:05
Location: SwedenEurope

#9 Post by nooby »

I got the Error 60 so it says run WinContig
but that may be a wine program? So it only works
if one have wine activated?

Are there no linux way of making the file contiguous?
I've heard one can do a trick that need no program even.
Something about dd maybe or what could it have been.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#10 Post by Scooby »

nooby wrote:I got the Error 60 so it says run WinContig
but that may be a wine program? So it only works
if one have wine activated?

Are there no linux way of making the file contiguous?
I've heard one can do a trick that need no program even.
Something about dd maybe or what could it have been.
Are you running RMprepUSB through Wine?

For defragging on linux I found a program called defragfs that does the trick.
I dont know if there is a pet file for it.

I myself run ArchPup from it you can find it in repo.

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smokey01
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Location: South Australia :-(
Contact:

#11 Post by smokey01 »

Scooby thanks for bringing this too my attention.

I've been playing with it and have modified it slightly with better high res splash screens.

It's here if you want to take a look.
http://www.smokey01.com/software/system ... s_v0.5.zip

I haven't tried to make a save file yet.

nooby
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Location: SwedenEurope

#12 Post by nooby »

Thanks for suggesting it but I am not using wine
on that computer. So curious on that other program
you and Smokey talks about. To find that one I have
to get archpup to have a ppm and look there?
I am not good at such. So I try the gparted format first.

So we need someone to make a pet or sfs for
Lupu so I can use that one.

If I use gparted and format to fat32 does that really
make the files that one add later contiguous?
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#13 Post by Scooby »

nooby wrote:Thanks for suggesting it but I am not using wine
on that computer. So curious on that other program
you and Smokey talks about. To find that one I have
to get archpup to have a ppm and look there?
I am not good at such. So I try the gparted format first.

So we need someone to make a pet or sfs for
Lupu so I can use that one.

If I use gparted and format to fat32 does that really
make the files that one add later contiguous?
No you cannot guarantee that file always will be contiguous.

You should get a defrag program.

Archpup isnt that hard if youre willing to go for it
I can help you out with repo if you just get network connection.

A fast search there seems to be defragfs for Ubuntu, debian and slackware
at the least. MAybe you can get it for your puppy? which puppy are you on anyway?

Are you on USB? Do you have windows on another machine?

Scooby
Posts: 599
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#14 Post by Scooby »

smokey01 wrote:Scooby thanks for bringing this too my attention.

I've been playing with it and have modified it slightly with better high res splash screens.

It's here if you want to take a look.
http://www.smokey01.com/software/system ... s_v0.5.zip

I haven't tried to make a save file yet.
I have a look if I like it I will use it.

trueriver
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu 07 Feb 2013, 15:29
Location: Manchester, England

#15 Post by trueriver »

Scooby wrote:...
You should get a defrag program.
...

A fast search there seems to be defragfs for Ubuntu, debian and slackware
at the least....
Sadly, defragfs just uses cp -a and relies on the filesystem to do the actual defrag.

This works on ext2 systems, and largely works on ext3, ext4, because of the way those filesystems re-allocate empty space.

It does not work on a FAT system, because of the way FAT re-allocates empty space. The FAT algorithm aims to wear evenly (which was an issue on early floppy disks, and indeed is a good thing on a flash drive) and does this by re-using freed sectors in the order they were freed. This means that once the drive has been filled once to the last sector, the free space will be fragmented, and any new files will also be fragmented.

The Linux solution is to copy all the files off the FAT partition, reformat, and copy them back. Use cp -a in both directionjs to retain all the meta info. A more geeky way is to tar the entire partiton, reformat, and untar (with or without comppression). That has the useful side effect of creating a backup copy that you can keep conveniently.

An easier solution, if you are unlucky enought to still be using windows, is to use a defragger within Windows. Ausdefrag has a free version that is far superior to the defragger that comes with any version of windows.

And by the way, the well known trick to use dd to make a contiguous file also fails on a well-used FAT fs, for the same reason. There is nothing about dd that defrags, the trick works on ext because of the way the fs works.

I have never met a Linux based defragger that actually uses low-level system calls to re-allocate the locatiojns of files. Linux folk don't write that because they don't need it with their regular filesystems.

If someone *did* write such a thing, it would be very useful on a project like this. Ideally we'd be able to defrag just a single file in a FAT fs. If you have written it already, or if you have found one that someone has written, please please please pm me as well as posting here :)

River~~

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#16 Post by rcrsn51 »

trueriver wrote:Sadly, defragfs just uses cp -a and relies on the filesystem to do the actual defrag.
Agreed. I looked at defragfs and couldn't see how it would ever be useful. It just seemed to copy a contiguous temporary copy of the file back into a fragmented filesystem. Which immediately fragmented it again.
This means that once the drive has been filled once to the last sector, the free space will be fragmented, and any new files will also be fragmented.
Does this mean that a FAT32 filesystem will not reuse empty space at the start of the drive until it has used all the "virgin" space?

This would explain why I can delete files and add new ones in a large FAT32 partition without fragmenting. I was concerned that something as simple as updating a menu.lst file might cause fragmentation, but maybe that's not a problem.
An easier solution, if you are unlucky enought to still be using windows, is to use a defragger within Windows.
I haven't tried this yet, but I wonder how fast it is working on flash media. It might be just as fast to backup-reformat-restore. Especially if it takes you 10 minutes just to start Windows. :wink:

Scooby
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#17 Post by Scooby »

trueriver wrote:
Sadly, defragfs just uses cp -a and relies on the filesystem to do the actual defrag.
:)

River~~
I never checked how it works, remember I am from windows.

If it only uses cp -a doesnt matter for me.

On FAT32 it fixed my ISO's.

So youre saying when filesystem gets fragmented enough it wont work.



Well it works some which is better than nothing?
trueriver wrote: If someone *did* write such a thing, it would be very useful on a project like this. Ideally we'd be able to defrag just a single file in a FAT fs. If you have written it already, or if you have found one that someone has written, please please please pm me as well as posting here Smile
I'll look into it

rmprep
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#18 Post by rmprep »

Easy2Boot v1 BETA versions are now available. Menu has been revised. You can easily configure it for your own hi-res wallpaper, colours, menu box, etc. Linux ISOs are added to main menu or 2ndary menu, Windows install ISOs can be added, add Fedora with persistence and several other linux distros with persistence. See http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/72-- ... o-maintain.
Visit [url]http://www.rmprepusb.com[/url] for over 100 USB boot tutorials!

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#19 Post by Scooby »

Added new "Try Puppy Installer"

see 1st post

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