Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[d4p]

Installed Xp system on usb external Hdd.
I want to install puppy 2.16 as a second OS.
Options to install Puppy:
1. default ==========> system wont boot at all
2. sys nopart.mbr ====> only xp system boot
3. mbr.bin ==========> system wont boot at all
4. mbrfat.bin ========> only xp system boot
5. spb2mbr.bin ======> only xp system boot
Can you help me how to create grub boot menu on usb external HDD?

[HairyWill]

If you can get XP to boot maybe you could hook into boot.ini and use grldr to then boot puppy as in
http://www.icpug.org.uk/national/linnwin/contents.htm

[d4p]

Thanks for your information.
I copied grldr to c drive and edited boot.ini file. I got that boot menu xp or start linux.
After I entered 'start linux' I got another menu to choose: 1. find /menu.lst 2. /boot/grub/menu.lst 3. /grub/menu.lst 4. enter command line mode ..... . If I choosed any of that options, it showed a message: Minimal Bash-like line editing is supported. ..................... and than command line ===> Grub> fr here I dont know what command to run.
I guess Puppy wont create a bootloader. Any help?

[John Doe]

PUt this in c:\boot\grub\menu.lst

You'll have to change "hd0,1" to whatever YOU need:

hd0 = first ide hd
1 = second partition

[d4p]

I tried to follow your suggestions but it looks like not working.
Installed Puppy on usb doesn't create /boot/grub/.....folder.
Created "grub bootloader config" from start menu is not working either.

Finally find working dualboot Xp & Puppy with third party Boot manager (bootitng).
Test on 20 gb Usb external Hd. Xp format:Ntfs & Puppy format:FAT 16.
Puppy 2.16 boot time about 37 seconds.

Thank You very much.

[HairyWill]

@dp4
I'm glad you got it working
For future reference was your external drive called C: in windows. I'm not sure whether you put the /boot/grub/menu.lst on the external or an internal drive. It should be on the external in the same partition as XP with grldr

[John Doe]

[d4p]

I will try to explain as much I can. Sorry, my English is poor.
Testing USB External Hdd (20Gb) only.(Internal Hd is not installed at all)
(NTFS) Xp pro Sp2 is installed on the first partition ( c:\ drive).
(FAT16/32) Puppy 2.16 is installed on the second partition.

If you have multi partitions on one usb media like( flash drive, ext. Hd or sd card etc.),
natively Xp system can recognize only the first partition. Xp system can not see the other partitions, except you upgrade to Xp sp2, but I’m not sure if NTloader from xp sp2 can recognize or manage more than 1 partition on usb media.
Linux has no problem to recognize all partitions of usb media.

See screenshot:

See red mark, “boot” means active partition, where the system boot from.
If I move the boot flag to SDA1, Xp will be bootable & move boot flag to SDA2, Puppy will be bootable.

Some Testing:
1. By Using grldr puppy wont boot.
2. I copied my own created bootsector file from puppy active partition (dd command) to c:\ drive & add command line into boot.ini. Still Puppy wont boot.
3. Created Puppy grub bootloader is not working too.

Assume (usb external Hd):
Ntloader = If I’m not miss some where, just not working coz of xp system limitation.
Puppy Grub bootloader = should work, but I don’t know, How ?
BootitNg = working, but I don’t like it. Actually it is unnecessary.

[cthisbear]

Can anything from this post help:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=17166

including this:

Bragging rights - how many OS's do you boot with your USB stick?

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19873

" I've got a luck 13 items on my Grub4DOS menu. Here they are:

* BartPE
* MS Disaster Recovery Toolbox (.iso boot on own partition)
* Knoppix Linux (own partition live CD image file)
* Puppy Linux
* HDDRegen (.img file)
* Partition Magic 8 (.img file)
* PartEd (Linux)
* Paragon Partition Manager (.ima file)
* Ranish Partition Manager (.img file)
* Wipedisk (.img file) [quick automated wipes]
* Darik's Boot-N-Nuke (.img file) [better disk wipes]
* Memtest (.img file)
* DOS 98 (.img file)

I've got 3 partitions on it and the removable storage bit flipped so it shows up as a fixed drive.

How many OS's do YOU have? "

Chris

[weredog]

"GRUB boots everything, even a peace of paper from a floppy" (not from me)

Puppy doesn't create that boot folder. If it is on the same partition as grldr (the folders "boot/grub/" are common for grub), ok. if they don't exist, grub searches the harddrives root directories for menu.lst..., err. 17.

Maybe it is the win-DOS bootloader or the vmlinuz/initrd.gz files that can find your usb-stick. So put the puppy boot files in a subdir of "boot" let's say p216, and point grub to there. (So you might boot also puppy 109 or dsl..from the same usb stick)

title Puppy USB 216
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/p216/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init PMEDIA=usbflash
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/p216/initrd.gz

This is an example for hda1 (0,0)

Much luck

[d4p]

BootitNg works, but only for dual booting xp(Ntfs) & Puppy(Fat16/32)
and only Extended Fdisk works to dual boot xp(Ntfs) & Puppy(Ext2).

FYI
dont ever install both os on the same partition type (fat16/32)
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=19301&sid=d2ba8ac5724beb41398ff0c1ad1d0845

[d4p]

just figured out grub last night & it works on dualboot usb external HD.
This is the menu.lst:
# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Pup4 Vbox (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd
initrd /initrd.gz
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Actually I want to put all the puppy files inside Puppy400 folder, but i got error 17.
Any idea how to fix menu.lst below?

# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Pup4 Vbox
root (hd0,1)
kernel /puppy400/vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd psubdir=puppy400
initrd /puppy400/initrd.gz
# Linux bootable partition config ends

[John Doe]

[d4p]

Thanks John Doe,
I put all Puppy Files inside Puppy400 folder in internal HD & grub worked fine.
Move it inside or outside the forder should be ok! or am I wrong?

[John Doe]