Puppy Linux Windows Installer - LICK v1.3.3 released

[noryb009]

LICK v0.3.1 is released. I had "not too much changed", then looked at the change log. I had "it's almost release candidate quality", then looked at the TODO list.

The biggest change is Windows ME and 10 support. It now supports Windows 95 - 10.

You can install v0.3.1 over v0.3, and it can coexist with PLIC. If you currently have v0.2.0 or before installed, make sure you uninstall all ISOs and remove the boot loader before installing.

Changelog:
- Windows ME support
- Windows 10 support
- check boot loader time out, set to 5 if unreasonable (3-30 seconds is "reasonable")
- ensure boot-loader install to fixed hard drive (distros can still be installed to any drive)
- rename boot menu items to "Start LICK Boot Loader"
- make install distro code more atomic
- small GUI changes
- small bug fixes

Known bugs/TODO:
- Display of current version number
- Extra error popup in GUI - DONE
- Needs README
- Menu documentation
- Back up menu before regenerating (and rework plugins)

[charbaby66]

LICK v0.3.1 is released.

hey buddy quick ?? for you. Gonna mess around with lappy during bus ride. Have a usb case & lappy hd in it, with older series 5 pups on it, used to use something not LICK to boot it. It may have XP on it. May not have wifi all the way, but enough to see your reply once I get to the depot I'm out the door as soon as I post this.

Can I use LICK to boot usb hd, if I plug into my existing install (W7 & 2 tahrs on sda1 NTFS; fat32 shared on sda2, ext3 on sda3; ext4 on sda5) have it add the bootloader needed to run XP & a pup on sdb1, etc etc as well? It likely has... grub2 maybe even lilo?

Has one of the few XP's I have all updated before no support, those seem to work better than an XP installed/updated after support ended. I used to transfer files from it when fixing virii for friends, and would like to keep it,
but... I might kill off the XP anyways so no worry if I can't do, or if I break it. It'll just start life anew as a pup reborn. Without the XP, I don't have to worry, I can fix lick.lst. XP doesn't scare me, I can fix it to boot & or change boot drive in BIOS if needed, to just bypass the W7 and putter..

I trust LICK to modify boot loader on the W7, I ain't touchin' that thing...

.

[noryb009]

Yes, you should be able to add "USB HDD" to your current menu, and take you into whichever boot loader is on the HDD. This is known as chainloading.

This would likely work:

Code: Select all

title USB HDD
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /a/file/on/HDD
chainloader ()+1
boot

You can look at other examples here.

[noryb009]

It's been a while since I posted, so I figure I should post an update. I've slowed down development, since I've been busy with some other things recently. I should be able to release LICK soon, in the next few weeks or so.

I have been able to add a few more features, including NT 4.0 support, moving the `entry' folder to common app data (so you can run LICK from anywhere on your computer), moving grub.cfg to the Windows drive (found in, eg. C:/lickgrub.cfg), and not regenerating the menu any time something changes (so you can modify it, and your changes are saved).

Once I test these features a bit more, I'll send out another beta, or perhaps an RC.

[noryb009]

LICK v0.4 is released. I'm hoping I can call this a release candidate... Not sure if that's too optimistic.

There are two big changes: first, data is saved in the common app data folder. This is found at "C:\Program Data" for Windows 9X/ME/Vista/7/8/10, while it is at "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data" for NT/XP. This change means either you must uninstall all distributions before installing v0.4.
Second, the menu structure has changed. You can now manually edit the menu file directly, without your changes getting overridden.

Changelog:
- Save data in common app data folder
- Allow menu to be edited by hand
- Move grub.cfg to C drive for grub2 (and rename to lickgrub.cfg)
- Add readme file
- Windows NT 4.0 support
- Bug fixes and code clean up

[anewuser]

Tested LICK V0.4 on windows 7. Had installed previously your windows executable with tarhpup6.0 non pae, so I already had a second choice on the boot menu (which installed properly after a few errors)

With lick a third option was created on the win7 boot menu. I installed slack5.7 non pae, and librepup. When I choose the lick boot menu entry, they do show and load up without problems.

Very nice, easy, and lazy way to install to hdd/pendrive. Congratulations.

[Wognath]

Hello noryb009,
Thanks for Lick! I'm posting to report success with a Windows 10 machine.

My daughter just bought a Toshiba Satellite C55-B5240X laptop with W10 which she wants to dual boot. Since the HD came with 4 primary partitions, the least disruptive course was to install Linux to ntfs partition. We used Lick v0.4 to install Fatdog-701 from the iso, and it worked perfectly. Out of curiosity I turned on secure boot and followed prompts to enroll Lick-grub's secure boot key with no problem.

We had first tried Fatdog700.exe from your collection of Windows installers, but it did not work with W10. We also installed Sulu with Lick, but it won't boot with boot mode UEFI. I think rerwin is working on this...I'll wait and see. It boots with boot mode=CSM, but then Windows won't boot.

Thanks again for a useful tool.

[noryb009]

Good to hear, anewuser and Wognath!

I believe the problem with Sulu is from their lack of UEFI support (just a few options in the kernel config). Future puplets will hopefully have this option enabled.

[noryb009]

LICK v0.5 has been released. Big thanks to Wognath for identifying some usability issues, most of which have been addressed in this release.

I hope to release this as a stable v1.0 after a bit of testing. Let me know if you have any issues with it.

You shouldn't need to reinstall any distributions if you upgrade.

Change log:
- support UNC paths (eg. network shares not mounted on a drive)
- add support for different disributions (not currently used, mostly for forwards compatibility)
- close progress bar before success message box
- support fatdog's "savefile=none", it doesn't recognize "pfix=ram"
- code cleanup

[noryb009]

LICK v1.0 has been released, see the release for more information.

This is simply a version bump to v0.5. No functional changes have been made.

As always, if you encounter problems, feel free to add an issue on the github project, post here, or PM me.

With this, PLIC has been deprecated. No new versions of PLIC installers will be released by me.

Below is the original post in this thread, for reference.

Install Puppy Linux on Windows
Most people who come here are probably looking for this link, hosting a Windows installer for the most recent official Puppy Linux, as well as a few derivatives. There is also a mirror, provided by archive.org.

Windows installers for a few Puppy Linux derivatives:
Italian Puppy: Multiple versions
Sagelive: 511
Quickset Wary: 511
Japanese Precise: 571 | 550 | 420
Puppy Linux Turbopup Xtreme: 420
Puppy Linux 525 | 520

Project info
Puppy Linux Installer Creator (PLIC) is a set of NSIS scripts that can create an EXE that can install Puppy Linux onto a Windows system without touching the MBR. It follows the Lin'N'Win method.

PLIC installers work on all versions of Windows, from 95 to 8, except ME. On a Windows 8 system, ensure fast boot is disabled, secure boot is disabled and the UEFI set to Legacy (BIOS) mode.

PLIC installers can install one version of Puppy Linux each. Each installer includes a simple uninstaller. You can have any number of PLIC installers installed.

ADVANCED: Creating your own PLIC installer
To make your puppy into an .exe installer, you must use Windows or wine. Install NSIS onto it (select all the plugins when asked). Then, unzip the PLIC scripts and follow the instructions in README.txt.

Big thanks to shinobar and mikeb for windows 7 help, seeker for creating the original windows installer, and Brian Grainger for the Lin'N'Win guide.

View the project on Github

[starlyte]

I just installed Lick on my portable HP which runs using an HDMI screen. I installed Tahr-6.0.3 and on reboot I get nothig.
No Win and no Puppy no bios.
A black screen.
Having no other ordi working I am stuck. This is from my phone.
Can anyone help please ?

[noryb009]

Hey starlyte, sorry to hear about your troubles.

First, could I get a bit more information about your computer?
1) What version of Windows was installed? (7, 8, 10, etc.)

2) Do you know if the computer uses UEFI or BIOS? If you aren't sure, what version of windows was installed when you bought the computer / what version is on the stacker on the case?

Next, a bit more information about your situation:
3) You mention you are using a portable HP, but are using an HDMI screen. Is the laptop screen completely broken? If not, try removing the HDMI screen and trying again.

4) When you boot up, try to get into the BIOS/UEFI. This usually includes repeatedly clicking one of escape, F2, F9, F10 or delete, depending on your computer. If you can get in here, you can likely look for options to boot into, then select Windows. If this works, let me know and I'll walk you through removing LICK. If this doesn't work, go to the next step.

5) Turn on your computer. Do you see anything on the display, even if it goes to black later? Does the caps lock light go on/off when you press the button?

[nic007]

I just installed Lick on my portable HP which runs using an HDMI screen. I installed Tahr-6.0.3 and on reboot I get nothig.
No Win and no Puppy no bios.
A black screen.
Having no other ordi working I am stuck. This is from my phone.
Can anyone help please ?

Does Tahr go through the boot process and then stops at a blank screen? This can happen when Tahrs zdrv.sfs file is not loaded. Happened to me too on my HP laptop. I had a frugal install though.

[starlyte]

Thanks for your interest.
OK :
Windows8.1 not updated(I developed a hesitation to divulgong my life and ordi to their ... aid ! )
UEFI unfortunately.
The laptop screen is completly screwed. The omly way it works is on hdmi screen.
It refuses to boot at all and as I only have (or did before) the hdmi out screen working and cant for some reason get any image (bios would be just tops. But it shows nothing but black. It does work though normally)
I didn't think about the screen being a problem but it is. Its so stuck that I'll end up finding another that works and taking my hdd out (once I can get itopen) to get the info back...
Unless any one has a magic fix for a blocked laptop.
I've tried a boot cd , a ubuntu live 1t.10 from thee news agentt. No go.

It can get worse beleive me.
Yesterday I put another desktop PC together. All new parts I had never had time to do. I bought the only DVD live Linux I could and it worked... yesterday.
This morning just the boot screen of the mother board. I will work on that. Just resets and wont open the bios or boot any more.
I must have a PC illness....

[noryb009]

nic007: Good thought, but lick installs the zdrv as well (tested on tahr64 6.0.3.9).

starlyte: Sorry again for your troubles. It's hard to work with the computer because of the missing primary screen.

We can still get some information from the lights such as these on the computer. When you turn on your computer, does the power button / power light turn on? If you don't press anything for a few minutes, does it turn off at some point?

Press the caps lock key a few times throughout the startup. Does the light respond to the button? When does it become responsive or unresponsive?

[starlyte]

It is an HP pavillon 15incbh. An Intel 1.9giga CPU. Only just over a year old but it does not have those lights unfotunately.
One for Caps. 1 for charging mains. On/off . Wifi. That's it.
I'll try to get another PC up and at it. If I could flash the bios with USB... which means at least one of the now 2 o.o.o. PCs working.
I really messed up on this. And it has info that I must get back in it. As well I want to change screen in time...
Or as it has been on 24/7 for 15 months maybe... I can'thear the disk even....

[amn87]

I cant seem to get LICK to work with my particular system configuration. I am running Windows XP which is installed on D: drive but for some reason the boot.ini is located in C: drive. Is there any way to point LICK towards the actual boot.ini location? I have included a screenshot illustrating the exact error. Thanks in advance!
P.S. On this very config I had earlier got Puppy running via Lin' and Win' method. But I would much rather automate it. Plus the Puppy Windows installer worked as well.

[noryb009]

amn87: Thanks for the bug report. I've created a patch that should fix your issue. You can download a zip file here. Let me know if it resolves your issue. If all goes well, I'll make a new official release.

starlyte: Could you please answer the other questions in my last post:

When you turn on your computer, does the power button / power light turn on? If you don't press anything for a few minutes, does it turn off at some point?

Press the caps lock key a few times throughout the startup. Does the light respond to the button? When does it become responsive or unresponsive?

[amn87]

amn87: Thanks for the bug report. I've created a patch that should fix your issue. You can download a zip file here. Let me know if it resolves your issue. If all goes well, I'll make a new official release.

starlyte: Could you please answer the other questions in my last post:

When you turn on your computer, does the power button / power light turn on? If you don't press anything for a few minutes, does it turn off at some point?

Press the caps lock key a few times throughout the startup. Does the light respond to the button? When does it become responsive or unresponsive?

Many thanks for the quick response. I managed to get Puppy installed via the command line interface. There was a new entry in the boot.ini file and upon reboot I was prompted with an option to "Start LICK loader" but it merely presented with a new error, along the lines of " Windows installation is corrupt. hal.dll is missing" But my original Windows was not affected.

[noryb009]

amn87: There's a few ways that error can appear. Could you post the contents of your boot.ini, both with the bootloader installed and uninstalled? (you can do it from the menu in the GUI, or I believe one of the options in the CLI).