Grub entry for dualboot USB flash drive

[hallergard]

Have created a dualboot 4GB USB-stick for rescue purposes with UCD4Windows on one partition and Puppy Linux on the second - proper installations - not just ISO. http://goo.gl/3n8tl8
Booting the USB-stick on my Laptop, everything works fine, but booting it on my Desktop I get this error message

...puppyslacko_5.7.sfs not found. Dropping out to initrd-ramdisk console...

Initially it did work on the Desktop, but I now believe it was because I still had the installation CD in the drive. Could the reason be that I have wrong entries in the Legacy Grub menu.lst file?

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title Puppy Linux 5.7                  Flash 4GB part2 (hd0,1)
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /vmlinuz  initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=copy
    initrd /initrd.gz

[bigpup]

Legacy Grub has problems with the latest versions of Puppy.

I suggest you try using Grub4dos bootloader.

Boot the Puppy live CD.
Have the flash drive plugged in.
Run Grub4dos bootloader config.
Install everything for Grub4dos to the flash drive.

Just make sure you select the flash drive not the computers hard drive.

Grub4dos bootloader config will make menu entries for all the operating systems it finds.

If Windows is on the computer it will also make a menu entry for Windows.
You can edit the menu and delete the entry if you want.

About using the flash drive on different computers and running Puppy.
If you do not make a save file for Puppy. It will boot like a fresh new install each time.
If you make a save file. The save file will contain settings for that specific computer and those settings may or may not work on other computers.

[hallergard]

Thanks bigpup! Followed your instructions: Formatted ext3 to sdc2, run Puppy cd, installed to sdc2, installed grub4dos and saved 'slackosave.3fs' to sdc2. Grub4dos entry:

title Puppy slacko 5.7 (sdc2)
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck
initrd /initrd.gz

Result:

....puppyslacko_5.7.sfs not found ....

Tried it on wife's Laptop, found slackosave.3fs (which my Desktop did not report!) then loaded the 'puppy_slacko_5.7.sfs' to ram - but then:
Kernel panic - not syncing (did not like the slackosave.3fs from the Desktop??)

What else can I try?

[carenrose]

What else can I try?

Dunno about your kernel panic, but try this.
Get uuid of the USB with

Code: Select all

blkid

And try

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 title Puppy slacko 5.7 (sdc2)
  uuid ...
  kernel /vmlinuz  pmedia=usbflash  pfix=fsck
  initrd /initrd.gz

With the uuid you found where the ... is.

[bigpup]

If sdc2 is a USB flash drive.
The Grub4dos menu.lst entry should look something like this:

Code: Select all

title Puppy slacko 5.7 (sdc2)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy_slacko_5.7.sfs
  kernel /vmlinuz  pmedia=usbflash  pfix=fsck
  initrd /initrd.gz

Do you have a working boot menu entry for the other operating system on the USB flash drive?

I am wondering if Grub4dos bootloader installed properly on the Flash drive?

Also, do not make the save file while running from the CD.
Make the save file for the USB install when you are booted from it and do the first shutdown.

Save files made on a specific computer will have settings specific to that hardware. May or may not work on another computer.

There is a way to have multiple save files, but first lets get it booting OK.

[hallergard]

+carenrose thanks! tried uuid - did not work

+binpup, no this line is not there in the Grub4dos menu.lst

find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy_slacko_5.7.sfs

Put it in - did not work I am afraid, thanks

[Burn_IT]

Are you sure that the BIOS on that machine will boot to USB and is set to do so.

[hallergard]

Yes I am sure about BIOS http://youtu.be/LHTO66-bfiw

[bigpup]

First detailed information is usually the clue to what is going on.
We only know what you tell us.

run Puppy cd, installed to sdc2

This is not enough info to make sure you did something right.
You do what?
You see what?

The only way to really figure this out is start over from the beginning.
Go step by step, checking after each step to see if it works.

First, we need to know what the specs are of the desktop and laptop computers.
This is to make sure the version of Puppy is designed to work on that hardware.

If you can boot using a Puppy live CD.
I would use the Gparted program, in Puppy, to setup the partitions and format on the flash drive.

Also, posting the video instructions for what you are trying to do, does not tell us you did everything properly.
You do what?
You see what?

[hallergard]

Finally sorted! After having tried all permutations of suggested entries in menu.lst, first with Grub1 and later with Grub4Dos - concluded that there must be some other reason why puppyslacko_5.7.sfs is not found (except when the CD is loaded - and except on the Wife's Laptop). bigpup suggested partitioning with Gparted - yes that seems to be the solution!

After initially using RMPrepUSB to install NTFS to the USB-stick and the NTDLR bootloader, I booted up my Linux Kubuntu partition. Using Gparted I first shrunk the NTFS and in the created space added a second partition, formatted with ext3. Then run the Puppy CD as previously described and installed Puppy on /dev/sdc2 and installed Grub4dos with its bootloader on /dev/sdc2. Rebooted having taken the CD out, and voila - it worked!

I had partitioned with Ranish, which is rather crude in that it leaves conflicting information about the extent of the first partition. Believe that this stopped Puppy booting from finding puppyslacko_5.7.sfs

Thanks everyone for the support, especially bigpup! Yes, I have got the message how the save file(s) can be used for different host(s). Thanks!

[hallergard]

Am afraid I spoke too soon. It still happens that puppyslacko_5.7.sfs is not found with my Desktop as host, but it is always found on the Laptop host.