ISO boot from FAT/NTFS/USB (GRUB.exe, grldr from boot.ini)

**ruymbeke** · 09-26-2005, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by doobs

Hey Gilles, Any chance for Whax 3.0 (was Whoppix) support? Thanks! Jeff

Hi doobs,
Are you asking for the whax-3.0-200705.iso ?
Do you know which kernel version is used and from which knoppix version Whax has been remastered ?
I will have a look, but I have to download it first ...
Best Regards, Gilles

**shrek99** · 09-28-2005, 04:42 AM

Gilles

Just a quick note to let you know I got the 402.zip file from your site, and the new CD from bit torrent and they seem to be working like a charm! Thanks for all your hard work, it is much appreciated

Stephen

**ruymbeke** · 10-03-2005, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by ruymbeke

Originally Posted by doobs

Hey Gilles, Any chance for Whax 3.0 (was Whoppix) support? Thanks! Jeff

Hi doobs,
Are you asking for the whax-3.0-200705.iso ?
Do you know which kernel version is used and from which knoppix version Whax has been remastered ?
I will have a look, but I have to download it first ...
Best Regards, Gilles

I downloaded and tried Whax, but sorry, it is now based on SLAX and not Knoppix anymore. The boot mechanism looks like now quite different from Knoppix and I have no experience with Slax. BTW, as far as know, Whax is still using an old and buggy version of the UnionFS, so be carefull... Best Regards, Gilles

**ruymbeke** · 10-08-2005, 09:14 PM

How to boot Knoppix 4.02/5.01 (cd or dvd data) from a USB dongle:
============================================
I will describe below one more time how to format a fat 16 partition on a USB dongle and make it DOS bootable
and automatically launch a dos version of grub which will start knoppix from the iso cd image
(+kernel +inird files) all located on the USB dongle:

1) Download: http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/grubh.zip
2) Extract the directory grube.zip\Grube\Root_Of_USB
3) Launch the program HPUSBFW.EXE (under XP only, sorry), and follow the instructions
and when prompted, point to the system files included in the Root_Of_USB directory
4) copy the rest of the files of Root_Of_USB into the root of your dongle (but do NOT overwrite the io.sys)
5) copy the files required to boot linux: kernel, ramdisk and iso (linux, minirt_ntfs.gz, knoppix.iso)
(you can download the various customized version of the INITRD_NTFS.GZ ramdisk required
to boot from an ISO file (even if the filesystem is not ntfs but a fat or ext2/3) here:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/grube.zip for knoppix 3.6, 3.7 and 3.81
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/knoppix382.zip for knoppix 3.82 and 3.9 (same files)
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/kno402u.zip for knoppix 4.02
6) modify the menu.lst file to match your need
(path to the kernel and initrd file + kernel boot options, cf grub and knppix doc.

But be very careful, the path is case sensitive !!!)
7) setup your bios to boot from usb, reboot and have fun...

Hope this will help. Please give me some feedback.
Cheers, Gilles

Edit: I have put together a new zip with everything you need to format a USB dongle (from XP)
and make it boot with Knoppix 4.02 iso: http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/usb_dgle3.zip
It includes 4 boot options using grub or lilo to boot from a usb dongle as /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb1
and an improved linuxrc script which should help in case of a wrong BOOTFROM kernel cheatcode.

Edit: I have updated the zip file with the latest improvements:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/usb_dgle4.zip
Boot from fat, ntfs & reiser, auto search for the iso, custom & dynamic host and the usb2 patch.

Edit: I have updated the zip file with two bug fix (slow samba network and ext2 persistent home):
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/usb_dgle6.zip
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/grubh.zip

Edit: I have updated the zip files for Knoppix 5.01 and the ext2 bug fix:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/usb_dgle7.zip
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/grubi.zip

As a recall, the custom (fixed or dynamic) hostname syntax is:
"hostname=mycustomname" or
"hostname=auto-clock" (date+time) or
"hostname=auto-mac" (eth0 mac address)

Please feedbacks are always welcomed. GvR, June 7nd 2006

**Harry Kuhman** · 10-08-2005, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by ruymbeke

How to boot Knoppix 4.02 (cd or dvd data) from a USB dongle:....

Gilles,

This looks like good information that should be of interest to many people (I regret that my USB sticks are too small for Knoppix to fit or I would try it myself, but my largest is 256meg). Would you consider putting it in the wiki where it might be easy to find in the future by others looking for it?

There is already an article titled "USB Based FAQ" that might be a good place, although the article isn't really a FAQ. Although it is in the Pages in Progress section, it doesn't really seem to be in progress either; it hasn't been updated since April except by wiki spammers and those of us who delete the spam.. Of course, if you would rather start a fresh article or start a fresh one and then look over the old article and see if any information there merits inclusion into your article, that would be welcome too.

If you edit the existing article we'll move it out of the partial section; if you create a new article and include any info you determine suitable from the old article then I expect it should be included in the main pages articles (this is still in the process of being reorganized in a more orderlt fashion) and we could remove the old article.

Harry

**ssfc72** · 10-10-2005, 10:54 PM

[quote="ruymbeke"]How to boot Knoppix 4.02 (cd or dvd data) from a USB dongle:
=========================================
I will describe below one more time how to format a fat 16 partition on a USB dongle and make it DOS bootable
---------------------------------------------------------------------

I get an "error 16" file missing, report in my attempt to boot from the USB dongle.

I think my problem may be with the menu.1st file. I believe this file has to be edited to point to the files on the dongle but I am a bit of a novice at this and my editing of the file doesn't appear to allow booting Knoppix from the USB dongle.

Could someone paste their edited, menu.1st file, in a message here so I can try it out.

I am using Knoppix 3.9, so I downloaded the grub/knoppix382.zip file.

My USB dongle is good because I have had Damn Small Linux, booting from it.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

**ruymbeke** · 10-11-2005, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by ssfc72

... I think my problem may be with the menu.1st file....

* The grub config file name is "menu.lst" (with lowercase L and NOT the number 1).
* Be carefull with the path and filenames. Linux and Grub are case sensitive !
* Remove any other USB dongle/scsi/sata drives you may have on the system or edit the kernel cheatcodes accordingly.
* Remove or rename any other /KNOPPIX directory you may have on any other partition of any drive. (An other accessible /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX file may fool the linuxrc boot script which will try to boot from your hdd instead of booting from your USB dongle)
* Could you please try Knoppix 402 with the following menu.lst (since previous versions of knoppix may have use other device mapping for USB devices)

title Knoppix 4.02 ISO from USB sda1
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/linux ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init bootfrom=/dev/sda1/boot/knoppix.402/*.iso lang=us noprompt apm=power-off nomce ### all the kernel options on a single line ###
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/minirt_ntfs.gz
boot

Let me know if it works now. Best Regards,
Gilles

**tisazalay** · 10-11-2005, 03:57 AM

I tried following all the steps and I get this:

Kernel panic - not syncinig: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknow-block(1,3)

Any clues on what's wrong?
I only have two HD, both are NTFS. I'm using kno402.zip merged on grube.zip. I placed the cd iso on knoppix.402 (along with linux and minirt_ntfs.gz)

this are the lines that are supposed to boot the iso
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/linux ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 nomce quiet bootfrom=/dev/hda1/boot/knoppix.402/*.iso ramdisk=32768 noprompt dma screen=1024x768
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/minirt_ntfs.gz

The CD boots ok...
Thanks for any help...

tisazalay

**ruymbeke** · 10-11-2005, 04:10 AM

Originally Posted by tisazalay

I tried following all the steps and I get this:
Kernel panic - not syncinig: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknow-block(1,3)
Any clues on what's wrong? I only have two HD, both are NTFS. I'm using kno402.zip merged on grube.zip. I placed the cd iso on knoppix.402 (along with linux and minirt_ntfs.gz)
this are the lines that are supposed to boot the iso
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/linux ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 nomce quiet bootfrom=/dev/hda1/boot/knoppix.402/*.iso ramdisk=32768 noprompt dma screen=1024x768
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.402/minirt_ntfs.gz
The CD boots ok... Thanks for any help... tisazalay

I suppose this is about to boot knoppix from a ntfs partition and not from a usb dongle.
When you boot knoppix from the cd/dvd what is device that knoppix will assign to the partition where your iso/linux/minirt_ntfs.gz files are located ? If not /dev/hda1/ you will need to update the bootfrom kernel cheatcode accordingly.
Best Regards, Gilles

**tisazalay** · 10-11-2005, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by ruymbeke

I suppose this is about to boot knoppix from a ntfs partition and not from a usb dongle.
When you boot knoppix from the cd/dvd what is device that knoppix will assign to the partition where your iso/linux/minirt_ntfs.gz files are located ? If not /dev/hda1/ you will need to update the bootfrom kernel cheatcode accordingly.
Best Regards, Gilles

Thanks, I don't know what went wrong, but I managed to fix everything by copyng again the menu.lst you provided and the minirt_ntfs.gz, the latter I guess had errors and that was the cause, when replaced with a fresh version everything went fine... (I think a power failure caused some bytes to appear that souldn't)...

Thanks for your work on kno402.zip, It does the work great!

tisazalay