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

[Harry Kuhman]

It's working for me with both the CD and DVD ISOs, although I've had a few "events". I'm on a wide screen computer this time, which was fine until I started the Stellarium program; that seemed to have issues with the unusual aspect ratio and sudddenly I couldn't mouse to parts of my screen. Things went down hill from there, including loss of background. I was able to reboot and things seemed ok again.

I then hit some problems after running IceWeazel (which is giving some really ugly fonts on this forum), which might be a manifestation of the already reported screen 2 - 3 - 4 lacking toolbar, but I soon had a completely black screen with no known way to get to a toolbar or regain control. A forced shutdown didn't help; the virtual machine just restarted in the same state with an error message about a restart script. I couldn't figure out any other way to get the VM right again so I deleted the current set of files for the virtual machine and put the original set back in.

Strangely, on boot this time there was a kde error message and the screen didn't automatically adjust to the proper size, but after a little coaxing it seems ok.

The clock is 6 hours fast from my EST setting, not quite sure what that's about, seems a little too fast to be on GMT (which I think is only 5 hours off my time zone).

So the VM is working and letting me boot and run the ISO. Not without little things to investigate, but that's how we learn.

[ruymbeke]

Hello,
Please find below the link to the Knoppix 5.11 update of the iso boot minirt and the vm:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/minirt_511.gz
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk511_36983.zip
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/662 (VMWare link)
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...=110103#110103 (more info about this vm)
(The only difference with the previous 5.1.0 release is is the ntfs-3g update)
Have fun, and please provide some feedback...
Gilles

MD5:
d9e36fb34717088e89d3890793307067 *vmk511_36983.zip (7'513'976)
276bb626bd19c7f1af37a8426e9dad35 *minirt_511.gz (2'451'479)

PS: New 5.1.1 vm using the 39849 tools in here:
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...=111463#111463

[Salvano]

Hello Gilles,

thank you for this thread. I'm working with an ISO image of Knoppix started via Grub almost since the start of this thread and I always use the files you provided. Now I like to change to 5.11 and I have some problems (same in 5.10). If I use your files, the image is mouted to /media/sda5 and normally a NTFS partition should be there. If I start the live cd directly it can be seen. I have no idea, how to change this. Can you help me?

Thanks Holger

fstab + mtab of Knoppix started via cdrom directly:

/proc /proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/dev/shm /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/fd0 auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/hdb auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/hda /media/hda auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda5 /media/sda5 ntfs noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda6 /media/sda6 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=kn oppix,gid=knoppix 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sdb2 /media/sdb2 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=kn oppix,gid=knoppix 0 0

/dev/root / ext2 rw 0 0
/ramdisk /ramdisk tmpfs rw,size=826872k,mode=755 0 0
/UNIONFS /UNIONFS aufs rw,br:/ramdisk:/KNOPPIX:/KNOPPIX2 0 0
/dev/hda /cdrom iso9660 ro 0 0
/dev/cloop /KNOPPIX iso9660 ro 0 0
/dev/cloop2 /KNOPPIX2 iso9660 ro 0 0
/proc/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw,devmode=0666 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
/dev/sda5 /media/sda5 fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0
/dev/sda6 /media/sda6 vfat ro,nosuid,nodev,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=1000 ,gid=1000 0 0


fstab + mtab started via grub and iso image:

/proc /proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/dev/shm /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/fd0 auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/hdb auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/hda /media/hda auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda5 /media/sda5 ntfs noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda6 /media/sda6 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=kn oppix,gid=knoppix 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sdb2 /media/sdb2 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=kn oppix,gid=knoppix 0 0

/dev/root / ext2 rw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0 # ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????
/dev/sda5 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0 # ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????
/dev/sda1 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0 # ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????
/dev/sda1 /cdrom2.loop fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0
/ramdisk /ramdisk tmpfs rw,size=826872k,mode=755 0 0
/UNIONFS /UNIONFS aufs rw,br:/ramdisk:/KNOPPIX:/KNOPPIX2 0 0
/cdrom2.loop/BOOT/knoppix.511/*.iso /cdrom/ iso9660 ro,loop=/dev/loop0 0 0
/dev/cloop /KNOPPIX iso9660 ro 0 0
/dev/cloop2 /KNOPPIX2 iso9660 ro 0 0
/proc/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw,devmode=0666 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
/dev/sda6 /media/sda6 vfat ro,nosuid,nodev,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=1000 ,gid=1000 0 0

[groenewe]

Hello Gilles,

I've downloaded the most recent incarnation of your VMK archive (link: http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk511_34685.zip)
and am a little worried by the internal version number (5.0.1_34685) and file date (the vmdk file is dated dec. 10th 2006).
Are you sure this is indeed the version intended for Knoppix 5.1.1?

Regards
Henri Groeneweg

[ruymbeke]

Hello Gilles,
I've downloaded the most recent incarnation of your VMK archive (link: http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk511_34685.zip)
and am a little worried by the internal version number (5.0.1_34685) and file date (the vmdk file is dated dec. 10th 2006).
Are you sure this is indeed the version intended for Knoppix 5.1.1?
Regards
Henri Groeneweg

Hi Henri,
You are absolutely correct and I apologize for this. I got a typo when creating the url...
The correct file is: http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk511_36983.zip
Best Regards,
Gilles

[Salvano]

Hello Gilles,

thank you for this thread. I'm working with an ISO image of Knoppix started via Grub almost since the start of this thread and I always use the files you provided. Now I like to change to 5.11 and I have some problems (same in 5.10). If I use your files, the image is mouted to /media/sda5 and normally a NTFS partition should be there. If I start the live cd directly it can be seen. I have no idea, how to change this. Can you help me?

Thanks Holger

...

The problem I have seems to be caused by umount commands wich not work as I would expect.
Example within linuxrc:

for i in $DEVICES; do
 echo -n "${CRE}${BLUE}Looking for ${MEDIUM} in: ${MAGENTA}$i${NORMAL}   "
 if mountit $i /cdrom "-o ro" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  if test -r /cdrom/$KNOPPIX_DIR/$KNOPPIX_NAME; then
   echo -n "${CRE}${GREEN}Accessing KNOPPIX ${MEDIUM} at ${MAGENTA}$i${GREEN}...${NORMAL}"
   FOUND_KNOPPIX="$i"
   break
  fi
  umount /cdrom
  cat /etc/mtab             # (*1*) additional line to trace mtab, I had some other lines too, but this is the important one
 fi
done

During the probe with $i == /dev/sda1 and $i == /dev/sda5, I get an extention of mtab and the umount /cdrom don't remove the corresponding lines. This can I see past line (*1*).
If I remove the the probing completly the lines

	/dev/sda1 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0 
	/dev/sda5 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0

disappear within the mtab of the running system. (These lines were marked in my previous post.) But one line

	/dev/sda1 /cdrom fuseblk ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0

left. It seems to be added in one of the following steps.

Does anyone know something about such problems with the umount command during the start process of linux?

Regards

Holger

[mr-roboto]

I tried doing a search on 'minirt', but the forum sware as configured doesn't allow one to hop from post to post on a search, which is nec for a topic as long as this one....

[ruymbeke]

I tried doing a search on 'minirt', but the forum sware as configured doesn't allow one to hop from post to post on a search, which is nec for a topic as long as this one....

Hi,
As far as I know, "minirt" is a short for mini root which is the initial root file system
loaded by the boot loader at the same time as the kernel and used during the boot process
to bring up a linux system alive. The initial boot script (linuxrc) is part of the minirt.
Hope this helps,
Gilles

cf Knoppix wiki: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Custom_Kernel_Howto ( THE KNOPPIX BOOT PROCESS)

[ruymbeke]

...The problem I have seems to be caused by umount commands wich not work as I would expect. ...

Hi Salvano,
Thank you for the info.
I have seen this problem and would like to investigate when I have more time...
It may be because of the redundant mount/unmount codes available and used:
stand alone /static/mount binary or built-in ash & bash, ...
Cheers,
Gilles

[mrsalmonella]

I have a hack to get around the mount problems. I've tacked the following lines onto linuxrc (using ruymbeke's minirt.gz) just before the call to exit():

# SMartin - HACK below just forces unmount of ntfs drive
# we are booting from (if we are booting from one)
# and gets mtab back in sync if its messed up.
/sbin/umount.ntfs ${LOOP_SOURCE} > /dev/null 2>&1
cat /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I now have behavior like I had before with 4.02 without the mount complications tying up my ISO boot partition.
Now, it would be nice to fully know what tripped up the latest distributions...