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

[lunlun]

------------EDIT------------
cfdisk, mke2fs, grub-install

solved my problem
----------EDIT--------------



Thank you for your prompt reply!


This is the best usb-boot-knoppix method.




im currently trying to usb-boot from my 160 GB hd.

The HP-format.exe utility wont work bcoz my hd is too big

also, fdisk /mbr wont work for me bcoz, "i think" it is only available in DOS

and DOS wont detect my USB-hd

any idea?

[rocketry]

I have been working on a project that has installers for linux windows live boot cds and utilities.
the problem is that it works as an iso and CD but I caint get it to boot any oter whay.
I first tryed to boot the files extracted on the usb drive by setting the isos MBR as the USB drive MBR
that hasnt yet worked I also set CD emulation on the drive in the bios.
The other time I tryed to boot from an iso stored on an NTFS partition and grub on a linux.
With that I dont know the code to wright for grub to boot the iso.
The boot loader is from CD shell and that has Konopix in it on a menue?

[lunlun]

would this also work for ubuntu 6.06
if i put ubuntu.iso, initrd.gz (from the iso), and vmlinuz ( from the iso) into my usb dongle??


however, wht should i put in the menu.lst for this ubuntu live cd?

[Hartmut]

I have a 100GB USB hard drive which is formatted with FAT32 as a single partition and is half full. In the mbr track the grub grldr.mbr is installed and via that I can start BartPe or MS-DOS when a PC is booting from this HD via USB. Actually this HD works in stand alone mode as a multi media player, it is an Archos AV500. Because of the multi media player firmware I can't change the file system, nor the partion layout (at least I don't want to try that).

So my question. Is there a way I can get KNOPPIX files onto the FAT32 partition that I can start via grub / menu.lst ?

I have a PC-Welt DVD with Knoppix 5.01 on it.

Besides other things on the DVD I can see these two folders in the DVD root directory:
- boot
\_isolinux
\_with boot.cat and isolinux.bin and some other files
- KNOPPIX
\_with two large files KNOPPIX with 1,98GB + KNOPPIX2 with 1,58GB
some webpages and FAQ files
and two folders "images" (with a jpg and a png file) and "modules" folder with 4 files cloop.ko, unionfs.ko, insmod and rmmod

In sector 22 of the DVD I have found start code for the DVD

MKI Fri May 19 12:54:55 2006
mkisofs 2.01.01a03 -pad -v -V PCWELT_7_2006 -J -r -l -no-emul-boot -dvd-video -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o knoppix.iso -sort sort_file.txt knoppix-entpackt

[ruymbeke]

... So my question. Is there a way I can get KNOPPIX files onto the FAT32 partition that I can start via grub / menu.lst ? ...

Hello,
If you use the minirt_usb6.gz insead of the minirt.gz file of the dvd and use the proper menu.lst entry
you will boot Knoppix 501 from the cd or dvd iso located on your fat32 partition of your usb hdd.
Please find below the link to the minirt_usb6.gz file:
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...=103883#103883
BTW, how did you get the Knoppix 5.01 dvd iso to fit on a fat32 partition ?
Best Regards,
Gilles

[Hartmut]

Well, I did not create an iso image yet, because I thought that I might get in trouble with the file size any way on a FAT 32 partition. I'm hoping that someone can give me some tipps how I can lmake it work with the seperate files as they are right now on the DVD rather then converting them all into one big iso file.

[Hartmut]

On http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes

I found this

boot=/dev/hda1
(after you load kernel and run ramdisk startup stuff (minirt.gz) however you may choose)
Then continue starting up from hda1/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX . This is an easy way to free up your CD drive--you don't even need the CD at all, to boot, if you boot using loadlin, and have the 'linux' file and 'minirt.gz' file being loaded from the hard drive with loadlin. just copy the cd compressed contents to the root directory of a partition. then load knoppix with loadlin or however, passing this code in addition to the others, as you start up.
This was tested to work on a fat32 partition, in knoppix 3.4. --gh78 May 20 2006

So how can I make use of this to start the KNOPPIX 5.01 completely from a FAT32 USB HD?

[ruymbeke]

On http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes I found this boot=/dev/hda1
(after you load kernel and run ramdisk startup stuff (minirt.gz) however you may choose)
Then continue starting up from hda1/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX ...
So how can I make use of this to start the KNOPPIX 5.01 completely from a FAT32 USB HD?

Hello,
Even though it is not the real topic of this thread, it should be exacltly how it is described:
copy the KNOPPIX directory of the CD/DVD on your usb hdd along with the the linux kernel
and boot ramdisk minirt, update your menu.lst grub config file to load the kernel and boot ramdisk
with the kernel boot parameters boot= pointing to your usb KNOPPIX directoryand disk/partition device.
To figure out which device name to use for your usb drive/partition you may want to boot from the cd
and look for the name the kernel assigned to it by clicking on desktop icon...
Hope this helps,
Gilles

[patrickf3]

Gilles, I have been reading this thread for quite some time. I just recieved my 1gb dongle in the mail today. When I run you \grubi\Grubi\Root_Of_USB\BOOT\GRUB\HPUSBFW.EXE program it runs perfectly. But after it gets done formatting my drive, it doesn't ask me where to point my system files to (as in step 3) so I am kind of confused and stuck on what I am supposed to do now. I am trying to use knoppix 5.01 and I downloaded the http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/grubi.zip from you, so I am not quite sure what I am doing wrong?

BTW I am trying to use NTFS...dont know if this is correct or not?

EDIT - Ok I got the system files in (wasnt sure I was supposed to use FAT) ... but I keep reading you can use NTFS for the partition...do I need to use partition magic to edit this or how do I get a NTFS partition on it?

-Patrick

[ruymbeke]

... BTW I am trying to use NTFS...dont know if this is correct or not?
EDIT - Ok I got the system files in (wasnt sure I was supposed to use FAT) ... but I keep reading you can use NTFS for the partition...do I need to use partition magic to edit this or how do I get a NTFS partition on it?

I agree that it may be a little confusing...
I first made the iso boot to work from ntfs (for a hdd boot on a corporate XP/NT environment),
then I updated the iso boot scheme to also work from a USB dongle formatted with fat16/32,
(because of the msdos/98, grub.exe and loadlin.exe bootloaders I am using).

FYI: iso boot from a fat16/32 (or ext2/3 or reiser) partition will also work from a hdd,
and if you manage to install the ntbootloader on your usb dongle (which I do not recommend)
you should be able to boot from a USB dongle formatted with a ntfs partition.

Or in other words, my modified minirt_xxx.gz boot ramdisk will allow you to boot from the iso file
located on fat16/32, ext2/3, reiser or ntfs partition assuming that you have an existing bootlader
capable to load a linux kernel and ramdisk as grub or lilo. (the mirt_xxx.gz boot ramdisk will also add some
extra features as custom hostname and fix the ext2 home bug: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bugs/5.01CD )
The grldr file is a key file to get grub running from a ntfs partition and
the HPUSBFW.EXE if one of the best tool I have found to format a usb dongle and make it bootable.
My two cents,
Gilles