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

[wslkevin]

There's no fromhd because it is literally loading linux from the Windows partition using GRUB, and "fromhd" has no meaning to GRUB - only to the isolinux loader on the Knoppix disk. The files copied into the Windows partition are telling GRUB where Knoppix is loaded already, so any bootcode giving a location for Knoppix files would simply be redundant. It's a really cool concept - if I could only get the damn thing to work on my machine! Clearly, it works on other people's machines, so the concept is sound. I even got it to work to a limited degree myself, but I had less functionality than with a liveCD.

So, in eco2geek's example 1, does he copy the loopback file D:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX from CD-Rom.

And, in the example 2, he just use KNOPPIX*.iso instead of the loopback file, right?

Thanks in advance.

[eco2geek]

So, in eco2geek's example 1, does he copy the loopback file D:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX from CD-Rom.

And, in the example 2, he just use KNOPPIX*.iso instead of the loopback file, right?

Yes, correct. And also correct that those two cheatcodes -- "fromhd", which uses the KNOPPIX loopback file, and "bootfrom", which uses the ISO -- don't mean anything to GRUB, they're parsed by the script called "linuxrc" in the miniroot.

Amazing job by those Japanese Knoppix guys!

So, in a nutshell, the steps to boot from NTFS either way are:

- Install GRUB
- Copy the miniroot and kernel from the Japanese Knoppix CD to somewhere on your hard drive
- Copy the ISO or the KNOPPIX file to somewhere on your hard drive
- Edit menu.lst

[wslkevin]

So, in a nutshell, the steps to boot from NTFS either way are:

- Install GRUB
- Copy the miniroot and kernel from the Japanese Knoppix CD to somewhere on your hard drive
- Copy the ISO or the KNOPPIX file to somewhere on your hard drive
- Edit menu.lst

But it won't work in some computer, right?
Anyway, I will try it. Thank you very much.

[j.drake]

Everything looks righ... And it works on my IBM T41 laptop...

Wait a minute. If you have a T41 laptop, then why do you have '"hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi " in your menu.lst? Clearly, you don't have 4 SCSI HDs. And I noticed that eco2geek had that line in as well. Does this have anything to do with it? I nuked those out of mine, because I assumed that they were inapplicable to my two EIDE HDs. Could that make the difference between success and failure?

jd

[ruymbeke]

... If you have a T41 laptop, then why do you have '"hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi " in your menu.lst? Clearly, you don't have 4 SCSI HDs. And I noticed that eco2geek had that line in as well. Does this have anything to do with it? I nuked those out of mine, because I assumed that they were inapplicable to my two EIDE HDs. Could that make the difference between success and failure?jd

I don't know. Did you try a cut and paste of our configs, just as a trial ?
PS: I updated my link with the "Knoppix ISO BOOT from NTFS using GRUB" package: http://s94592085.onlinehome.us/grub/grub6.zip
Gilles

[wslkevin]

Everything looks righ... And it works on my IBM T41 laptop...

Wait a minute. If you have a T41 laptop, then why do you have '"hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi " in your menu.lst? Clearly, you don't have 4 SCSI HDs. And I noticed that eco2geek had that line in as well. Does this have anything to do with it? I nuked those out of mine, because I assumed that they were inapplicable to my two EIDE HDs. Could that make the difference between success and failure?

jd

I have tried, it works with "hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi ", however I haven't tried it without these parameters. My notebook is IBM ThinkPad X31 with CD-ROM, and I don't have SCSI device. Could anyone tell me what's the mean of these parameters?

[wslkevin]

I have tried it by following the instructions of this thread, and it works for the English version KNOPPIX, Japanese version KNOPPIX, and Traditional Chinese version KNOPPIX. Work both for loopback file and ISO-image.

But I still have some questions about it.
1. I use the batch file "install2win.bat" from the Japanese version CD-Rom, it install GRUB for DOS and copy the loopback file to my NTFS partition.
2. the batch file "install2win.bat" will call the other batch file "setup.bat".
3. There is a line in the "setup.bat" batch file:
%GRUBHOME%\grubinstall -d %SystemDrive% -1 %GRUBHOME%\stage1 -2 %GRUBHOME%\stage2 -m (hd%RDISK%,%PARTITION%)%GRUBDIR%\menu.lst > %GRUBHOME%\grub-installed.txt

My question is that whether it will still work if I just use the files "linux26" and "miniroot_ntfs.gz", and then use the GRUB for DOS installed by me.

What's the following line doing?
%GRUBHOME%\grubinstall -d %SystemDrive% -1 %GRUBHOME%\stage1 -2 %GRUBHOME%\stage2 -m (hd%RDISK%,%PARTITION%)%GRUBDIR%\menu.lst > %GRUBHOME%\grub-installed.txt

[eco2geek]

I have tried, it works with "hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi ", however I haven't tried it without these parameters. My notebook is IBM ThinkPad X31 with CD-ROM, and I don't have SCSI device. Could anyone tell me what's the mean of these parameters?

Both Kanotix and Knoppix Japanese Edition seem to want the "hda=scsi...(etc)" parameter when booting the CD from GRUB. I use "hda=scsi" through "hdd=scsi" because I have two hard drives and two optical drives (hda through hdd). Whether it will work without that parameter, I do not know. If you've just got two drives, just use "hda=scsi" and "hdb=scsi", although the extras won't hurt anything.

My question is that whether it will still work if I just use the files "linux26" and "miniroot_ntfs.gz", and then use the GRUB for DOS installed by me.

Yes, it will.

What's the following line doing?

Knoppix Japanese Edition uses a version of GRUB for Windows originally made for a Linux distro named Topologilinux, which will run off your NTFS partition. It actually writes to your hard drive during installation and must be reinstalled if you defrag. That line you quoted is installing it using "grubinstall.exe".

ruymbeke's version of GRUB evidently does not write to the hard drive during installation.

Whichever one you use, the format of "menu.lst" should be exactly the same.

[ruymbeke]

...ruymbeke's version of GRUB evidently does not write to the hard drive during installation...

The standard grub installer copy or dd (disk dump) the stage1 and stage2 grub binaries into the boot sectors of the floppy, partition or disk which I don't really like when running a corporate xp/ntfs computer. These modified sectors are not seen as a file by the ntfs file system and cannot be simply deleted or removed by the explorer, as an example. You need some special tool, or the xp install cd to revert back the way it was before installing grub.
The grldr and boot.ini hook is for me much more "clean" and much easier to install and remove: modify the boot.ini text file and copy/delete some files. For the 98/me users, grub.exe can be started from dos and from a fat 16/32 partition, floppy disk, or even a usb key ...
Please note that all the files required to boot knoppix from the ISO could be located anywhere on the disk assuming that the menu.lst and boot.ini are modified accordingly, but the c:/boot/grub/menu.lst which default location is hardcoded within the grub binary. To be exact the /boot/grub/menu.lst of the first partition of the first drive.
PS: I can boot from the ISO file being in my NTFS partition without using any of these "hda/b/...=scsi". Please find below what I am using to boot from the ISO in my menu.lst:

title Knoppix 3.6 kernel 2.6 from NTFS hda1 ISO scan
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.36/linux26 ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 nomce quiet bootfrom=/dev/hda1/boot/knoppix.36/*.iso config=scan home=scan
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/knoppix.36/miniroot_ntfs.gz
boot

Gilles

[wslkevin]

[quote="eco2geek"]

I have tried, it works with "hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi "quote]

Both Kanotix and Knoppix Japanese Edition seem to want the "hda=scsi...(etc)" parameter when booting the CD from GRUB. I use "hda=scsi" through "hdd=scsi" because I have two hard drives and two optical drives (hda through hdd).

My question is that whether it will still work if I just use the files "linux26" and "miniroot_ntfs.gz", and then use the GRUB for DOS installed by me.

Yes, it will.

What's the following line doing?

Knoppix Japanese Edition uses a version of GRUB for Windows originally made for a Linux distro named Topologilinux

Thanks, eco2geek.

I have successfuly boot KNOPPIX up off the NTFS partition without the parameter "hda=scsi ............".

===

Could I ask a question about Topologilinux here? I have tried Topologilinux and can boot it up using CD-Rom. However, it failed when I use GRUB to boot up. There are two situations:
a. Use the grubinstall/ntfsinstall of the CD-Rom, and it stopped at "stage2" and displayed "blocklist failed". As a result, I can boot it up using GRUB.

b. I use my pre-installed GRUB for DOS to boot it, the content of men.lst is
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/loop7 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.gz

or

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/loop7 ro
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.gz

Then it said "Inconsistent filesystem struction" when running the "kernel ..." line.

What should I do to solve this problem?