Noobe - how to run cd image from hd

**WebbPA** · 04-20-2003, 06:47 PM

Hi folks,

Another noobe here. I'm sure this has been asked and answered before but I'm being overwhelmed with new terminology.

Before I make the partitioning and installation plunge I'd like to run the cd image for a while, but from hd for speed. When I look at my boot floppy and startup sequence I see:

Loading vmlinuz (no extension)
Loading miniroot.gz

Can I just write a batch file that points to these and then to the cd image on my hd? Then exit to DOS, run the batch file and go?

What's the difference between saving Knoppix config on the boot floppy and "persistent home"?

**Stephen** · 04-20-2003, 07:56 PM

See the How-To here.

**WebbPA** · 04-20-2003, 08:13 PM

Thanks Stephen, RTFM usually works but it didn't. Here's what I did:

"Poormans install"

Copy the CD:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX file to HD:\KNOPPIX\
E:\KNOPPIX\>mkdir D:\KNOPPIX
E:\KNOPPIX\>copy KNOPPIX D:\KNOPPIX\
1 files(s) copied

Make the bootfloppy. Start "mkfloppy.bat" on the CD in the KNOPPIX folder.
E:\KNOPPIX\>mkfloppy

Boot from the floppy. It should scan for the KNOPPIX file and find it on the harddisk.

But it didn't work. All I got was a bunch of "can't find file" messages.

The deviation I made from the instructions was to copy the entire cd to C:\Knoppix and ran mkfloppy from there. I'm not sure what the E: is. I have 1 physical HD with C and D logical partitions, and CD's E and F.

I don't have to add a new partition (yet) do I?

**Stephen** · 04-20-2003, 10:31 PM

Try it with the just the /knoppix directory from the CD in c:\ not with it in a c:\knoppix.

**WebbPA** · 04-20-2003, 11:01 PM

That did it. All I needed on the hd was c:\knoppix\knoppix (file - not folder). I think the manual overcomplicated it.

Thanks for your help.

**Stephen** · 04-20-2003, 11:33 PM

That's what I thought good luck.

**bongski55** · 04-21-2003, 12:05 PM

I followed everything from this post but I am still getting this message:

"Cant find KNOPPIX filesystem,sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell. Press reset button to quit."

I am beginner.

Thanks!

bong

**A. Jorge Garcia** · 04-21-2003, 02:19 PM

OK, I figured out how to run KNOPPIX with neither the CD nor the boot floppy from the hdd without knx-hdinstall. I don't like knx-hdinstall as you loose all the KNOPPIX autodetection stuff!

Here are my steps (only for WIN95/98/ME on a VFAT partition):
(1) On your M$ WINDOZE box, mine is WINME, create a directory called c:\KNOPPIX.

(2) Copy from d:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX, the huge 690MB file on the KNOPPIX CD already burned from an ISO, to c:\KNOPPIX.

(3) Copy the files vmlinuz and miniroot.gz from the boot floppy, already rawritten from boot-en.img, to c:\KNOPPIX.

(4) Download a copy of loadlin.exe to c:\KNOPPIX from the net.

(5) Write the following batch file in Notepad, save as knoppix.bat in c:\KNOPPIX, its all one line.

loadlin.exe vmlinuz lang=en init=/etc/init initrd=miniroot.gz quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix

(6) In WIN95 or 98, make a shortcut for knoppix.bat on your desktop. You can't run a batch file in real-mode DOS with WINME, you have to run knoppix.bat from the rescue disk in console mode....

(7) Click on this shortcut and viola KNOPPIX boots faster from your hdd than from your CD, and it still autodetects everything and resides in the ramdisk.

BTW, one side effect is that you cannot mount your hdd as its busy reading from KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX just as the CD used to be tied up.

Also, if you do not want to rawrite the boot floppy or burn the CD, you can mount the ISO and IMG to extract the files KNOPPIX, vmlinuz and miniroot.gz (but you need a Linux box for this already - which came first the penguin or the egg???).