Boot from USB .iso AND LiveCD?Forum: USB booting Topic: Boot from USB .iso AND LiveCD? started by: lagerratrobe Posted by lagerratrobe on May 16 2006,20:03
Ok, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I ran the dsl-hdinstall script in DSL-N and grub got confused about what is, and isn't, my HD. Basically the grub process hangs without finding anything to boot and reports "Error 15".In the past I have succesfully installed DSL 2.1b to this machine, and had grub setup properly on the MBR. I have the DSL 2.1b .iso file saved to a USB drive, but I don't really know how I can boot off of it. I have a DSL-N LiveCD, and a mountable/writable Linux partition on my laptop. Is there some way for me to use the combination of LiveCD and .iso file to boot into the older version of DSL? I do not have any writable CD's with me, so I can't just burn a new 2.1b CD from the ISO. Thanks, Roger -- Posted by lagerratrobe on May 16 2006,22:03
Ok, found my own answer for this, which I am posting, as it is an excellent way to create a bootable USB drive for someone who doesn't have a floppy drive. This is an adaptation of the info found at - < http://wiki.debian.org/BootUsb. > Devices are named as they would be in DSL-N, or any other Linux distro using kernel 2.6.11 on a SATA equipped PC.Specific Steps ---------------------------------- - fire up whatever liveCD you have. - mount the linux partition on your HD > mount /dev/sda2 - Partition the USB pendrive with fdisk (the USB key must not be mounted!). > fdisk /dev/uba1 - Press P to see the list of all partitions. - Use D repeatedly to delete all partitions. - Create a new partition pressing N, P, 1 and accept all defaults concerning the size (minimum partition size necessary will be around 60 MB). - Set the bootable flag with A, - press T, 6 to create a FAT16 partition and - press W to store and exit from fdisk. - create a filesystem on the USB drive > mkdosfs /dev/uba1 To install DamnSmallLinux onto the pendrive, download the ISO image to a directory on the Linux partition of your HD, and as root user go the directory with the dsl-*.iso file and type the following: > mkdir dsl_temp > mkdir dsl_usb > mount -o loop dsl-*.iso dsl_temp > cp -a dsl_temp/* dsl_usb > cd dsl_usb > mv boot/isolinux/* ./ > rm -Rf boot > mv isolinux.bin syslinux.bin > mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg > cd .. > mkdir usb_pen > mount -t vfat /dev/uba1 usb_pen > cp -a dsl_usb/* usb_pen > umount usb_pen > syslinux /dev/uba1 - Set your BIOS so USB is enabled and USD+HDD is the first device in the boot list and "Bob's your uncle". Phew! |