USB Boot Guide
Forum: USB booting
Topic: USB Boot Guide
started by: TaNk
Posted by TaNk on Sep. 26 2006,06:20
1) HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool < Here >2) Download DSL < Here >
3) Download Syslinux 3.20 < Here >
Open Hp disk format tool & format your disk with fat32 option
extract dsl in your f: (usb drive path)
extract syslinux folder in your c:
open dos (start / run / type cmd)
goto C:\syslinux-3.20\win32 folder and type syslinux.exe F:
Reboot your pc and set bios to boot from USB Device!
Let me know if this worked for you.
TaNk
Posted by kagloo on Sep. 27 2006,23:33
Hi,It works fine on a 1Gb USB stick branded CosK'in. (www.cosk-in.com)
DSL 3.0.1-embedded.zip
I'll try with DSL-N.
Thanks.
Posted by Whitey04 on Oct. 03 2006,04:35
USB boot worked great for me 
. If nobody else has a problem, clean up the instructions and put them in the wiki 
.Thanks for the great post!
Posted by tyskstil on Oct. 16 2006,14:57
I have seen the same guide here < http://www.althack.com/index.p....mid=27, > and it suggested the Syslinux command with an -f, that is| Code Sample |
| syslinux.exe -f F: |
I am not shure about the difference, but just thought I'd share!
Posted by kagloo on Oct. 17 2006,14:22
I previously posted that it worked on a Cosk'in 1Go.But it seems that it works only on the PC used to process the USB key
Posted by Anshik on Oct. 18 2006,07:56
I did it works!But in BIOS don't forget set boot device USB-HDD.
And in the formating tool i've forget set fat32.
Posted by hawkstar on Oct. 18 2006,22:53
HiThanks for the great tip - it worked a treat - and such amazingly concise instructions for a Linux install! - however although it works and boots from my one year old Dell Inspiron 1300 I cannot really do anything with it - particularly it will not recognise either of my network cards - a Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller and a Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN Mini-PCI Card, (nor will it play a CD.) All of the network config tools state "No network card found" - if I run the QUME emulator through WinXP it will at least use the Broadcom network card but that is not the point - I would like it to use it when I boot from the USB stick itself. All and any advice would be gratefully appreciated.
Regards
Hawkstar
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 19 2006,01:29
Broadcom 440x: < http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....t=10880 >That dell wifi uses a broadcom chipset as well but I don't think you can use it natively - you can use ndiswrapper for it.
But this is off-topic.
Posted by SeelenGeier on Oct. 20 2006,13:16
Hi,I have a very annoying problem...
I followed your guide and everything worked fine on my computer...but...
I also have a Dell Optiplex GX620 and i tried to boot DSL on it...
it works until a bit after the usb-scanning is completed.
then he only says "sorry, no Knoppix filesystem was found" (something like that
) then i only see:Knoppix#
and my Keyboard won't work...the keyboard is an usb-device just like the mouse...i can't replace these
well if i boot with "nousb" the keyboard works fine but there still ist the filesystem problem.
I'm searching for an answer since monday
it really gets on my nerves...even failsafe mode didn't work...
my suggestions are either the usb causes the conflict (keyboard indicates something like this) or a hardware problem (which will be fixed by some really easy command i didn't see)
It worked when i started DSL in windows XP but i need it to boot directly into DSL...any ideas?
thanks
SeelenGeier
Posted by rohizzle121 on Oct. 23 2006,22:45
Hellothis is goign to be my first expericence with linux
i have a 128 mb flash drive
and i was at teh cmd step
and i type it in
its says unsopperted device
Posted by Rafaelo on Nov. 02 2006,15:01
Hello to everyone :-)I just want to help understunding the "-f" option on syslinux comand.
The "-f" is for installing DSL on a non removable disk.
So:
To install the DSL in a removable disk type: "syslinux.exe F:"
To install the DSL in a non-removable disk such "C:" type: "syslinux.exe -f C:"
I hope this helps...
And Nothing Else Matters!
Posted by Rafaelo on Nov. 02 2006,15:10
| Quote (rohizzle121 @ Oct. 23 2006,18:45) |
| Hello this is goign to be my first expericence with linux i have a 128 mb flash drive and i was at teh cmd step and i type it in its says unsopperted device |
1:Chech if you have formatted correctly the usb stick (FAT32).
2:Check if you have some free space (5-10 mbytes).
3:Check if the usb stick has a write protection mode on, must be off.(Write protection is a small switch usually in the left side of the usb stick).
If all thease are ok and the problem remains then try it in another computer.
Hope helped!
Posted by rebelfallen on Nov. 09 2006,18:36
I have a USB Maxtor External HDD. Will these instructions work for it?
Posted by Thirsterhall on Nov. 17 2006,07:52
| Quote (SeelenGeier @ Oct. 20 2006,09:16) |
| Hi, I have a very annoying problem... I followed your guide and everything worked fine on my computer...but... I also have a Dell Optiplex GX620 and i tried to boot DSL on it... it works until a bit after the usb-scanning is completed. then he only says "sorry, no Knoppix filesystem was found" (something like that ) then i only see:Knoppix# and my Keyboard won't work...the keyboard is an usb-device just like the mouse...i can't replace these well if i boot with "nousb" the keyboard works fine but there still ist the filesystem problem. I'm searching for an answer since monday it really gets on my nerves...even failsafe mode didn't work... my suggestions are either the usb causes the conflict (keyboard indicates something like this) or a hardware problem (which will be fixed by some really easy command i didn't see) It worked when i started DSL in windows XP but i need it to boot directly into DSL...any ideas? thanks SeelenGeier |
I have the exact same problem with a Dell Optiplex GX520.
A few additional notes:
I tried to boot DSL from a CDRom which worked. Well almost I didn't have any mouse. Without the mouse I couldn't do much. Ya it's a USB mouse the Dell Optiplex systems don't have ps2 connectors so it's all USB.
I then tried the beta release with the exact same results.
I then tired Feather Linux using the exact same process as posted for DSL and that is what I'm posting from now, IE it worked fine no USB problems. FYI It's version 0.7.4
Posted by Arithmomaniac on Dec. 07 2006,04:56
This doesn't work for me, even when following the instructions verbatim. See my thread in this section for more info.
Posted by pcfreak on Dec. 10 2006,15:35
I have set my BIOS at USB-HDD, and did the HP formating, and copied the DSL-embedded exept the qemu files, and run the syslinux.Then I rebooted my computer and it just booted like usual and not with my USB...
When I started syslinux, I saw just for a second the DOS window and it closed.
Is this right?
What I have to do more to get my USB booting???
<edit>i got it booting... i forgot my bios to disable quickboot
stupid :P
Posted by mnemoniczx on Dec. 15 2006,10:41
Work fine on a old USB flesh Apacer 128MB Hendy Steno!
Posted by cyfail on Dec. 27 2006,16:34
Works on a Pleomax 2GB. The trick, in my case, was to format it to Fat32 (simple FAT wouldn't work) and use the latest syslinux, that works on the larger clusters of fat32.
Posted by gnarayan on Jan. 04 2007,21:52
| Quote (Thirsterhall @ Nov. 17 2006,02:52) | ||
I have the exact same problem with a Dell Optiplex GX520. A few additional notes: I tried to boot DSL from a CDRom which worked. Well almost I didn't have any mouse. Without the mouse I couldn't do much. Ya it's a USB mouse the Dell Optiplex systems don't have ps2 connectors so it's all USB. I then tried the beta release with the exact same results. I then tired Feather Linux using the exact same process as posted for DSL and that is what I'm posting from now, IE it worked fine no USB problems. FYI It's version 0.7.4 |
Hi,
I had the same problem with booting DSL embedded natively rather than with qemu in XP - everything works like a charm within XP but when trying to boot directly into DSL it'd die with a knoppix image not found problem and give me a shell with very limited functionality even helpfully listing six commands I could use.
I formatted the usb drive (sandisk titanium 2gb) as FAT16 not FAT32 and tried the instructions again - this fixed the headache with my desktop and its award bios which does support USB-ZIP but does not seem to like FAT32. This was the only change I made and I'm not quite sure why it made any difference.
After reformatting as FAT16 I could boot into DSL but by USB mouse (logitech mx310) wouldn't work - logitech supplies a ps/2-usb adapter so I used it and that problem went away. That feels like cheating and won't help one whit if you don't have a ps/2 port for your mouse anymore - a few people have tried fiddling with xsetup.sh and got the mouse to work so maybe you can look for those posts.
good luck.
Posted by amc on Jan. 05 2007,15:15
If I format my mp3 player with the tool in the first post it won't stop working, right?Because with the winxp formatter it gives me an error when i type syslinux.exe G: and i was wondering how this one is different..
I don't wanna break my mp3 player. If that happens i will suicide and than my parents will kill me again
Posted by humpty on Jan. 06 2007,17:40
| Quote (amc @ Jan. 05 2007,22:15) |
| .. If that happens i will suicide and than my parents will kill me again |
you got it pretty bad if they kill you after your suicide!
Posted by trixeh on Jan. 07 2007,00:12
I followed Tanks steps properly, I'm booting from a USB drive partition on my DAP, everything appeared to go fine.Upon booting it goes as far as giving me the syslinux version and then it says:
"Could not load kernel: linux" (or something similar)
this is followed by a new line and "boot:" and awaits user input.
Whats causing this?
Thanks.