Hi. I prefer using the syslinux boot loader and recently undertook a project of creating a multiboot USB drive that boots using syslinux. The aim is to create a medium from which various live linux environments can be run for things like system maintenance, installation, and perhaps demonstration. I anticipate using this multiboot USB drive on mostly legacy, BIOS systems, if that matters. As many syslinux users would likely anticipate, some iso image files I've tested boot just fine using memdisk. For some other iso's, I found some directives on the web that advise loop-mounting the iso's, copying over to the multiboot USB certain files and folders, and crafting applicable syslinux.cfg stanzas. I've managed get a few more live environments booting already via those methods. But, since not all live-environment iso's are constructed in the same way, not all are readily susceptible to the same sorts of directives. One case in point is the Void Linux iso. I'd first like to ask about something that was suggested as a possible solution but about which I could find no documentation. I was led to believe that it would be possible, using syslinux, to boot an iso image located within a partition by somehow specifying its address on disk. I see nothing in syslinux documentation, guidelines, or forum postings, that suggests that this is really possible. So, am I correct in assuming that the individual who suggested that is just plain wrong? In order to succeed in booting into the the Void live environment the iso provides, what I wound up doing is creating some appropriately-sized partitions on my USB drive and dd'ing the iso image to one of them (I created an extended partition and included within it 6 logical partitions). I'd understood that syslinux would be capable of booting such a partition, and there even seem to be official directives on doing that sort of thing. But nothing I have tried so far will allow me, using syslinux, to boot the iso dd'd to that partition--regardless of whether I specify in the syslinux.cfg entry the address of the iso's mbr, or the partition's location (e.g., hd0, 5). One point of confusion I have is how to specify the drive that syslinux is booted from, and thus the one on which the dd'd partition is located: it being a USB drive rather than the computer's hard drive, perhaps hd0 is not the correct specifier? Can anyone offer clarification on that issue? Incidentally, I recently put grub4dos on this USB drive, since I'd understood it was more capable when it comes to booting iso's. Since it was already present, I decided, using a syslinux menu item that would invoke grub4dos, to try booting the partition with it. And, with an appropriate menu.lst item, the partition does, in fact, boot this way. The relevant entry is: title Boot Void 64-bit dd'd to 1st logical partition map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,4)0+716800 (0xff) map --hook chainloader (0xff) Any assistance in getting such partitions to boot using syslinux will be much appreciated. Thanks. PS Various syslinux.cfg entries I've tested in my attempts to boot the partition straight from the syslinux menu: LABEL Void linux 64 MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 COM32 chain.c32 APPEND mbr:0x2addfccb LABEL Void linux 64 MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 COM32 chain.c32 APPEND hd0 5 LABEL Void linux 64 MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 COM32 chain.c32 mbr=0x2addfccb LABEL Void linux 64 MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 COM32 chain.c32 hd0, 5 LABEL Void linux 64 MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 COM32 chain.c32 APPEND hd1 5 # being unsure whether I'd specified correctly the USB drive as hd0
You'll pull your hair out trying to get this going due to either lack of documentation, and or due to Void Linux maintainers not doing it the 'right way'. I've been there and found that many, many Linux distros do not boot properly out-of-the-box using memdisk. I came to the conclusion that if it's not KISS and/or standardized I'll drop it. An alternative instead of booting from USB Flash drives (which can be tricky on very old PCs and also is a pain to maintain and test) is (i)PXE booting using https://netboot.xyz/ btw. This is where I moved to and I haven't looked back. On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 3:08 PM, James Miller via Syslinux < syslinux at zytor.com> wrote:> Hi. I prefer using the syslinux boot loader and recently undertook a > project of creating a multiboot USB drive that boots using syslinux. The > aim is to create a medium from which various live linux environments can be > run for things like system maintenance, installation, and perhaps > demonstration. I anticipate using this multiboot USB drive on mostly > legacy, BIOS systems, if that matters. > > As many syslinux users would likely anticipate, some iso image files I've > tested boot just fine using memdisk. For some other iso's, I found some > directives on the web that advise loop-mounting the iso's, copying over to > the multiboot USB certain files and folders, and crafting applicable > syslinux.cfg stanzas. I've managed get a few more live environments booting > already via those methods. But, since not all live-environment iso's are > constructed in the same way, not all are readily susceptible to the same > sorts of directives. One case in point is the Void Linux iso. > > I'd first like to ask about something that was suggested as a possible > solution but about which I could find no documentation. I was led to > believe that it would be possible, using syslinux, to boot an iso image > located within a partition by somehow specifying its address on disk. I see > nothing in syslinux documentation, guidelines, or forum postings, that > suggests that this is really possible. So, am I correct in assuming that > the individual who suggested that is just plain wrong? > > In order to succeed in booting into the the Void live environment the iso > provides, what I wound up doing is creating some appropriately-sized > partitions on my USB drive and dd'ing the iso image to one of them (I > created an extended partition and included within it 6 logical partitions). > I'd understood that syslinux would be capable of booting such a partition, > and there even seem to be official directives on doing that sort of thing. > But nothing I have tried so far will allow me, using syslinux, to boot the > iso dd'd to that partition--regardless of whether I specify in the > syslinux.cfg entry the address of the iso's mbr, or the partition's > location (e.g., hd0, 5). > > One point of confusion I have is how to specify the drive that syslinux is > booted from, and thus the one on which the dd'd partition is located: it > being a USB drive rather than the computer's hard drive, perhaps hd0 is not > the correct specifier? Can anyone offer clarification on that issue? > > Incidentally, I recently put grub4dos on this USB drive, since I'd > understood it was more capable when it comes to booting iso's. Since it was > already present, I decided, using a syslinux menu item that would invoke > grub4dos, to try booting the partition with it. And, with an appropriate > menu.lst item, the partition does, in fact, boot this way. The relevant > entry is: > > title Boot Void 64-bit dd'd to 1st logical partition > map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,4)0+716800 (0xff) > map --hook > chainloader (0xff) > > Any assistance in getting such partitions to boot using syslinux will be > much appreciated. Thanks. > > PS Various syslinux.cfg entries I've tested in my attempts to boot the > partition straight from the syslinux menu: > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND mbr:0x2addfccb > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND hd0 5 > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 mbr=0x2addfccb > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 hd0, 5 > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND hd1 5 > # being unsure whether I'd specified correctly the USB drive as hd0 > _______________________________________________ > Syslinux mailing list > Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com > Unsubscribe or set options at: > http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux >-- Tech III * AppControl * Endpoint Protection * Server Maintenance Buncombe County Schools Technology Department Network Group ComicSans Awareness Campaign <http://comicsanscriminal.com>
> Hi. I prefer using the syslinux boot loader and recently undertook a > project of creating a multiboot USB drive that boots using syslinux. The > aim is to create a medium from which various live linux environments can > be run for things like system maintenance, installation, and perhaps > demonstration. I anticipate using this multiboot USB drive on mostly > legacy, BIOS systems, if that matters. > > As many syslinux users would likely anticipate, some iso image files I've > tested boot just fine using memdisk. For some other iso's, I found some > directives on the web that advise loop-mounting the iso's, copying over to > the multiboot USB certain files and folders, and crafting applicable > syslinux.cfg stanzas. I've managed get a few more live environments > booting already via those methods. But, since not all live-environment > iso's are constructed in the same way, not all are readily susceptible to > the same sorts of directives. One case in point is the Void Linux iso. > > I'd first like to ask about something that was suggested as a possible > solution but about which I could find no documentation. I was led to > believe that it would be possible, using syslinux, to boot an iso image > located within a partition by somehow specifying its address on disk. I > see nothing in syslinux documentation, guidelines, or forum postings, that > suggests that this is really possible. So, am I correct in assuming that > the individual who suggested that is just plain wrong?Although I'm not "absolutely/%100/completely" discarding that under very specific circumstances such method could, perhaps, be possible, I would say that you should forget about such suggestion. The alternative to these words would be: the person who insinuated such method as plausible should be much more specific and provide (step-by-step) details (explicitly stating that (s)he already performed such steps with successful results).> > In order to succeed in booting into the the Void live environment the iso > provides, what I wound up doing is creating some appropriately-sized > partitions on my USB drive and dd'ing the iso image to one of them (I > created an extended partition and included within it 6 logical > partitions). I'd understood that syslinux would be capable of booting such > a partition, and there even seem to be official directives on doing that > sort of thing. But nothing I have tried so far will allow me, using > syslinux, to boot the iso dd'd to that partition--regardless of whether I > specify in the syslinux.cfg entry the address of the iso's mbr, or the > partition's location (e.g., hd0, 5). > > One point of confusion I have is how to specify the drive that syslinux is > booted from, and thus the one on which the dd'd partition is located: it > being a USB drive rather than the computer's hard drive, perhaps hd0 is > not the correct specifier? Can anyone offer clarification on that issue?There are at least 2 pages in the official Syslinux wiki with information about "chain.c32" and the way the booting device is expected to be identified by it. At any rate, I very much doubt that the problem is the way each partition should be referenced in syslinux.cfg.> > Incidentally, I recently put grub4dos on this USB drive, since I'd > understood it was more capable when it comes to booting iso's. Since it > was already present, I decided, using a syslinux menu item that would > invoke grub4dos, to try booting the partition with it. And, with an > appropriate menu.lst item, the partition does, in fact, boot this way. The > relevant entry is: > > title Boot Void 64-bit dd'd to 1st logical partition > map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,4)0+716800 (0xff) > map --hook > chainloader (0xff) > > Any assistance in getting such partitions to boot using syslinux will be > much appreciated. Thanks. > > PS Various syslinux.cfg entries I've tested in my attempts to boot the > partition straight from the syslinux menu: > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND mbr:0x2addfccb > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND hd0 5 > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 mbr=0x2addfccb > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 hd0, 5 > > LABEL Void linux 64 > MENU LABEL Void Linux x86_64 > COM32 chain.c32 > APPEND hd1 5 > # being unsure whether I'd specified correctly the USB drive as hd0Several side-notes: _ The LABEL directive should not use spaces (i.e. don't use space characters in "Void linux 64"). _ Each LABEL should be unique (i.e. don't repeat labels) _ Using chain.c32, you seem to be trying to chainload an ISO9660 filesystem. I very much doubt that this will work. _ Some users seem to think that every-and-all ISO images can be loaded by means of MEMDISK and somehow expect for every-and-all of them to successfully boot. Some of these users also seem to think that this is the simpler method to "multiboot". Both assumptions are, generally speaking, inaccurate (to say the least). _ Whether using MEMDISK or grub4dos, booting "whole ISO images" requires a "lot of RAM". _ Many ISO images are ISOHybrid. I know of _no_ ISOHybrid image for GNU/Linux distribution that is distributed ready-to-burn on partition devices - in theory, they could, but they don't, and that makes sense. They are built to be "ready-to-burn" to _whole_ devices, not to partitions. They are also not built to be "multibooted". _ If interested, I could mention several projects that already make the matter of "multibooting" (from USB devices) easier for _common users_ (without "demanding" from _common users_ to learn even more technical details, nor having to learn even more alternative methods of booting, such as ipxe). Regards, Ady.