zachman123 Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 (edited) Since it seemed to be such a common issue with barely any resources available, I decided to write a tutorial on how to achieve booting Linux, from an external USB drive, on a computer that can't boot from USB (Using a boot CD). I'll get right to the point. I used Windows for the CD burning steps just because it was easier for me, but feel free to use linux. 1. Start off by installing the distro of your choice to the USB drive. For the rest of the tutorial I'm going to be using Mandrake 10.1 just becuase I've already made the initrd for it. All the defualt settings should be fine. 2. Using a rescue/LiveCD, mount your USB drive and steal the kernel off it (from /boot). Copy the kernel to somewhere that you can access from Windows, like a NTFS/FAT partition on the disk. 3. Here comes the fun part. If you plan on installing Mandrake 10.1 (I've found it to be pretty nice), you can just use my initrd file, which will save you A LOT of time. If you plan to use a distro, hop over to my section on editing my initrd to fit your system. 4. Now, from Windows, proceed to create your CD bootloader. I've convienently made an isolinux boot cd, so all you have to do is insert your kernel. Use MagicIso or a similar program to put your kernel and initrd.img into the isolinux directory on the cd. Check the isolinux.cfg and make sure it's pointing to the kernel and initrd, and that root is set to /dev/sda1. 5. Burn your Boot CD. I've been looking for buisness card cd's so I could put my bootloader in my wallet, but none of the major retail stores have them. Tell me if you find a good deal on them somewhere. 6. This is the first test. Put in the boot CD, and plug in the USB drive. The system should boot up and get to the startup script, and it'll probably get hung at the fsck step (At least for Mandrake 10.1). If you didn't get that far, you have a problem with the bootloader on the cd, the kernel, or the initrd. Fix it, or if you can't figure out what's wrong, contact me. 7. If you made it this far, you're pretty much done, and you can smile now. Just use a rescue/live cd and mount your usb drive again. Delete/modify the lines in your rc script that the boot is getting stuck at. Keep trying to boot/fixing the script until it's happy and you can boot. 8. That's it! You're done. Hope this guide helped you. If there are any bugs/errors/you can't figure it out, PLEASE contact me so I can change it. Initrd Editing: So, you chose to use a different disto. That's fine and all, but it's going to require some work. Basically, here are the steps. Boot using a rescue/live cd. Mount your usb drive. Also, mount the directory containing my initrd image (Have it on a cd or something). Gunzip the initrd.img (rename it to initrd.gz first) if it needs it. Mkdir /mnt/initrd Then mount it using mount -o loop initrd /mnt/initrd. From /mnt/initrd, view the linuxrc file and get a feel for what it's doing. Then, replace all of the modules currently in the initrd (The Mandrake 10.1 modules) with the modules from the usb drive, the system you wish to boot from usb. Unmount the initrd image, gzip it back up, rename it to initrd.img, and copy it back to a Windows accessable partition. Continue on with the rest of the steps. usbboot.zip initrd.zip Edited January 21, 2005 by zachman123 Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
aem4162 Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 5. Burn your Boot CD. I've been looking for buisness card cd's so I could put my bootloader in my wallet, but none of the major retail stores have them. Tell me if you find a good deal on them somewhere.585264239[/snapback] thank you!!!! this is SO cool!!!! i'm gonna try it soon (i hope!). anyhoo...you might try supermediastore for your business card cds. i've ordered stuff from them before and they seem to be ok. i'd swear that i saw the cds in compusa but can't find anything about them on the site. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585264375 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflorat Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Thanks but your two files looks corrupted . I can't unzip them neither under Windows (tried winzip, 7zip) nor under Linux (tried unzip, tar xzpvf, bzip2). Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585319848 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 19, 2005 Author Share Posted January 19, 2005 Try again, they seem to be working fine for me. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585320098 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflorat Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Not better... For both files: With Winzip : "File is not in the standard Zip 2.0 format" With 7-Zip : file broken With unzip under Linux : error uncompressing Inspite of these errors, I get some files: usbboot.iso :120 KO initrd.img : 129KO but when I try to open them under MapgicIso, it tells me that these files don't contain image... Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585331956 Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcdShdw Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 yes i can confirm they are broken in a way winrar is giving me errors Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585331990 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 21, 2005 Author Share Posted January 21, 2005 Files Fixed. Stuffit apparently hates me, it wouldn't zip files correctly AND it didn't give an error trying to unzip the old files (but they were still messed up) Anyways Winzip did the trick, and I may be reinstalling/killing stuffit soon. If you have ANY problems AT ALL, please let me know. Feel free to E-mail zachman123@gmail.com AIM zachman123 MSN zachman123@gmail.com **Not on often YAHOO zachdude123@sbcglobal.net **Not on often Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585333710 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflorat Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Hi again, indeed your files are fixed. Unfortunatly, I can't boot yet. What I did: Using winimage: - I opened the usbboot.iso file and I found an isolinux dir. - I put my MDK 10.1 vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-12mdk-i586-up-1GB from my USB install /boot to isolinux directory - I put the initrd.img file in the isolinux directory as well - I edited initrd.cfg file : ********************* default linux timeout 0 label linux kernel vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-12mdk-i586-up-1GB append initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/sda1 ********************* - I burned the image and tried to boot : my bios can't boot it. I have none message. Questions: - Do I have to leave "vmlinuz' in initrd.cfg file? - Is it realated with lilo.conf of USB drive ? - I have 2 installs : one one sda1 and another one sda3. Should it work I have set root=/dev/sda3 in initrd.cfg ? thanks again. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585334125 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 You mean the CD won't boot? Make sure winimage is keeping it as a bootable CD, to test that try burning my exact iso just to see if that'll boot. And I assume you mean isolinux.cfg, everything in there looks fine. root just needs to point to the root partition of your linux install... Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585335497 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflorat Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Yes, it won't boot at all, I just have the BIOS message 'Boot from CD:', the CD is read for 5 secs and then, nothing... I tried to brun the usbboot.iso : it boots and tell me it can't find the vmlinuz kernel (normal). So it should be your initrd.img that freeze the boot? I use an external USB CD Reader. Questions: - Do I have to set kernel to kernel (link) or the full kernel name ? - Why don't your provide a full iso pour sda1 with provided kernel ? Thanks. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585336133 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 (edited) Yea, it must be your editing of the iso messing up it's burnable-ness. I'll put them together and test it and post it, I'll put it up in a few min. Edited January 22, 2005 by zachman123 Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585336937 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 Yea, it must be your editing of the iso messing up it's burnable-ness. I'll put them together and test it and post it, I'll put it up in a few min. Neowin wouldn't upload it (it's 9 megs), and my website has (very) limited bandwidth so I can't upload it there. Can anyone host it if I email it to them? Or if you want the file just email me (zachman123@gmail.com) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585337345 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bflorat Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Nervermind, I finally found another solution: Book your MDK using your rescue disk (F1, then 'rescue'). mkdir sda1 mount /dev/sda1 sda1 chroot sda1 then, use the mkrescue command: mkrescue --iso that will geenrate a rescue.iso file. Burn this image, boot on USB CDROM, that's all. It works for me for sda3. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585337474 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted January 24, 2005 Author Share Posted January 24, 2005 Oh yea, that would work too :D Forgot mkrescue would take any modifications you made to the rescue system. Much easier, thanx for the tip. Some distros might not support something like that, so if you're trying some odd system, my instructions should help. All that time I wasted... Nice solution tho, I was to lazy to make my own firewire initrd with my method, but I think I'll try it with yours. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585350512 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manouchk Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Oh yea, that would work too :DForgot mkrescue would take any modifications you made to the rescue system. Much easier, thanx for the tip. Some distros might not support something like that, so if you're trying some odd system, my instructions should help. All that time I wasted... Nice solution tho, I was to lazy to make my own firewire initrd with my method, but I think I'll try it with yours. 585350512[/snapback] It didn't work for me! :no: I tried the mkrescue --iso script on MDK 10.2beta3 (that I installed on sda1) and booted on the CD but I've only seen L 99 99 99 ... on the screen, nothing more ! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585558421 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Then use my method. Try using my iso files, but if that doesn't work, do it from scratch like I did. I'm no linux expert by any means, so someone else shouldn't have too much trouble with my steps... edit: Just saw you're using 10.2beta3 ... Which is a different kernel than my iso. So you'll have to do my method from scratch. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585559086 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manouchk Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 (edited) Then use my method. Try using my iso files, but if that doesn't work, do it from scratch like I did.I'm no linux expert by any means, so someone else shouldn't have too much trouble with my steps... edit: Just saw you're using 10.2beta3 ... Which is a different kernel than my iso. So you'll have to do my method from scratch. 585559086[/snapback] in fact I think I'm trying something simpler : installing 10.1 on my USB drive first to test your CD and then I will try MDK10.2! By the way what was your version of MDK 10.1 it is normal MDK with or without last updates, 10.1 community? one more question : the mandrake installed on the usb drive shoud or should not have a bootloader installed ? Edited March 3, 2005 by manouchk Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585563512 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted March 3, 2005 Author Share Posted March 3, 2005 Doesn't matter if a bootloader is on the drive (I had it on and then deleted it by mistake) as it's not used unless you plan on using the external drive with a computer that DOES support usb booting, in which case you won't need to use the cdrom to boot. I'm not sure what version of mdk it was (It came with PC Format awhile ago). Anyways if the kernel is different you can see in the iso (Unless I renamed it, might've). Anyways good luck, and feel free to instant message me if you want. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585564336 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manouchk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Now it works! Your module are for 2.6.8.1-10mdk. I have made a working boot CD for kernel 2.6.8.1-12mdk! I can even put it on my website soon if someone is interested! Cheers! Emmanuel Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585567778 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manouchk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 here is a script to build rapidly a booting CD from scratch : It worked for me (be prudent it writes important files) #!/bin/sh #needs syslinux (tested with version 1.76) d="CD_boot" rm -rf $d mkdir $d cp /usr/lib/syslinux/isolinux.bin $d #create initrd for USB boot mkinitrd --preload=ehci-hcd --preload=usb-storage --preload=scsi_mod --preload=sd_mod /boot/usbinitrd.img `uname -r` #copy kernel (vmlinuz) and initrd file in isolinux directory cp /boot/vmlinuz $d cp /boot/usbinitrd.img $d/initrd.img #create file isolinux.cfg #assuming kernel file is in isolinux/vmlinuz #and initrd in file isolinux/initrd.img cfg=$d/isolinux.cfg echo "default linux" > $cfg echo "timeout 0" >> $cfg echo "label linux" >> $cfg echo " kernel vmlinuz" >> $cfg echo " append initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/sda1" >> $cfg mkisofs -o boot_USB.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table $d echo "burn CD :" echo "cdrecord dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 blank=fast" echo "cdrecord dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 boot_USB.iso" Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585568604 Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC98 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Hi this is really exciting? Do you think I can use this method to boot DOS or Windows from USB drives? I am no expert at this at all and maybe this is a stupid question but your advice will be highly appreciated... KC Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585658641 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 The question is only stupid if you meant using this EXACT method. Of course you're not going to run Windows using a Mandrake disk or linux bootloader... But running windows/dos is possible. If you feel lazy, check out BartPE (A limited version of windows xp that runs off a cd). You might be able to mess with it to make it use a usb disk. Making Windows XP run from cd on your own would be very hard. Windows 9x/ME though I've managed to kind-of run, just by fooling around. Simpy use a dos bookdisk on cd along with a USB driver (that's the tricky part though...) and install on the usb disk. Then have fun making a bootloader from dos (load dos, init usb driver, then win.exe) DOS USB resources... http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/ http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/newsitem/149.html Just search Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585660361 Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC98 Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Thanks for your prompt reply. What I am really looking for is a solution similar to your scenario where USB boot is not supported by BIOS and I need to be able to use a bootable CD to do so. As it does seem that LILO can boot DOS/Windows 98, I was guessing it might be possible to do so with an approach similar to yours if my goal is to use a CD to boot DOS/Windows 98 from an external USB HDD. Any suggestion? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585664333 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachman123 Posted April 6, 2005 Author Share Posted April 6, 2005 (edited) Didn't think about LILO being able to do that, but it should be possible to at least boot ( I don't know if windows would like it). edit: that's what I kinda tried, except booted from DOS. Windows started, but in messed resolution and didn't work quite right. Edited April 6, 2005 by zachman123 Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585732936 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashish21 Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 here is a script to build rapidly a booting CD from scratch :It worked for me (be prudent it writes important files) #!/bin/sh #needs syslinux (tested with version 1.76) d="CD_boot" rm -rf $d mkdir $d cp /usr/lib/syslinux/isolinux.bin $d #create initrd for USB boot mkinitrd --preload=ehci-hcd --preload=usb-storage --preload=scsi_mod --preload=sd_mod /boot/usbinitrd.img `uname -r` #copy kernel (vmlinuz) and initrd file in isolinux directory cp /boot/vmlinuz $d cp /boot/usbinitrd.img $d/initrd.img #create file isolinux.cfg #assuming kernel file is in isolinux/vmlinuz #and initrd in file isolinux/initrd.img cfg=$d/isolinux.cfg echo "default linux" > $cfg echo "timeout 0" >> $cfg echo "label linux" >> $cfg echo " kernel vmlinuz" >> $cfg echo " append initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/sda1" >> $cfg mkisofs -o boot_USB.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table $d echo "burn CD :" echo "cdrecord dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 blank=fast" echo "cdrecord dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 boot_USB.iso" 585568604[/snapback] Your script is perfect and that is what I have done. I am posting this because my problem is related booting from usb-cdrom. This is what is happening: I am installing Linux (Suse) from my CD (customized) on IBM blade center (BIOS is capable of booting from usb) in which cdrom is a usb device. What exactly happens is this: During boot, it says grub loading stage 2...... and then instead of loading the menu.lst , it launches the grub shell. Now when I try to set "root ( <tab>", no cd is listed. The only devices listed are fd0 and hd0 (hard disk already has Suse Linux on it (which was installed using standard Suse CD). This is the command I used to create ISO mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot \ -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o grub.iso What I understand is that GRUB automatically sets the root device to (cd) when booted from a CD-ROM Is there any option in mkisofs or grub in which we can change the default (cd) to usb-cdrom (whatever alias it has) so that stage2 could be loaded successfully. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/269145-how-toboot-from-a-usb-drive-without-bios-support/#findComment-585833389 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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