1 Topic by cvbn

  • cvbn
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Topic: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

Hi Steven,

I found a problem with booting the GParted Live.
I hope, you will be not to tired after the big testing the 16.1 (thanks to all of you for the great job) to have a look on it.

I am using directly booting from a iso file using grub2 and usually loop device.
For this, on my USB stick, in the folder boot there is the subfolder iso, where all the iso files are saved.

This works fine, but, this way does not allow to use the original boot menu of a distro, and, if it is necessary to use/change kernel boot parameter, this way is not so comfortable.
The parameter have to be written in the grub.cfg, i.e. boot another distro, change parameter, save, reboot, if does not work, reboot again and so on.

Because of this I am using an another, not so known, not so popular way, the grub2 and memdisk from syslinux.
This way allow to boot like it will be booted directly from a real CD, the boot menu is visible.

To make this I copied the file memdisk from syslinux/memdisk (the newest 5.01 is fine) to the folder boot on my USB stick.

The entry in grub.cfg  for clonezilla-live-2.1.0-19-i486.iso is:

menuentry "Bootable ISO Image: clonezilla-live-2.1.0-19-i486" {
    echo Loading clonezilla-live-2.1.0-19-i486.iso
    linux16 /boot/memdisk iso
    initrd16 /boot/iso/clonezilla-live-2.1.0-19-i486.iso
}

This works very fine, boot menu is visible, after selecting entry from menu it will be booted and finally clonzilla is started.

But GParted cannot be started on this way.

The entry in grub.cfg

menuentry "Bootable ISO Image: gparted-live-0.16.1-1-i486" {
    echo Loading gparted-live-0.16.1-1-i486.iso
    linux16 /boot/memdisk iso
    initrd16 /boot/iso/gparted-live-0.16.1-1-i486.iso
}


In the beginning the boot menu will be displayed, and after selecting the entry the booting procedure will be started but after several lines it will be stopped with the following:

modprobe: module unknown not found in modules.dep
modprobe: module unknown not found in modules.dep
modprobe: module unknown not found in modules.dep
modprobe: module unknown not found in modules.dep
modprobe: module swap not found in modules.dep

This will be repeated several times

As you know the both, the Clonzilla live as well as the GPart live, maybe it will take not to much time to find out why GParted live cannot be booted on this way.

Best regards

cvbn

2 Reply by stevenshiau

  • stevenshiau
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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

Hi cvbn,
For grub2, instead of using memdisk, you can use the iso loop way. Please check this:
http://gparted.org/livehd.php
Like:
menuentry "Gparted live" {
      set isofile="/home/isos/gparted-live-0.5.2-9.iso"
      loopback loop $isofile
      linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live config union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788 ip=frommedia toram=filesystem.squashfs findiso=$isofile
      initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
    }

Steven.

3 Reply by cvbn

  • cvbn
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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

ISO booting using the loop device works fine, this is the way I am usually using.
But the boot menu of the Live CD will not be displayed on this way.

So, if I like to select

   Memory test using Memtest86+
or I like to select from
   Other modes of Gparted Live
the entry
   Gparted live (Save graphic settings, vga=normal)

I have no chance with loop device.

In such cases the memdisk can help.
Using the memdisk the boot menu will be displayed and is selectable, also with Gparted Live. The problem is, after selection it starting to boot up, but is not able to finish this.

cvbn

4 Reply by stevenshiau

  • stevenshiau
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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

For syslinux I know you have to append "iso" or "iso raw" for that, e.g.

label GParted-live iso
        MENU LABEL GParted Live iso
        KERNEL memdisk
        initrd gparted-live-0.16.1-1-i486.iso
        append iso raw

You can do that similarly for your grub.
Ref: http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/ … ISO_images

Steven.

5 Reply by cvbn

  • cvbn
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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

No, this is definitely not the problem of a wrong entry in grub2.

As first I tried memdisk with clonzilla, this worked fine.

Then, using the same entry structure, I tried Gparted live, and as written before, the bootup procedure will be started, the boot menu will be displayed, after selecting one entry the bootup procedure will follow and then will be stopped.

As the clonzilla as well as the Gparted are using the same kernel. (Debian 3.2.35-2 or Debian 3.2.41-2), you know the both, I thought, comparing the both you will be able to find out why Gparted live cannot be started on this way.

But this is really minor problem, and, if searching for solution should take to much time, forget this.
Booting on this way is just nice to have option.

Regards

cvbn

6 Reply by sebus

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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

Use Easy2Boot, works perfect to boot iso

7 Reply by cvbn

  • cvbn
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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

Thanks for the hint, but on their page there is written:
Easy2Boot...to make a grub4dos ...UEFI booting is not supported.

So, EasytoBoot cannot be use as replacement for the grub2 iso booting.
And should Gparted live support the memdisk, this will extend the functionality of the grub2 way.

cvbn

8 Reply by sebus

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Re: GParted iso booting using memdisk does not work

You did not mention UEFI anywhere previously...