- Prepare the USB drive
- Partitioning
- Create the filesystem
- Install Syslinux bootloader on the device
- Copy required c32 modules
- Install Syslinux
- Write MBR
- Deploy a sample configuration
- Test sample configuration
- Install Memtest86+
- Install SystemRescueCd
- Install ArchLinux
- BIOS Boot
- EFI Boot
- Install Windows (MEMDISK)
- Further remarks
- Syslinux commands
- Windows ISO Images without using MEMDISK
The USB drive will have only a single partition. (I have tried using multiple
partitions and chainloading them, but it did not work.)
For the remainder of this guide, I will refer to the USB device with
/dev/sdX and to the first (and only) partition on this device as /dev/sdX1.
Make sure the USB device is not mounted.
We start with partitioning our USB device. Run fdisk on the device.
# fdisk /dev/sdX
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.25.2).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
When prompted for a command, create a new DOS partition table. (Syslinux requires DOS partitions.)
Command (m for help): o
Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x9c4e2fab.
We now have an empty DOS partition table. Create a single partition that spans
the whole device. After typing n just press ENTER to use the default
options.
Command (m for help): n
Partition type
p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
e extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p):
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
First sector (2048-30310399, default 2048):
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-30310399, default 30310399):
Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 14.5 GiB.
To verify this procedure, enter p to print the current partition table.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdX: 14.5 GiB, 15518924800 bytes, 30310400 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x9c4e2fab
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdX1 2048 30310399 30308352 14.5G 83 Linux
Now we have to change the type of the partition to W95 FAT32. I am not sure
whether the Hex code is the same for every system, so use L to print the table
of Hex codes first.
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list all codes): L
0 Empty 24 NEC DOS 81 Minix / old Lin bf Solaris
1 FAT12 27 Hidden NTFS Win 82 Linux swap / So c1 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
2 XENIX root 39 Plan 9 83 Linux c4 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
3 XENIX usr 3c PartitionMagic 84 OS/2 hidden C: c6 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
4 FAT16 <32M 40 Venix 80286 85 Linux extended c7 Syrinx
5 Extended 41 PPC PReP Boot 86 NTFS volume set da Non-FS data
6 FAT16 42 SFS 87 NTFS volume set db CP/M / CTOS / .
7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT 4d QNX4.x 88 Linux plaintext de Dell Utility
8 AIX 4e QNX4.x 2nd part 8e Linux LVM df BootIt
9 AIX bootable 4f QNX4.x 3rd part 93 Amoeba e1 DOS access
a OS/2 Boot Manag 50 OnTrack DM 94 Amoeba BBT e3 DOS R/O
b W95 FAT32 51 OnTrack DM6 Aux 9f BSD/OS e4 SpeedStor
c W95 FAT32 (LBA) 52 CP/M a0 IBM Thinkpad hi eb BeOS fs
e W95 FAT16 (LBA) 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux a5 FreeBSD ee GPT
f W95 Ext'd (LBA) 54 OnTrackDM6 a6 OpenBSD ef EFI (FAT-12/16/
10 OPUS 55 EZ-Drive a7 NeXTSTEP f0 Linux/PA-RISC b
11 Hidden FAT12 56 Golden Bow a8 Darwin UFS f1 SpeedStor
12 Compaq diagnost 5c Priam Edisk a9 NetBSD f4 SpeedStor
14 Hidden FAT16 <3 61 SpeedStor ab Darwin boot f2 DOS secondary
16 Hidden FAT16 63 GNU HURD or Sys af HFS / HFS+ fb VMware VMFS
17 Hidden HPFS/NTF 64 Novell Netware b7 BSDI fs fc VMware VMKCORE
18 AST SmartSleep 65 Novell Netware b8 BSDI swap fd Linux raid auto
1b Hidden W95 FAT3 70 DiskSecure Mult bb Boot Wizard hid fe LANstep
1c Hidden W95 FAT3 75 PC/IX be Solaris boot ff BBT
1e Hidden W95 FAT1 80 Old Minix
Hex code (type L to list all codes): b
(There might be another line of output... not imprtant)
Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'W95 FAT32'.
To make the partition bootable, we have to set its boot flag.
Command (m for help): a
Selected partition 1
The bootable flag on partition 1 is enabled now.
Finally we write the changes to the device.
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
We now create a MS-DOS FAT32 filesystem on the partition.
Replace <LABEL> by a name of your choice.
# mkfs.fat -F32 -n <LABEL> /dev/sdX1
mkfs.fat 3.0.27 (2014-11-12)
If there is a warning/error in the output, try again with the -c option.
# mkfs.fat -F32 -c -n <LABEL> /dev/sdX1
Mount the device.
# mkdir /mnt/usb
# mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb
Create a directory for Syslinux.
# mkdir -p /mnt/usb/boot/syslinux
Copy necessary c32 modules. (I am a lazy person, I just copy all the c32 modules. One could identify the actually used modules, but since storage capacity is not an issue...) The location of the c32 modules depends on your OS and Syslinux installation.
# whereis syslinux
syslinux: /usr/bin/syslinux /usr/lib/syslinux /usr/share/man/man1/syslinux.1.gz
In my case they can be found at /usr/lib/syslinux. Now copy the required
modules.
# cp /usr/lib/syslinux/bios/*.c32 /mnt/usb/boot/syslinux
Install Syslinux on the partition. With the --directory option we specify a
relative path to where the Syslinux binary is placed.
# syslinux --directory boot/syslinux --install /dev/sdX1
To make the device bootable, we need to write the Master Boot Record of the device.
# dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdX
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 8.7927e-05 s, 5.0 MB/s
To check that nothing went wrong to this point, we deploy a sample Syslinux configuration file.
Create the file /mnt/usb/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg and open it with your
favorite text editor.
# vim /mnt/usb/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
Paste the following lines of code to the file, then save and exit.
DEFAULT hdt
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
#KBDMAP de.ktl
UI vesamenu.c32
MENU TITLE Multitool
MENU RESOLUTION 640 480
MENU WIDTH 110
MENU MARGIN 35
MENU ROWS 5
MENU VSHIFT 8
MENU TIMEOUTROW 13
MENU TABMSGROW 11
MENU CMDLINEROW 11
MENU HELPMSGROW 20
MENU HELPMSGENDROW 23
# Refer to http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Comboot/menu.c32
MENU COLOR border 30;44 #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title 1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel 7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel 37;44 #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help 37;40 #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout 1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07 37;40 #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 31;40 #30ffffff #00000000 std
LABEL hdt
MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
COM32 hdt.c32
LABEL reboot
MENU LABEL Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
LABEL poweroff
MENU LABEL Poweroff
COM32 poweroff.c32
Unmount the device.
# umount /mnt/usb
Leave the USB drive plugged in. Restart your computer and make sure that the USB drive has the highest boot priority. The USB device should be booted, and you are shown the following table:
+---------------------------------------------+
| |
| Multitool |
| |
+---------------------------------------------+
| |
| HDT (Hardware Detection Tool) |
| |
| Reboot |
| |
| Poweroff |
| |
+---------------------------------------------+
If this is not the case, make sure you followed the guide correctly. If it still does not work, feel free to open a new Issue and explain in detail what is going wrong.
Download Memtest86+ from http://www.memtest.org/. (Some distributions already ship with a version of Memtest86+.)
Make sure the USB device is mounted.
Copy Memtest86+ to the USB device.
(I am not sure whether memtest.bin must be executable...)
# mkdir -p /mnt/usb/memtest86+
# cp path/to/memtest.bin /mnt/usb/memtest86+
Open the Syslinux configuration file on the USB device.
# vim /mnt/usb/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
Add the following entry to the file. (The entries are displayed from top to bottom. You can freely choose the order.)
LABEL memtest
MENU LABEL Memtest86+
TEXT HELP
Run memory failure detection.
ENDTEXT
LINUX /memtest86+/memtest.bin
Save and exit the file. You can now test the setup, see Test sample configuration.
Download the latest version of the SystemRescueCd ISO image from http://www.sysresccd.org .
Mount the ISO image.
# mkdir /mnt/srcd
# mount /path/to/systemrescuecd-x86-4.4.1.iso /mnt/srcd
Make sure the USB device is mounted. Copy the content of the ISO image to the USB device.
# mkdir /mnt/usb/systemrescuecd
# cp -a /mnt/srcd/* /mnt/usb/systemrescuecd && sync
# umount /mnt/srcd
Edit the Syslinux configuration file on the device, and add the following entry.
MENU BEGIN
MENU TITLE SystemRescueCd
LABEL 32bit
MENU LABEL SystemRescueCd (32-bit)
TEXT HELP
Live system running X that offers many repair tools.
ENDTEXT
LINUX /systemrescuecd/isolinux/rescue32
INITRD /systemrescuecd/isolinux/initram.igz
LABEL 64bit
MENU LABEL SystemRescueCd (64-bit)
TEXT HELP
Live system running X that offers many repair tools.
ENDTEXT
LINUX /systemrescuecd/isolinux/rescue64
INITRD /systemrescuecd/isolinux/initram.igz
LABEL back
MENU LABEL Back
MENU EXIT
MENU END
Save and exit the file.
SystemRescueCd will look for the file sysrcd.dat under the root directory of
the partition. Therefore, we will move that file such that SystemRescueCd is
able to find it. (This little hack will cause a warning during the boot process
of SystemRescueCd, reporting that the md5sum did not match. This warning can
safely be ignored.)
# mv /mnt/usb/systemrescuecd/sysrcd.dat /mnt/usb
You can now test the setup, see Test sample configuration.
This guide is based on wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media#Using_manual_formatting .
Get the latest version of the ArchLinux ISO image from www.archlinux.org .
Mount the ISO image.
# mkdir /mnt/archiso
# mount /path/to/archlinux-2015.01.01-dual.iso /mnt/archiso
Make sure the USB device is mounted. Copy the content of the ISO image to the USB device.
# mkdir /mnt/usb/archlinux
# cp -a /mnt/archiso/* /mnt/usb/archlinux && sync
# umount /mnt/archiso
Add the follwoing entry to the Syslinux configuration file on the USB device.
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
TEXT HELP
Run the Arch Linux Live distribution.
ENDTEXT
CONFIG /archlinux/arch/boot/syslinux/archiso.cfg
APPEND /archlinux/arch/
We additionally need to modify some of the ArchLinux files.
Edit /mnt/usb/archlinux/arch/boot/syslinux/archiso_sys32.cfg and replace
APPEND archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201501
by
APPEND archisobasedir=archlinux/arch archisodevice=/dev/disk/by-uuid/<UUID>
where <UUID> is the UUID of the USB device partition.
Repeat this procedure for
/mnt/usb/archlinux/arch/boot/syslinux/archiso_sys64.cfg .
You can now test the setup, see Test sample configuration.
Edit /mnt/usb/archlinux/loader/entries/archiso-x86_64.conf and replace
options archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201501
by
options archisobasedir=archlinux/arch archisodevice=/dev/disk/by-uuid/<UUID>
where <UUID> is the UUID of the USB device partition.
You can now test the setup, see Test sample configuration.
This guide explains how to install Windows 7 on the USB drive such that Syslinux is able to chainload it.
However, there is a major problem: the bootloader for Windows (bootmgr) assumes the Windows files to reside in the root directory of the partition. Therefore it is impossible to chainload the extracted ISO image.
To circumvent this issue, we will place the full Windows 7 ISO image on the USB device, and use MEMDISK to mount it to RAM and boot it.
Make sure the USB device is mounted.
Copy the Windows 7 ISO image to your USB device.
# mount /path/to/Windows7.iso /mnt/usb && sync
Install MEMDISK on the USB device. (Memdisk is included in Syslinux.)
# mkdir /mnt/usb/boot/memdisk
# cp /path/to/memdisk /mnt/usb/boot/memdisk
Add the follwoing entry to the Syslinux configuration file on the USB device.
LABEL win7
MENU LABEL Windows 7
KERNEL /boot/memdisk/memdisk
INITRD /Windows7.iso
APPEND raw iso
If you now select to boot the Windows ISO image from the Syslinux screen, the ISO image will be loaded to a RAMDISK. This can take an extremely long time, be patient. Remember that Windows requires you to press a key in order to trigger the boot process, so stay close to the keyboard ;)
You can now test the setup, see Test sample configuration.
Modify DEFAULT hdt to any label specified in the Syslinux configuration file.
With
MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
you can specify a splash screen image to display.
The article http://superuser.com/questions/740448/multiple-windows-installers-on-a-usb-stick explains in detail how to create a bootable USB drive with a bootable Windows without extra partitions and without the use of MEMDISK. Make sure to read both the question and the answer.
The proposed way has many benefits. Booting the Windows image is much faster, since no RAMDISK has to be created. Furthermore, the target device does not need to have that much memory (for Windows 7 >6GB).