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USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 25. Apr 2013, 04:31
by Atip
I have copied file.iso to a USB stick with command:

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dd if=file.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M; sync
Opening the stick all the files are there from file.iso, however, when I
boot the stick is apparently not recognized and it does not boot from.

In BIOS first boot is set to USB stick and it shows the make of the stick like in this case
USB...TDK or similar.

I tried to change the files and directory on stick from isolinux to syslinux, however, it says
read only file system.

Suggestions welcome.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 25. Apr 2013, 07:10
by gapan
What iso is that? Are you sure it is bootable?

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 25. Apr 2013, 08:13
by Atip
slackellive-kde-14.0-32.iso

I have burned a DVD with it and it boots up to login screen. Unfortunately mouse and keyboard
are not working.

md5sum of iso file and DVD correct.

Searched the net on how to boot from USB stick with iso image, cannot find something applicable.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 26. Apr 2013, 05:03
by djemos
As i already said in slackel forum's, i have downloaded slackellive-kde-14.0-32.iso, mount the iso file and copied to a usb formated on vfat filesystem.
Then cd to boot folder on usb and run install_on_USB.sh.
Umount usb_stick and reboot
Laptop boot from usb. No problem at all.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 26. Apr 2013, 09:44
by Atip
djemos wrote:As i already said in slackel forum's, i have downloaded slackellive-kde-14.0-32.iso, mount the iso file and copied to a usb formated on vfat filesystem.
Then cd to boot folder on usb and run install_on_USB.sh.
Umount usb_stick and reboot
Laptop boot from usb. No problem at all.
Correct, and as I have tried and said many times in that forum and explained that it does not
work on my desktop PC. There is no point of repeating it. That is why I tried to go the route
as started in this post.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 26. Apr 2013, 15:00
by ElderDryas
Atip wrote:Correct, and as I have tried and said many times in that forum and explained that it does not work on my desktop PC..
In Atip's defense, although I gave up and have not tried since 13.37, I have never, ever, at any time, with any instructions, from any source, been able to make a Live Salix USB stick that actually works as advertised.

It could just be me (although I have been known to follow fairly obtuse instructions successfully before), it could be my hardware (although Salix is the only distro that I have this problem with), it could be the instructions (although others seem to be successful with them). It just doesn't matter, it doesn't work for me and, apparently, Atip.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 26. Apr 2013, 18:09
by Tim CowChip
In order for the

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dd if=file.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M; sync
method to be bootable, the *.iso file must be "hybrid" or contain syslinux. In some cases this can be accomplished by running

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isohybrid file.iso
first, then

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dd if=file.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M; sync
It sounds, however, like djemos is using the method described here, which would indicate that it is not a hybrid *iso file.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 26. Apr 2013, 18:24
by ElderDryas
Tim CowChip wrote:In order for the method to be bootable, the *.iso file must be "hybrid...."
To be honest I've never tried a Salix hybrid iso, so I can't comment on that. One of these days.... :)

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 27. Apr 2013, 01:17
by Atip
Thanks!

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]$ isohybrid slackellive-kde-14.0-32.iso
isohybrid: slackellive-kde-14.0-32.iso: boot loader does not have an isolinux.bin hybrid signature. Note that isolinux-debug.bin does not support hybrid booting
I was able to put the old SalixLive-Fluxbox-13.32 on a stick from the live CD. That worked very well.
I have no problem with TCL and KNOPPIX running from a stick
as well as installing from stick non-live boxes.

Re: USB Stick not booting iso file

Posted: 27. Apr 2013, 06:56
by mimosa
If you're getting to the login screen, it worked. Either you have a bad download or copy (or stick), or your hardware isn't supported; or maybe inadvertently you did something off-script.

The one difficulty I have ever had with these is being unable to run the install-on-usb script because of permissions problems. Unmounting and remounting the stick in console resolves this.

If it's a compatibility problem, troubleshooting may help. First off, boot into runlevel 3 and see if that gives you a working system. Have a look at what dmesg says (dmesg | grep -i [troublesome peripheral]) and lspci and lsmod and ...

To boot into runlevel 3, select whatever Grub tells you to do to edit the boot command ('e' I think) and add it at the end - I think you just add '3'.