UBCD4Win Forums > USB Key: Booting UBCD4Win with syslinux

jgerb0

Sep 24 2008, 03:54 PM

Hello there,

yes I'm a noob, and I know I'm susceptible to mockery, but I have a question about installing UBCD4Win on a USB Key. When I create a UBCD2Win build using version 3.20, and using the ubcd4wintousb utility, I select syslinux for the bootloader. I use this because I can add Parted Magic Linux to the syslinux.cfg file and it works no problem. Only problem is now that I've switched from grub4dos to syslinux, my windows PE doesn't boot anymore. It just has a blinking cursor up in the top left of the screen. I've tried researching 911cd.net, but I can't post to ask a question that was similar to one of the topics. Here is my syslinux.cfg file for reference.

CODE

            
            DEFAULT vesamenu.c32

            PROMPT 0

            TIMEOUT 200

            ONTIMEOUT ubcd

            MENU TABMSG Please read the Documentation

            MENU TITLE Welcome to the USB Utility Key!

            MENU BACKGROUND CGGVLOGO.PNG

            MENU WIDTH 65

            MENU MARGIN 9

            MENU PASSWORDMARGIN 9

            MENU ROWS 10

            MENU TABMSGROW 18

            MENU CMDLINEROW 18

            MENU ENDROW -1

            MENU PASSWORDROW 18

            MENU TIMEOUTROW 18

            MENU HELPMSGROW 18

            MENU HELPMSGENDROW -1

            MENU HSHIFT 0

            MENU VSHIFT 5

            menu color title 1;34;49 #eea0a0ff #cc333355 std

            menu color sel 7;37;40 #ff000000 #bb9999aa all

            menu color border 30;44 #ffffffff #00000000 std

            menu color pwdheader 31;47 #eeff1010 #20ffffff std

            menu color hotkey 35;40 #90ffff00 #00000000 std

            menu color hotsel 35;40 #90000000 #bb9999aa all

            menu color timeout_msg 35;40 #90ffffff #00000000 none

            menu color timeout 31;47 #eeff1010 #00000000 none

            MENU MASTER PASSWD secret

            MENU PASSPROMPT Gesicherter Bereich, bitte Passwort eingeben:

            MENU AUTOBOOT Auswahl startet in # Sekunden

            LABEL WINXPPE

            MENU LABEL Launch "Bootable Windows XP PE"

            KERNEL UBCD4WIN.BSS

            APPEND -

            TEXT HELP

            Runs a pre-installed Windows environment, loaded with diagnostic tools including Ghost for image deployment.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL PMagic

            MENU LABEL Parted Magic Linux (Runs from RAM / USB usable)

            TEXT HELP

            Linux-Based Partition Tool for creating, deleting and repairing partitions.

            ENDTEXT

            KERNEL /pmagic/bzImage

            APPEND noapic initrd=/pmagic/initrd root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc keymap=us liveusb vga=791 sleep=0 quiet ramdisk_size=25000

            LABEL reboot

            MENU LABEL Launch "Reboot"

            KERNEL reboot.c32

            TEXT HELP

            Reboot PC

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL DBAN

            MENU LABEL DBAN - Complete Hard Drive Wipe

            KERNEL memdisk

            APPEND initrd=\images\dban.ima

            TEXT HELP

            * http://dban.sourceforge.net

            DBAN will completely delete the contents of any hard disk it can detect.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL GOBACK

            MENU LABEL Norton GoBack Removal Tool

            KERNEL memdisk

            APPEND initrd=\images\goback.ima

            TEXT HELP

            Allows access to GOBACK protected drives.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL GUJIN

            MENU LABEL Gujin Boot Manager for Linux

            KERNEL memdisk

            APPEND initrd=\images\gujin.img

            TEXT HELP

            Loads Linux system partitions.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL MEMTEST

            MENU LABEL Memtest86

            KERNEL memdisk

            APPEND initrd=\images\memtest.img

            TEXT HELP

            http://www.memtest86.com

            Test System Memory for Errors.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL NTFS4DOS

            MENU LABEL NTFS for DOS

            KERNEL memdisk

            APPEND initrd=\images\ntfs4dos.img

            TEXT HELP

            Access NTFS partitions from DOS.

            ENDTEXT

            LABEL NTPWD

            MENU LABEL Offline Password & Registry Editor

            TEXT HELP

            * http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

            ENDTEXT

            KERNEL /isolinux/pnordahl

            APPEND rw vga=1 init=/linuxrc initrd=/isolinux/pnordahl.cgz,/isolinux/scsi.cgz

            LABEL cmdc

            MENU LABEL Windows" Recovery Console

            KERNEL cmdc.bss

            TEXT HELP

            Windows" Recovery Console

            ENDTEXT

What files do I need to make this build bootup?? It's driving me crazy, I've tried changing UBCD4WIN.BSS to BOOTSECT.BIN, and SETUPLDR.BIN, but I can't win! Either it will boot saying it's missing BCDW.BIN or it will ask to restart. If anyone can assist me, it will be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

JG

jgerb0

Sep 24 2008, 03:55 PM

Oh and by the way, my UBCD4Win build is in the "minint" directory structure

pcuser

Sep 24 2008, 04:10 PM

QUOTE

I use this because I can add Parted Magic Linux to the syslinux.cfg file and it works no problem.

cdob explains in THIS post how to boot the Parted Magic 3.0 iso image using Grub4dos.

jgerb0

Sep 24 2008, 04:31 PM

QUOTE (pcuser @ Sep 24 2008, 03:10 PM)

QUOTE

I use this because I can add Parted Magic Linux to the syslinux.cfg file and it works no problem.

cdob explains in THIS post how to boot the Parted Magic 3.0 iso image using Grub4dos.

So it's not possible with syslinux at all? The reason I'm asking is because the menu options are much nicer and looks cleaner.

pcuser

Sep 24 2008, 09:14 PM

QUOTE

So it's not possible with syslinux at all?

Yes, it is possible but I assumed from your first post that you were happy with Grub4dos and only switched to syslinux so PM would work...

You didn't mention what filesystem you're using on your usb drive but since the UBCD4win.bss that's distributed with UBCD4WinToUSB is a static Fat16 bootsector, my guess is that the blinking cursor is because you're trying to use a Fat16 bootsector to boot a drive that's formatted with a different filesystem (Fat32?).

You can either extract the bootsector from your usb drive and create a new UBCD4Win.bss that matches the filesystem on your usb drive or you can use THIS utility to build your multiboot usb drive (instead of UBCD4WinToUSB) which creates a compatible UBCD4Win.bss from your current usb drive layout.

jgerb0

Sep 25 2008, 09:34 AM

QUOTE (pcuser @ Sep 24 2008, 08:14 PM)

QUOTE

So it's not possible with syslinux at all?

Yes, it is possible but I assumed from your first post that you were happy with Grub4dos and only switched to syslinux so PM would work...

You didn't mention what filesystem you're using on your usb drive but since the UBCD4win.bss that's distributed with UBCD4WinToUSB is a static Fat16 bootsector, my guess is that the blinking cursor is because you're trying to use a Fat16 bootsector to boot a drive that's formatted with a different filesystem (Fat32?).

You can either extract the bootsector from your usb drive and create a new UBCD4Win.bss that matches the filesystem on your usb drive or you can use THIS utility to build your multiboot usb drive (instead of UBCD4WinToUSB) which creates a compatible UBCD4Win.bss from your current usb drive layout.

How would you extract the bootsector from the USB drive, and with what utility? Would I then just rename the extracted file to UBCD4WIN.BSS?

jgerb0

Sep 25 2008, 10:02 AM

QUOTE (pcuser @ Sep 24 2008, 08:14 PM)

QUOTE

So it's not possible with syslinux at all?

Yes, it is possible but I assumed from your first post that you were happy with Grub4dos and only switched to syslinux so PM would work...

You didn't mention what filesystem you're using on your usb drive but since the UBCD4win.bss that's distributed with UBCD4WinToUSB is a static Fat16 bootsector, my guess is that the blinking cursor is because you're trying to use a Fat16 bootsector to boot a drive that's formatted with a different filesystem (Fat32?).

You can either extract the bootsector from your usb drive and create a new UBCD4Win.bss that matches the filesystem on your usb drive or you can use THIS utility to build your multiboot usb drive (instead of UBCD4WinToUSB) which creates a compatible UBCD4Win.bss from your current usb drive layout.

Just to clarify as well, I didn't mind GRUB, but Syslinux menu options seem to be layed out much nicer, so if there's a way to do it then I'd love to continue using Syslinux.

teobromina

Sep 25 2008, 11:24 AM

I use syslinux in 'my method' to multiboot a fat 32 pendrive bigger than 4 Gb. I was able to succeed in a 80 Gb USB-HD formatted fat 32: See

http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10449

or

http://www.telefonica.net/web2/ttk/_iso.htm#UBCD4Win

*JT:)

pcuser

Sep 25 2008, 08:44 PM

QUOTE

How would you extract the bootsector from the USB drive, and with what utility?

As stated in my previous post, that utility (UBUSB aka Ultimate Boot USB) will install UBCD4Win to your usb drive just as UBCD4WinToUSB does but it dynamically creates UBCD4Win.bss from the current bootsector.

QUOTE

you can use THIS utility to build your multiboot usb drive (instead of UBCD4WinToUSB) which creates a compatible UBCD4Win.bss from your current usb drive layout.

QUOTE

Just to clarify as well, I didn't mind GRUB, but Syslinux menu options seem to be layed out much nicer, so if there's a way to do it then I'd love to continue using Syslinux.

UBUSB can do Fat16 or Fat32 using either Syslinux or Grub4dos. NTFS isn't supported for flash drives but is for usb hard drives.