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Old 09-08-2011, 02:43 PM   #1
dezo
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Cannot boot debian live iso from usb using grub2


Hello,
I have several ISOs and grub2 installed on my usb flash drive. The debian's menu entry is
Code:
menuentry "debian-live-6.0.2-amd64-gnome-desktop.iso" {
   set isofile="/boot/isos/debian-live-6.0.2-amd64-gnome-desktop.iso"

   loopback loop $isofile
   linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live noprompt iso-scan/filename=$isofile vga=normal --
   initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
}
The kernel boots up but then I end up in busybox telling me something like "cannot find live image".

Any help appreciated,
thanks!
 
Old 09-08-2011, 07:09 PM   #2
widget
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I really hope that someone will jump in here and let us know that I am really behind the times and very wrong.

To boot an ISO image from grub the image has to meet certain requirements. As far as I know Debian does not do this on their Live images.

This link is for a thread by the best authority on grub-pc that I believe exists today. Run a thread search on it. I believe you will get at least one from "ranch hand" on a thread search for "debian". I know him, see him in the mirror.

If you are a member over there, post a question. Drs305 is the best. He may not be the smartest or fastest, but most documentation on grub-pc now is based on his experience, research and documentation.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1549847

You may want to check this link;
http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20.html

This is the oldest good info on grub-pc. It took us, the testers of Ubuntu 9.10 about 2 weeks to discover this information. Grub-pc (grub2) was dropped on us at the time of alpha2 with NO documentation. It was FUN.

Several of us feel in love with the buggy bugger at that time. drs305 was the guy that put together all the info we discovered and added the info that he discovered, much by a lot of experimentation, and put together what became this thread over there.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275

He is also, almost single handedly responsible for;
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...20the%20LiveCD

I do not think that any of those links will help much. If you can get it to boot I would sure like to know about it and so would drs305. If you are not a member over there (pretty much a waste of time) I would be glad to send him the info so that it could be included (credit of coarse given).

If you can't post there I would be glad to post anything you want. Would need the version of grub you are using and the version of Debian you are trying to boot.

I am pretty sure of a reply if I send him a PM over there even though, since 9.10-testing he has become an "Ubunty Member" and I have become a Debian user. Grub-pc is a common interest of importance to both of us.

I really need to get on the Debian Live mailing list (so far I just lurk) with some questions on this. Any info you put here would be a great help.

Thank you for this thread.
 
Old 09-08-2011, 07:52 PM   #3
jefro
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Here if you want to type

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-mu...2-using-linux/

Here for a gui.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-mu...t-usb-creator/


I can't say if deb will work but some others do.

Also at pendrivelinux there is a page about using grub4dos to boot multiple iso images directly. As stated by widget not all iso images can boot directly.

Last edited by jefro; 09-08-2011 at 07:53 PM.
 
Old 09-10-2011, 03:12 PM   #4
k3lt01
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There are various pages spread over the net about this and a few people claiming they have it working BUT after going through every page and following every method posted online I am yet to find one that works with Grub2, or Grub-Legacy for that matter.

Multiple Unetbootin(s) on one usb work but it takes some fiddling to do.
Multisystem used to work but no longer works on any of my Debian installs.
YUMI is a good idea BUT it is Windows based and I will not use Windows so people like me need a native Linux method that works. YUMI also uses Syslinux not Grub2

Last edited by k3lt01; 09-10-2011 at 11:48 PM.
 
Old 09-10-2011, 05:46 PM   #5
yancek
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Do the other iso's you refer to work?
I've never tried to do this with Debian but most any Ubuntu derivative will work. I have five Ubuntu derivatives that boot as iso images from a flash drive and a DVD. I've tried this with several other distributions, can't remember which but I believe at least Fedora and Opensuse and could not get it to work.

What specific steps did you take to install to the flash? The entries I use for the Ubuntus don't use "isofile". You could try removing that line or commenting it out and changing your loopback loop line to:

Quote:
loopback loop /boot/isos/debian-live-6.0.2-amd64-gnome-desktop.iso
Don't know if this will work. The only non-Ubuntu iso iamges I've been able to boot this way are Parted Magic and GParted. I really haven't tried that many others so...? You do have the debian iso in the /boot/isos directory on your usb?

The first link posted above by widget has some good information.
 
Old 09-10-2011, 07:11 PM   #6
k3lt01
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Debian won't work like Ubuntu does. For some, as yet, unknown reason Debian Live will not work like Ubuntu Casper does with Grub2. As the OP pointed out you will end up with a "cannot find a live image" even though you are pointing Grub right to it. Burn the same image to a DVD and it will work perfectly from Syslinux but using it on a USB with Grub it will not boot.

The key to finding out what is going wrong is finding the differences between Live (the Debian folder that contains the squashfs image) with its associated image and Casper (Ubuntu's live image folder) and its associated image.
 
Old 09-11-2011, 02:22 AM   #7
widget
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Yup, I would love to boot the Debian Live ISOs from grub.

Ubuntu did reconfigure their Live image to work with grub. Therefore Ubuntu and its derivatives will boot. Debian is not an Ubuntu Derivative. Ubuntu is based on Debian. They have diverged quite a bit.

A number of things that will work with Debian and the many other derivatives or it will no longer work with Ubuntu.

Of coarse this doesn't matter much to me as Ubuntu no longer works for me either. My hardware may be compatible but I am not.
 
Old 09-11-2011, 12:57 PM   #8
widget
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I just came across this post;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=182

Obviously the poster is having problems with it but it might work for some of us. I have checked the link in Quackers quoted post;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1518273
and in it sundar_ima lists Debian as one of those supported by this script, which I have not looked at yet.

It is a script having to do with a thumb drive, which I do not have but hope to get it to work as Quackers says he did.

He does mention one thing that the OP here knows, I am sure, and that is the ISO must be on a / partition for grub to find it.

I bring this up as Quackers says he put it in his home folder. He is installed on one partition so that is in his / partition. If you have a /home partition and put the ISO in your home folder it will not work.

Quackers is an Ubuntu testing veteran with some experience there. I trust him enough to try this out, even if he has become an Ubuntu Member.

Have no idea if this works, how you do it or anything else. Just read it and thought of this thread and figured I ought to get it out here for the hardy that may want to try it.
 
Old 09-13-2011, 01:10 AM   #9
k3lt01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by widget View Post
I just came across this post;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=182

Obviously the poster is having problems with it but it might work for some of us. I have checked the link in Quackers quoted post;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1518273
and in it sundar_ima lists Debian as one of those supported by this script, which I have not looked at yet.

It is a script having to do with a thumb drive, which I do not have but hope to get it to work as Quackers says he did.

He does mention one thing that the OP here knows, I am sure, and that is the ISO must be on a / partition for grub to find it.

I bring this up as Quackers says he put it in his home folder. He is installed on one partition so that is in his / partition. If you have a /home partition and put the ISO in your home folder it will not work.

Quackers is an Ubuntu testing veteran with some experience there. I trust him enough to try this out, even if he has become an Ubuntu Member.

Have no idea if this works, how you do it or anything else. Just read it and thought of this thread and figured I ought to get it out here for the hardy that may want to try it.
I have just tried Sundar's script and can confirm it does not work with Debian Live. It comes back with a Debian notice saying it cannot find a Live image on the medium. I will take a look at the setup a little later and see what I can find.
 
Old 09-13-2011, 05:17 PM   #10
widget
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I do not own a thumb drive so that part is pretty moot to me.

I am hoping that in the scripts, and perhaps the extraction of parts of the Fedora ISO, I can find hints that will allow grub to boot the Debian ISO.

Can't say I have a lot of hope for it but the more people looking at it will increase the likelyhood of someone getting it right.

Glad you tried it out. Would be neat if it had worked even on a medium I do not have. I noticed that he asks for feed back. You might drop him a line.

I suspect that some of this depends on the hardware. Type and brand of the USB device and the computer it is coupled with.

The thing that I think needs to happen is the Debian Live team making their images Grub friendly. I hate to even bring it up on the mailing list as I think that they, as a very small team, have their plates kind of full getting the scripts, as they are, working correctly on all (or at least most) hardware configurations.

While these guys are Debian devs and have server space and so forth, it is not really a main line Debian project. Debian install media is stable and reliable in the traditional format (text install) so I can understand a community supported out fit not making it a priority.

Sure would be sweet though if it worked and would make it available in a very slick way for folks to try.

I do not understand the need for the scripts to get it to boot from a thumb drive. It is supposed to be a hybrid ISO capable of booting from a thumb drive. Most of those drives, right now, are only big enough to boot one ISO with persistence.

Yes, I do know that there are bigger drives. Seems like the bigger ones are a little too pricey for folks to take to. I know this is true for me. That is why I don't have one. The price is too high, for me, on the ones big enough to interest me.
 
Old 09-13-2011, 09:47 PM   #11
j1alu
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Try to find the necessary info in this blog:
http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2011/0...-within-grub2/
Booting grml that way worked for me, but it didn't test anything else (so i don't know if and how it will work with a Debian LIve)
 
Old 09-14-2011, 04:45 AM   #12
k3lt01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by j1alu View Post
Try to find the necessary info in this blog:
http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2011/0...-within-grub2/
Booting grml that way worked for me, but it didn't test anything else (so i don't know if and how it will work with a Debian LIve)
Tried that last night, the grub-imageboot section is what should work on an internal hdd but alas it doesn't work either. Same messages as all other methods, "cannot find live" etc etc etc. I am comforted by the fact that grub-imageboot IS part of Debian Sid repositories so hopefully the devs cam make it work with help from people like us testing it. However, grub-imageboot is not supposed to be used on bootable usb drives that you can use to install Debian to other machines it is at the moment, unfortunately, just supposed to be for rescue/testing purposes on the main hdd.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 09-15-2011, 06:54 PM   #13
colorpurple21859
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Download vmlinuz and initrd.gz files from the HD-media directory found in Tiny CDs, USB sticks, etc.
put the installation.iso file at the top of a partition directory.
point your grub to the vmlinuz and initrd files that you just previosly downloaded and go

edit: never mind me, had brainfart

Last edited by colorpurple21859; 09-15-2011 at 07:43 PM.
 
Old 09-16-2011, 03:27 AM   #14
fatmac
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Boot usb from grub

I remembered making a note of this situation, this is what I found somewhere.

(Apologies to the originator for not noting your name.)

To boot usb pendrive from grub, change:-
'real_root=/dev/sda1' to
'real_root=/dev/scsi//host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1'

(BIOS set to boot from usb)

I don't know if it works, but it may be worth trying.
 
Old 09-16-2011, 04:31 AM   #15
k3lt01
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Sorry guys, neither suggestion works with DebianLive
 
  


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