How to boot from an USB stick without BIOS support using Grub2?

vimico · 12-16-2009, 03:16 PM

I'm trying to solve the following problem:

I have a bootable USB stick. It works on my desktop PC which has USB support built into the BIOS.

I want to use this stick on my 6 year old laptop which has no USB BIOS support.

The laptop runs Ubuntu Karmic and has grub2 installed on the hard drive.

The goal is to boot the USB stick via grub2 (on the HD).

I tried my luck with google for some days now and found hundreds of articles describing how to install grub on an USB stick, but not how to change an existing grub2 to recognize an usb stick and boot from it.

Any hints?

Thank you

cpplinux · 12-16-2009, 03:25 PM

I don't think that can be done because grub2 cannot see the usb drive?? If there is a solution, I want to know too.

linus72 · 12-16-2009, 03:55 PM

Plop Bootmanager executable "plpbt" or "plpbt.bin"
doesn't install anything; just boots usb's, usb-cdrom's, usb-hdd's,etc on computers that wont boot from usb

basically, you get plpbt.bin from the plop bootmanager download
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagerdl.html

then you gotta either edit your grub.cfg manually or thru grub2 instructions
and add plpbt.bin to grub.cfg

Code:

menuentry "Plop Bootmanager" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0b07e554-9083-4467-a1a8-94cb88ee6c6f
	linux /boot/plpbt.bin
}

you may have to use "linux16"
as sometimes grub2 thinks its a floppy image?

Code:

menuentry "Plop Bootmanager" {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0b07e554-9083-4467-a1a8-94cb88ee6c6f
	linux16 /boot/plpbt.bin
}

thats how I do it
and it works

vimico · 12-17-2009, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

Plop Bootmanager executable "plpbt" or "plpbt.bin"
doesn't install anything; just boots usb's, usb-cdrom's, usb-hdd's,etc on computers that wont boot from usb
...

Yes, thank you. That works nicely.

I was hoping that with all its new modules this functionality was meanwhile part of grub2.

amiba · 01-15-2010, 04:42 AM

Thanks for help, Was searching for a solution to get my sticks working again - this works fine.

justmecrd · 02-17-2010, 11:22 AM

I got my USB drive working with Ubuntu and Grub2 without Plop.
I tried plop and it does work.
What I ended up doing is the following:
I don't want ubuntu Live on my USB, just ubuntu.
First, I installed ubuntu straight on to my USB drive. Do not install the boot loader.
Second, either boot the live CD, mount your USB drive, then install ubuntu on your hard drive including the boot loader, or if you already have grub2 on your HD, mount your USB so that grub will see it, then do sudo update-grub2.
This will add a grub menu item for your USB (sdb1 for me) as well as your regular hard drive. The usb should be called out by it's UUID. Now, here's the secret. Boot the hard drive. I go to the recovery boot, and a root shell, but you can boot the whole xwindows session. Mount your USB drive. You may have to unplug and plug in your USB. Double click if using Xwindows or from the terminal, sudo mkdir /media/sdb, sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb. What this does, for me, is loads the UUID in the system some how. Now, reboot. Type sudo reboot or use the buttons. When grub comes up, select your USB drive. It should boot. No special software needed. I'm going to write a script and a grub line that does the whole mount, reboot, etc for me automatically. My Patriot XP 16GB boots my 5 year old lap top in 30 seconds. I'm planning to turn off swap, and add noatime to my FSTAB to reduce wear on the flash.

justmecrd · 02-17-2010, 11:24 AM

I should have mentioned when you install ubuntu on the USB, I say do not install the boot loader. The reason for this is you can kill your HD install grub. The option to not install the boot loader is under advanced on the last screen of the ubuntu install.

kleinde66 · 11-13-2011, 11:28 AM

hi
i just would like to pass along some information and something i did that worked out well, Plop Boot manager can be installed on a hard drive or ran from a CD without installing, a while back i had a old Compaq laptop i did not have the CD ROM for it and the BIOS would not boot a usb key, i was scratching my head and a thought came to me, i pulled the hdd out of that Compaq laptop and put it in a dell laptop installed plop then put the hard drive back in the Compaq and booted plop witch then i booted my usb key and installed my operating system. when you install the new os just over write plop and reboot.

one think worth adding i use MultiSystem on my usb pin drive and it works really well i believe it will run on Linux and windows it is fast and easy to use worth checking out!

Larry Webb · 11-13-2011, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vimico

Yes, thank you. That works nicely.

I was hoping that with all its new modules this functionality was meanwhile part of grub2.

It is, you can use uuid in grub2 and boot the usb direct. If you have a usb live you can also chainload the usb using grub2 if your bios does not support usb boot.

Here is a great article on grub2 that I refer to.

grub2

It does not cover chainloading the usb but will search and if I can find article will post back.

jefro · 11-14-2011, 07:13 PM

Might have been easier to go with grub4dos. Not all distro's will always boot on some odd systems.

6 year old laptop would almost seem to me to have a usb boot option.

I'd turn off the laptop, plug in the usb and power up to bios. See if the usb shows up under the hard drive boot order. You don't need a usb boot but to move up the usb in order. Also depends on how you made the usb.

rykellim · 12-10-2011, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

then you gotta either edit your grub.cfg manually or thru grub2 instructions
and add plpbt.bin to grub.cfg......

Hi, how do I update grub2 to include plpbt or is there a GUI way to do it? Thanks!

ankit.subs · 02-25-2012, 05:19 PM

@rykellim

Step by Step guide to sail you through:

http://makegadgetswork.blogspot.com/...-does-not.html