Slackware Live Edition iso2usb.sh creates USB that fails to boot.

philip0 · 05-25-2020, 11:04 AM

Hello I tried to make a USB with Slackware live edition as detailed below, but it does not boot every way I have tried:
1. UEFI mode with or without Secure Boot: In UEFI mode my laptop first says "verifying media", then it gives up on USB and boots off the hard drive.
2. BIOS/CSM mode gives the following failure messages.

SYSLINUX 6.04 EDD copyright 1994-2015 H. Peter Anvin et al
Failed to load libcom32.c32
Failed to load COM32 file vesamenu.c32
boot:
Failed to load libcom32.c32
Failed to load COM32 file vesamenu.c32
boot:
....(repeats periodically)

What do I do?

I thought I had successfully followed
https://docs.slackware.com/slackware:liveslak
downloaded slackware64-live-plasma5-current.iso
verified it with the .md5 and .asc files.

To make a bootable USB, I deleted all existing partitions from the USB, because otherwise the iso2usb.sh script would complain.

I used the following command:
iso2usb.sh -i /run/media/a/path/linux-slackware/slackware64-live-plasma5-current.iso -P -p persistance-slack -o /dev/sdc -

the output I will try to post in a followup message.

philip0 · 05-25-2020, 11:12 AM

Please let me know if you see anything wrong or have any ideas on how to make a successful Slackware Live Edition USB boot drive.
Below please find the log of the USB information and iso2usb.sh output.

# USB INFORMATION
[root@hostname ~]# sfdisk -l /dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 29.9 GiB, 32080200192 bytes, 62656641 sectors
Disk model: Flash Drive
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: 0xc3072e18

# COMMAND THAT CREATES USB:
[root@hostname ~]# /run/media/a/path/linux-slackware/iso2usb.sh -i /run/media/a/path/linux-slackware/slackware64-live-plasma5-current.iso -P -p persistance-slack -o /dev/sdc -v
#
# We are going to format this device (erase all data) - '/dev/sdc':
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Vendor : Samsung
# Model : Flash Drive
# Size : 30594 MB
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# FDISK OUTPUT:
# GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.5
#
# Partition table scan:
# MBR: MBR only
# BSD: not present
# APM: not present
# GPT: not present
#
#
# ***************************************************************
# Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
# in memory.
# ***************************************************************
#
# Disk /dev/sdc: 62656641 sectors, 29.9 GiB
# Model: Flash Drive
# Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
# Disk identifier (GUID): 17BEEBFC-0CDA-4492-A95A-99E7E9BE63D1
# Partition table holds up to 128 entries
# Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
# First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 62656607
# Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
# Total free space is 62656574 sectors (29.9 GiB)
#
# Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name

*** ***
*** If this is the wrong drive, then press CONTROL-C now! ***
*** ***

Or press ENTER to continue:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes copied, 0.00144954 s, 353 kB/s
Creating new GPT entries in memory.
The operation has completed successfully.
/run/media/a/path/linux-slackware/iso2usb.sh: line 669: [: too many arguments
Setting name!
partNum is 0
Setting name!
partNum is 1
Setting name!
partNum is 2
The operation has completed successfully.
The operation has completed successfully.
Disk /dev/sdc: 62656641 sectors, 29.9 GiB
Model: Flash Drive
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 7D22F0C1-7B3F-47D4-B367-D1FDC3EB0822
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 62656607
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 4095 1024.0 KiB EF02 BIOS Boot Partition
2 4096 208895 100.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
3 208896 62656607 29.8 GiB 8300 Slackware Linux
3:2:1 (legacy BIOS bootable)
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
mke2fs 1.44.6 (5-Mar-2019)
Creating filesystem with 7805964 4k blocks and 1954064 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 6ab9a30e-1ea0-4296-af9c-5e0afdaee303
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

tune2fs 1.44.6 (5-Mar-2019)
Setting maximal mount count to -1
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
Setting reserved blocks percentage to 0% (0 blocks)
Please run `resize2fs -s /dev/sdc3' to disable 64-bit mode.
mount: /mnt/alieniso.eXrIn7: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
166240 blocks
--- Copying files from ISO to USB... takes some time.
sending incremental file list
boot/
boot/generic
6,531,456 100% 269.46MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=97/100)
boot/initrd.img
25,042,412 100% 265.36MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#2, to-chk=96/100)
boot/memtest
150,024 100% 1.57MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#3, to-chk=95/100)
boot/syslinux/
boot/syslinux/efiboot.img
1,474,560 100% 14.65MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#4, to-chk=93/100)
boot/syslinux/f2.txt
969 100% 9.86kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#5, to-chk=92/100)
boot/syslinux/f3.txt
1,375 100% 13.99kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#6, to-chk=91/100)
boot/syslinux/f4.txt
1,214 100% 12.35kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#7, to-chk=90/100)
boot/syslinux/f5.txt
853 100% 8.68kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#8, to-chk=89/100)
boot/syslinux/gptmbr.bin
440 100% 4.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#9, to-chk=88/100)
boot/syslinux/iso.sort
50 100% 0.51kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#10, to-chk=87/100)
boot/syslinux/isolinux.bin
24,576 100% 250.00kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#11, to-chk=86/100)
boot/syslinux/isolinux.boot
2,048 100% 20.83kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#12, to-chk=85/100)
boot/syslinux/isolinux.cfg
26 100% 0.26kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#13, to-chk=84/100)
boot/syslinux/lang.cfg
1,928 100% 19.41kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#14, to-chk=83/100)
boot/syslinux/message.txt
520 100% 5.24kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#15, to-chk=82/100)
boot/syslinux/swlogov.png
10,289 100% 103.59kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#16, to-chk=81/100)
boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
265 100% 2.67kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#17, to-chk=80/100)
boot/syslinux/ter-i16v.psf
5,152 100% 51.87kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#18, to-chk=79/100)
boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
154,128 100% 1.50MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#19, to-chk=78/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/
boot/syslinux/menu/be-latin1.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#20, to-chk=76/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/br-abnt2.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#21, to-chk=75/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/de-latin1-nodeadkeys.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#22, to-chk=74/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/de-latin1.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#23, to-chk=73/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/dk-latin1.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#24, to-chk=72/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/es.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#25, to-chk=71/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/fr-latin9.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#26, to-chk=70/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/it.ktl
256 100% 2.55kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#27, to-chk=69/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/jp106.ktl
256 100% 2.53kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#28, to-chk=68/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/kbd.cfg
1,721 100% 16.98kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#29, to-chk=67/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_be.cfg
3,291 100% 32.46kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#30, to-chk=66/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_br.cfg
3,275 100% 32.31kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#31, to-chk=65/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_da.cfg
3,291 100% 32.46kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#32, to-chk=64/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_de.cfg
3,467 100% 34.20kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#33, to-chk=63/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_de_ch.cfg
3,291 100% 32.46kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#34, to-chk=62/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_es.cfg
3,179 100% 31.36kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#35, to-chk=61/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_fr.cfg
3,306 100% 32.61kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#36, to-chk=60/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_fr_ch.cfg
3,306 100% 32.61kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#37, to-chk=59/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_gb.cfg
3,179 100% 31.36kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#38, to-chk=58/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_it.cfg
3,179 100% 31.36kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#39, to-chk=57/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_ja.cfg
3,227 100% 31.83kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#40, to-chk=56/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_nl.cfg
3,179 100% 31.36kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#41, to-chk=55/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_pt.cfg
3,291 100% 32.46kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#42, to-chk=54/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_ru.cfg
3,243 100% 31.67kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#43, to-chk=53/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_se.cfg
3,291 100% 32.14kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#44, to-chk=52/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/lang_us.cfg
3,179 100% 31.04kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#45, to-chk=51/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_be.cfg
2,211 100% 21.59kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#46, to-chk=50/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_br.cfg
2,210 100% 21.58kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#47, to-chk=49/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_da.cfg
2,211 100% 21.59kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#48, to-chk=48/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_de.cfg
2,222 100% 21.70kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#49, to-chk=47/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_de_ch.cfg
2,214 100% 21.62kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#50, to-chk=46/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_es.cfg
2,204 100% 21.52kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#51, to-chk=45/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_fr.cfg
2,211 100% 21.59kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#52, to-chk=44/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_fr_ch.cfg
2,214 100% 21.62kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#53, to-chk=43/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_gb.cfg
2,204 100% 21.52kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#54, to-chk=42/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_it.cfg
2,204 100% 21.31kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#55, to-chk=41/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_ja.cfg
2,207 100% 21.34kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#56, to-chk=40/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_nl.cfg
2,204 100% 21.31kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#57, to-chk=39/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_pt.cfg
2,211 100% 21.38kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#58, to-chk=38/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_ru.cfg
2,208 100% 21.35kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#59, to-chk=37/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_se.cfg
2,211 100% 21.38kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#60, to-chk=36/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/menu_us.cfg
2,204 100% 21.31kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#61, to-chk=35/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/nl.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#62, to-chk=34/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/pt-latin1.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#63, to-chk=33/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/ru_win.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#64, to-chk=32/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/sv-latin1.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#65, to-chk=31/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/uk.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#66, to-chk=30/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/us.ktl
256 100% 2.48kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#67, to-chk=29/100)
boot/syslinux/menu/vesamenu.cfg
2,204 100% 21.31kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#68, to-chk=28/100)
liveslak/
liveslak/addons/
liveslak/optional/
liveslak/optional/0060-broadcom_sta-6.30.223.271_5.4.35-current-x86_64.sxz
1,945,600 100% 17.18MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#69, to-chk=23/100)
liveslak/optional/0060-nvidia-440.82_5.4.35-current-x86_64.sxz
164,147,200 100% 249.67MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#70, to-chk=22/100)
liveslak/optional/0060-tt-15.1-14.2-x86_64.sxz
40,960 100% 63.80kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#71, to-chk=21/100)
liveslak/optional/nvidia-440xx.ids
2,493 100% 3.88kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#72, to-chk=20/100)
liveslak/rootcopy/
liveslak/system/
liveslak/system/0000-slackware_boot-current-x86_64.sxz
17,993,728 100% 24.83MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#73, to-chk=19/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_a-current-x86_64.sxz
345,137,152 100% 189.06MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#74, to-chk=18/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_ap-current-x86_64.sxz
196,382,720 100% 139.87MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#75, to-chk=17/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_d-current-x86_64.sxz
490,135,552 100% 254.18MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#76, to-chk=16/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_e-current-x86_64.sxz
47,562,752 100% 45.96MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#77, to-chk=15/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_f-current-x86_64.sxz
8,257,536 100% 7.78MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#78, to-chk=14/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_k-current-x86_64.sxz
143,839,232 100% 309.65MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#79, to-chk=13/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_l-current-x86_64.sxz
597,331,968 100% 253.29MB/s 0:00:02 (xfr#80, to-chk=12/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_n-current-x86_64.sxz
142,635,008 100% 197.14MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#81, to-chk=11/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_t-current-x86_64.sxz
140,730,368 100% 118.56MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#82, to-chk=10/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_tcl-current-x86_64.sxz
6,676,480 100% 41.35MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#83, to-chk=9/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_x-current-x86_64.sxz
191,717,376 100% 250.46MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#84, to-chk=8/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_xap-current-x86_64.sxz
305,532,928 100% 174.27MB/s 0:00:01 (xfr#85, to-chk=7/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_xfce-current-x86_64.sxz
16,375,808 100% 21.51MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#86, to-chk=6/100)
liveslak/system/0010-slackware_y-current-x86_64.sxz
2,396,160 100% 3.12MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#87, to-chk=5/100)
liveslak/system/0020-slackware_plasma5-current-x86_64.sxz
1,486,307,328 100% 242.34MB/s 0:00:05 (xfr#88, to-chk=4/100)
liveslak/system/0020-slackware_plasma5alien-current-x86_64.sxz
62,332,928 100% 75.63MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#89, to-chk=3/100)
liveslak/system/0020-slackware_slackextra-current-x86_64.sxz
5,902,336 100% 6.99MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#90, to-chk=2/100)
liveslak/system/0020-slackware_slackpkgplus-current-x86_64.sxz
61,440 100% 74.53kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#91, to-chk=1/100)
liveslak/system/0099-slackware_zzzconf-current-x86_64.sxz
10,211,328 100% 11.54MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#92, to-chk=0/100)

sent 4,418,238,493 bytes received 1,812 bytes 304,706,227.93 bytes/sec
total size is 4,417,153,955 speedup is 1.00
--- Creating 23051 MB container file using 'dd if=/dev/urandom', patience please...
0+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes copied, 3.148e-05 s, 0.0 kB/s
mke2fs 1.44.6 (5-Mar-2019)
Discarding device blocks: done
Creating filesystem with 5901056 4k blocks and 1476960 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 83b0b28a-60c9-4e31-98f1-d79a7116316b
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

tune2fs 1.44.6 (5-Mar-2019)
Setting maximal mount count to -1
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
Setting reserved blocks percentage to 0% (0 blocks)
--- Making the USB drive '/dev/sdc' bootable using extlinux...
/mnt/alienusb.0sJ1Lu/boot/extlinux is device /dev/sdc3
--- Copying EFI boot files from ISO to USB.
sending incremental file list
created directory /mnt/alienus2.dT8kCy/boot
generic
initrd.img
memtest
syslinux/
syslinux/efiboot.img
syslinux/f2.txt
syslinux/f3.txt
syslinux/f4.txt
syslinux/f5.txt
syslinux/gptmbr.bin
syslinux/iso.sort
syslinux/isolinux.bin
syslinux/isolinux.boot
syslinux/isolinux.cfg
syslinux/lang.cfg
syslinux/message.txt
syslinux/swlogov.png
syslinux/syslinux.cfg
syslinux/ter-i16v.psf
syslinux/vesamenu.c32
syslinux/menu/
syslinux/menu/be-latin1.ktl
syslinux/menu/br-abnt2.ktl
syslinux/menu/de-latin1-nodeadkeys.ktl
syslinux/menu/de-latin1.ktl
syslinux/menu/dk-latin1.ktl
syslinux/menu/es.ktl
syslinux/menu/fr-latin9.ktl
syslinux/menu/it.ktl
syslinux/menu/jp106.ktl
syslinux/menu/kbd.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_be.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_br.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_da.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_de.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_de_ch.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_es.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_fr.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_fr_ch.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_gb.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_it.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_ja.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_nl.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_pt.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_ru.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_se.cfg
syslinux/menu/lang_us.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_be.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_br.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_da.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_de.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_de_ch.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_es.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_fr.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_fr_ch.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_gb.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_it.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_ja.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_nl.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_pt.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_ru.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_se.cfg
syslinux/menu/menu_us.cfg
syslinux/menu/nl.ktl
syslinux/menu/pt-latin1.ktl
syslinux/menu/ru_win.ktl
syslinux/menu/sv-latin1.ktl
syslinux/menu/uk.ktl
syslinux/menu/us.ktl
syslinux/menu/vesamenu.cfg

sent 33,509,877 bytes received 1,376 bytes 67,022,506.00 bytes/sec
total size is 33,497,574 speedup is 1.00
--- Cleaning up the staging area...
[root@hostname ~]#

Alien Bob · 05-27-2020, 12:59 PM

Perhaps you used another Linux OS, not Slackware, to run the "iso2usb.sh" script?

This script tries to find vesamenu.c32 on the computer you start the script on, and will copy that file onto the USB stick. Then it runs the syslinux command from your PC. The vesamenu.c32 file in the ISO is not copied to the USB because it seems more logical to me to use the vesamenu.c32 and syslinux files that belong together.

You could try loop-mounting the ISO, extracting the "vesamenu.c32" file from the ISO, and copying that into the USB stick (replacing the version of vesamenu.c32 which is on there).