Trying to boot Linux Mint 9 from USB flash drive: "vesamenu.c32: Not a COM32R image"
 

I used Ubuntu's 'usb-creator-gtk' to write Linux Mint to a USB flash drive and it reported success. Then, when I rebooted, I got the following error message from Syslinux:

What the hell went wrong? Syslinux.cfg looks fine:

Can any of you tell me what's wrong with USB Creator's autogenerated configuration?

googling i got this
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...or/+bug/617779

I always thought 9.04's was the best usb-creator
I'd just use a different vesamenu.c32 from any other livecd,etc

I am downgrading to Lucid's USB creator right now, will see how it works. I will also have to rewrite the image to the drive.

I found out that this is a problem with Syslinux, not USB Creator, and labeled it as such.

Thread marked Solved.

As an extension on how I solved my problem, I downgraded Syslinux to Lucid's version as well and it worked.

This worked for me...
 

This workaround worked for me...


From http://my.opera.com/toman/blog/setti...-new-hardware:
After some fiddling around with the syslinux config files and still not getting it to boot properly, I found a deceptively simple workaround for this: Just type "help" on the BOOT prompt, and when you get the help menu, just hit enter. The system will now boot!

Confirmed that this also works for me when booting a USB stick created by 10.10's USB creator.

I had the same problem, but then I used unetbootin to make my usb and it works just fine. Hope this helps, ( it did for me)

got here googling "vesamenu.c32 not a com32r image"
installed the deb packages for lucid (0.2.22) in a maverick-based distro (mint 10)
still produces the same error ! any ideas ?

got here googling "vesamenu.c32 not a com32r image"
installed the deb packages for lucid (0.2.22) in a maverick-based distro (mint 10)
still produces the same error ! any ideas ?

to correct this problem you must use the appropriate *.c32 from the correct version of syslinux

but you ca just copy your syslinux version stuff to usb and reinstall syslinux
assuminng usb is sdb1 and mounted at /media/disk
open terminal, become root with "sudo su" plus your password and
on slackware syslinux is in /usr/share

Easiest thing to do when you get this error is:
hit tab
type "live"
press enter
then everything shoot boot up

thanks saved me alot of time

Linuxmintbiz,

Thanks much for that tip. I have been playing around for 2 weeks with various Linux distros and USB flash drive
creation tools (Live USB Creator, Universal USB Installer, Unetbootin, etc.) - just to make a bootable flash drive
for any Windows computer (I have Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 systems). I had fooled around with Linux
(mostly SuSe and Red Hat) around 2007 - but had not been around it much since then. Just wanted to get back with it.

Mercifully, success with Linx Mint 10 came when I did 2 things:

A. Stopped using an 8 GB flash drive because it could not be formatted with FAT, only FAT32. Began using 2 GB and 4 GB
sticks.

B. Even though I go the error about vesamenu.c32 at boot up - I hit the TAB key, and then Enter - and the disk then
booted and brought me to the Linux Mint 10 desktop.

Glad I could help :)

easily solved
 

Each example I see of syslinux.cfg is different from mine, but the key lines are the same, and when you hit "tab" at the "boot" prompt you should see those options (label) for booting
live
xforcevesa
install
textonly
debug
memtest


...then, as noted by others, if you type one of these commands you will boot in that mode.

So type "live" and you will boot normally.

But, like you, I wanted to do it automatically; that's how I got here; looking for answers. Not quick enough!!

So I experimented....

*****Change the "default" where, at or near the first line of syslinux.cfg, it says

default vesamenu.c32

replace "vesamenu.c32" with "live" and voila!!!! the autoboot we wanted!!

default live
prompt 0
timeout 300

menu title ArtistX DVD 1.0
menu background splash.png
menu color title 1;37;44 #c0ffffff #00000000 std

label live
menu label live - boot the Live System
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --

label xforcevesa
menu label xforcevesa - boot Live in safe graphics mode
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper xforcevesa initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --

label install
menu label install - start the installer directly
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet splash --

label textonly
menu label textonly - boot Live in textonly mode
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper textonly initrd=/casper/initrd.gz quiet --

label debug
menu label debug - boot the Live System without splash and show boot info
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.gz nosplash --

label memtest
menu label memtest - Run memtest
kernel /isolinux/memtest
append -

label hd
menu label hd - boot the first hard disk
localboot 0x80
append -

You are life saver this worked for me :) created 10.10's USB Creator image i was using was 10.04 and the laptop i was trying was Toshiba satellite

Typing help fixed this issue for me as well.

My desktop is on Maverick .. I was trying to downgrade an install on my daughters Eeepc Asus 701 Netbook from Maverick back to Lucid as she found her netbook kept freezing. She, along with her younger sister who has the same netbook haven't had a single issue with Lucid.

Obviously we were getting the same error message as the OP

This worked for me! Thanks a lot. It was surprising how simple this fix was.

Thank you !
It was the easiest solution !
Dan, BELgium

THAT'S the most powerful solution. You're the man!

Did the tab/live bit & it worked beautifully on my Asus Eee PC901. However, your adding how to automate it was the icing on the cake (don't like cherries on top!).

Not sure, though, if I replace "live" w/ "live-install" will give me the option to keep loading it from the USB or to install it on the system ... any ideas? I'm afraid of trying it out. Have been pretty cursed these last few days, digitally speaking ...

I have Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) Netbook & I don't like the amt of screen real estate I have to give up, so I'm trying out Lubuntu 10.04 (Lucid). My PC901 netbook has 2 SSDs: one 4g (boot & Swap) & one 16g, 2g RAM & I HAVE to use a ZTE MF601 USB modem since there's no land line where I live.

If I like it's performance, I'm going to try it out on my Dell OptiPlex GX270 desktop. Its almost bare bones architecture can't handle too many tasks though I've upgraded the RAM to 2g & the hard drive to an 80g. Otherwise, it's intact.

changing "default" inn vesamenu.c32
 

Change the "default" command to any of the options presented when you hit the "tab" button. If you get"live-install" as an option, then it should work, but I haven't seen that option, so don't know for sure. Try it. It simply will not boot if it's not a legitimate option, and you can re-edit the vesamenu.c32 back to say "live" and nothing else has changed. New distros of Ubuntu continue to act the same when installed to a USB. It still simulates booting from a CD, so the options, 'try' or 'install', are still the same.

Great, absolutely great solution after a lot of frustrating forum posts and Googling.

My hat is off to you.

Hope to see some of your posts in the future,

Michael

Easy to solve !

In the file syslinux.cfg (on your USB stick), change:
default vesamenu.c32 to default live

and reboot ...

Voilà !
Works for Mint 9, 10, 11, 12 ...

DanBE

Hey, great hint, solution, workaround whatever. I'll try it a bit later and let you know the results. Right now, just typing in "live" works great so to avoid that, your solution looks good.

Thanks, Michael

great tip!
 

another shout out and thanks to linuxmintbiz for the solution!

Thank for the tab tip.