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Old 07-19-2013, 07:38 AM   #1
steak1987
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Registered: Jan 2012
Posts: 130

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Question Edit bootloader on USB, add option to boot off HDD.

I have TAILS 0.19 on a USB drive, and my main OS on my laptop HDD.

I have set the BIOS to boot from the flash drive. However, I would like to include the option in the bootloader on the USB drive to boot off the HDD. Is this possible ?


I found a file on my flash disk called 'live.cfg' inside the 'syslinux' directory of the flashdrive.

I used this as a reference:
http://kemovitra.blogspot.com.au/201...r-live-cd.html

and added to following to the file:

Code:
LABEL hd0
  MENU LABEL First Hard Drive
  LOCALBOOT 0x80


________________

Thus, now the contents of "live.cfg" look like:
Code:
label live
	menu label Live
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label livefailsafe
	menu label Live (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal


LABEL hd0
  MENU LABEL First Hard Drive
  LOCALBOOT 0x80

label live-686-pae
	menu label Live 686-pae
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label live-686-paefailsafe
	menu label Live 686-pae (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal






#label floppy
#	localboot 0x00

#label disk1
#	localboot 0x80

#label disk2
#	localboot 0x81

#label nextboot
#	localboot -1

The option that I added never shows up, its in the file after I reboot, so its been saved....

tl;dr : What do I need to do to edit a bootloader on a USB drive to have the option of booting off a HDD ?
Last edited by steak1987; 07-19-2013 at 07:42 AM.
 
Old 07-19-2013, 08:07 AM   #2
yancek
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I've never hears of TAILS, I would guess it is a Linux OS? How did you put it on the flash drive? If you used a program like unetbootin or pendrivelinux, you have a Live CD on a flash drive which makes it a read-only file system. You can edit and make changes as much as you want and everything will be gone on reboot. That's the read-only part. If you did to an actual install to the flash as is normally done on a hard drive, that is a different problem. The live.cfg file would indicate to me that you have a LiveCD, read-only filesystem.
 
Old 07-19-2013, 05:15 PM   #3
jefro
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I'd think you'd have syslinux instead of isolinux but it may not matter for solution.

Some people install grub (and it may be installed already and I don't know).


See this for a solution maybe. http://reboot.pro/topic/11640-syslin...al-hard-drive/
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-20-2013, 07:34 AM   #4
steak1987
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Posts: 130

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Tails is a linux ISO specializing in private browsing and not being tracked on the internet. I used the USB creator found on ubuntu and mint distros.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/usb-creator

As for the drive being read only, my changes persisted across reboots, and there is a persistance file that also saves changes.....


Ill try the comments on the thread you posted and update the thread.
 
Old 07-20-2013, 07:43 AM   #5
steak1987
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UPDATE: I edited the syslinux cfg file, but the changes persisted past reboots, but the menu didnt show on boot:

Code:
label select_menu
       com32 ifcpu64.c32
       append menu_686-pae -- menu_686-pae -- menu_486
label menu_686-pae
       kernel vesamenu.c32
       append live686.cfg
label menu_486
       kernel vesamenu.c32
       append live486.cfg
default select_menu
prompt 0

LABEL btl
MENU LABEL Boot to Nearby Next Loader
localboot -1

LABEL btw
MENU LABEL Boot Direclty to Windows 
com32 chain.c32
append hd1 1 swap
Im not sure that is whats important in the boot process, there seem to be other files that seem to be linked to the boot menu.

"menu.cfg"

Code:
prompt 0
timeout 40

menu hshift 15
menu width 49

menu title Boot Tails
include stdmenu.cfg
include tails.cfg
and "live.cfg"

Code:
label live
	menu label Live
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label livefailsafe
	menu label Live (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal


LABEL hd0
  MENU LABEL First Hard Drive
  LOCALBOOT 0x80

label live-686-pae
	menu label Live 686-pae
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label live-686-paefailsafe
	menu label Live 686-pae (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal






#label floppy
#	localboot 0x00

#label disk1
#	localboot 0x80

#label disk2
#	localboot 0x81

#label nextboot
#	localboot -1
 
Old 07-20-2013, 07:51 AM   #6
steak1987
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Registered: Jan 2012
Posts: 130

Original Poster
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EDIT EDIT: I updated all three of those files, to look like the following, and it worked o_O...

Hey, its messy, but im hardly complaining.

syslinux.cfg

Code:
label select_menu
       com32 ifcpu64.c32
       append menu_686-pae -- menu_686-pae -- menu_486
label menu_686-pae
       kernel vesamenu.c32
       append live686.cfg
label menu_486
       kernel vesamenu.c32
       append live486.cfg
default select_menu
prompt 0

LABEL btl
MENU LABEL Boot to Nearby Next Loader
localboot -1

LABEL btw
MENU LABEL Boot Direclty to Windows 
com32 chain.c32
append hd1 1 swap
menu.cfg
Code:
prompt 0
timeout 40

menu hshift 15
menu width 49

menu title Boot Tails
include stdmenu.cfg
include tails.cfg

LABEL btl
MENU LABEL Boot to Nearby Next Loader
localboot -1

LABEL btw
MENU LABEL Boot Direclty to Windows 
com32 chain.c32
append hd1 1 swap
live.cfg
Code:
label live
	menu label Live
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label livefailsafe
	menu label Live (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz
	append initrd=/live/initrd.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal


LABEL hd0
  MENU LABEL First Hard Drive
  LOCALBOOT 0x80

label live-686-pae
	menu label Live 686-pae
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  quiet

label live-686-paefailsafe
	menu label Live 686-pae (failsafe)
	kernel /live/vmlinuz2
	append initrd=/live/initrd2.img boot=live config live-media=removable nopersistent noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash nox11autologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal


LABEL btl
MENU LABEL Boot to Nearby Next Loader
localboot -1

LABEL btw
MENU LABEL Boot Direclty to Windows 
com32 chain.c32
append hd1 1 swap




#label floppy
#	localboot 0x00

#label disk1
#	localboot 0x80

#label disk2
#	localboot 0x81

#label nextboot
#	localboot -1
 
  


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