Arch Linux

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

Someone posted this recently:

# Arch Linux Netinstaller
menuentry "Arch Linux Netinstall x86_64" {
  set isofile="/boot/iso/archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-dual.iso"
  loopback loop $isofile
  linux (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz img_loop=$isofile img_dev=/dev/disk/by-uuid/82F2-CF5B archisolabel=ARCH_201108 earlymodules=loop
  initrd (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
}

menuentry "Arch Linux Netinstall i686" {
  set isofile="/boot/iso/archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-dual.iso"
  loopback loop $isofile
  linux (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz img_loop=$isofile img_dev=/dev/disk/by-uuid/82F2-CF5B archisolabel=ARCH_201108 earlymodules=loop
  initrd (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
}

I didn't test it myself so I can't say for sure that it works... But it looks similar to this, except he has a "/boot/iso" folder on the USB stick and uses the UUID (run blkid from a LiveCD to find out). So if it worked for him, it may work for you too. Good luck!

Personally I prefer this method: Boot the entire ISO from RAM

---

"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,643

Website

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Grub2

---

CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

djgera

Developer

From: Buenos Aires - Argentina

Registered: 2008-12-24

Posts: 723

Website

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

https://projects.archlinux.org/archiso. … EADME#n286

Zeniff

Member

Registered: 2010-07-14

Posts: 7

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

I actually did try almost everything mentioned here and several other places.

I was trying to boot the current 2011.08.19 netinstall ISO.

The ONLY thing I got to work for that ISO was this:

menuentry "Arch Net Install Try" {
        set isofile="/archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-i686.iso"
        loopback loop (hd0,3)$isofile
        linux (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz archisolabel=ARCH_201108 img_dev=/dev/sdb3 img_loop=$isofile earlymodules=loop
        initrd (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
}

(Note: I already have 1 internal HDD in the computer, but was booting from an attached USB HDD (and the 3rd partition on that). So it was "(hd0,3)" because it's drive 0 in Grub, and "sdb3" instead of "sda3" because the OS saw my USB after the internal HDD. It would be the same numbering if there had been no internal HDD.)

However, this did NOT work ( used info from https://projects.archlinux.org/archiso. … EADME#n286 ):

menuentry "Arch Linux (i686)" {
    set isofile="/archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-i686.iso"
    loopback loop (hd0,3)$isofile
    linux (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz archisolabel=ARCH_201108 img_label=nothingseemstoworkhere img_loop=$isofile
    initrd (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
}

The differences:
* "img_label" instead of "img_dev" - I tried several things for this, including the filesystem type and also the partition label which had the ISO. Nothing worked. (The git README's explanations of "img_label" and "<TARGET-FS-LABEL>" (and some others) could use more examples, IMHO. Although it's mostly good so far.)
* "earlymodules=loop" - is not mentioned, but booting fails without it.

Again, I'm booting Arch's current 2011.08.19 ISO, so I don't know if it would be different with an ISO from the git version.

Last edited by Zeniff (2012-07-21 13:42:49)

jubei

Member

Registered: 2009-10-09

Posts: 8

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

Hello,
here is my experience to boot arch iso from grub 2...........
downloaded daily snap shot iso (archlinux-2012.07.21_04-00-02-netinstall-x86_64.iso and verified md5sum.
I put the iso on sda7 (vfat partition)
from grub command line, I typed the following:
loopback loop (hd0,7)/archlinux-2012.07.21_04-00-02-netinstall-x86_64.iso
linux (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz archisolabel=ARCH_201207 img_dev=/dev/sda7 img_loop=/archlinux-2012.07.21_04-00-02-netinstall-x86_64.iso earlymodules=loop
initrd (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
boot

Apparently it boot up fine and I was automatically logged in as root
however when I typed /arch/setup to perform installation it failed
Anybody knows what went wrong????

archiso login: root (automatic login)
[root@archiso ~]# /arch/setup
-bash: /arch/setup: No such file or directory

Zeniff

Member

Registered: 2010-07-14

Posts: 7

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

archiso login: root (automatic login)
[root@archiso ~]# /arch/setup
-bash: /arch/setup: No such file or directory

Hi! I think it's because the developers recently removed the installer (AIF).
It's mentioned here: http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/ … 02623.html
It's still in the current 2011.08.19 official ISO, though.

Last edited by Zeniff (2012-07-21 13:31:22)

jubei

Member

Registered: 2009-10-09

Posts: 8

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

ah......thank you for the lead.
Really appreciate it

nadehi18

Member

Registered: 2016-04-15

Posts: 1

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

For any people still trying to find out about this this is the thing that worked for me:

menuentry "Arch Linux ISO x86_64" --class arch {
  set isoname="archdual.iso"
  set isofile="/${isoname}"
  loopback loop $isofile
  linux (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz img_dev=/dev/sdb1 img_loop=$isofile archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201507 earlymodules=loop
  initrd (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
}

menuentry "Arch Linux ISO i686" --class arch {
  set isoname="archdual.iso"
  set isofile="/${isoname}"
  loopback loop $isofile
  linux (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz img_dev=/dev/sdb1 img_loop=$isofile archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201507 earlymodules=loop
  initrd (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
}

Some quick things to tell you, isofile will need the path to your file, which in this case is just in my root directory on this flash drive.  Next img_dev needs the partition of your main disk that the iso is on, which is /dev/sdb1 in this case because it is on a flash drive.  Finally archisolabel needs to be

 ARCH_<The year of the iso goes here, 2015 in this case><Then the month of the iso, 07 for July in this case> 

I found it extremely hard to find something that worked for this even though this thread is upwards of 5 years old, but this is what I can confirm works as of now.

Last edited by nadehi18 (2016-04-15 16:56:46)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,196

Re: Boot arch from iso and grub2

Welcome to Arch Linux, and thank you for a relevant contribution.
I am going to use this opportunity to close this thread  though.

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way