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#1 2012-12-31 19:24:41

kerasi
Member
Registered: 2011-07-07
Posts: 39

create a Multiboot USB Stick

Hello and a happy new year to all

i have partitioned my 4GB usb-stick with a 1.5 GB FAT32
i have done this steps

mkdir /mnt/usbstick
mount /dev/sdd /mnt/usbstick
grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/usbstick /dev/sdd
umount /mnt/usbstick
rm -r /mnt/usbstick

i have now on the stick an folder grub and into it a folder iso "where i have put the distros"

so my problem i what do i have to wright into the grb.cfg?

i have these distros

archlinux-2012.12.01-dual.iso
gparted-live-0.14.1-6-i486.iso
grml64-full_2012.05.iso
install52.iso    >>>>OpenBSD
mt420.iso       >>>>MemTest
dfly-x86_64-3.2.2_REL.img.bz2 >>>Dragonfly

what can i do now?

Last edited by kerasi (2012-12-31 21:28:34)

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#2 2013-01-02 19:22:47

kYd
Member
Registered: 2009-01-20
Posts: 78

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

I've tried to do this in the past with grub but never had much success, but with syslinux the process is much easier; it is what I use for my 5 distro multiboot USB.
It basically amounts to:
Mounting the ISO, copying the folder containing the system to a folder on the USB, grab the relevant syslinux entries from the ISO and putting all these on to the USB.

I'll make a guide if you're interested. I've been meaning to do so for some time.

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#3 2013-01-03 00:18:32

kerasi
Member
Registered: 2011-07-07
Posts: 39

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

hi
yes it would be great if you make a guide big_smile

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#4 2013-01-03 03:52:10

kYd
Member
Registered: 2009-01-20
Posts: 78

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

Hope it helps howto smile
If you get stuck, leave a comment on the blog post and I'll get back to you.

Edit:
Just came across this which takes a different approach to mine, but seems simpler.
It uses Grub and just requires placing the ISO files onto a USB stick.
If you try it, let me know how you get on.

Last edited by kYd (2013-01-03 05:28:17)

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#5 2013-01-03 11:33:21

kerasi
Member
Registered: 2011-07-07
Posts: 39

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

thank you very much for that

how big should i do my partition on my 4 GB stick?
i have now 1.5 GB for the distros is that enough?

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#6 2013-01-03 15:10:26

kYd
Member
Registered: 2009-01-20
Posts: 78

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

You don't have to create any extra partitions if you don't want to, you can get away with using just the one taking up all the 4GB.
I only created an extra one to store my data.

If you do, 1.5GB may be a little small depending on how many you want to install. Most distributions will be around 600MB-1GB each, but BackTrack is about 3.5GB in itself.

Edit:
Judging from the distros you've listed, 1.5GB should just be enough.

Last edited by kYd (2013-01-03 15:15:37)

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#7 2013-01-03 17:03:36

teateawhy
Member
From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

Hi kYd, thank you for the howto.
I used it for clonezilla and gparted live, spreading the first partition over the complete usb stick. At first it did not boot, but that can be solved with adding the string "live-media-path=/clonezilla/live". Not only backtrack linux is picky about the location of this directory.
This my current syslinux.cfg

label clonezilla
  MENU LABEL Clonezilla live (Default settings, VGA 1024x768)
  kernel /clonezilla/live/vmlinuz
  append initrd=/clonezilla/live/initrd.img live-media-path=/clonezilla/live boot=live config  noswap edd=on nomodeset noprompt locales= keyboard-layouts= ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_batch=no vga=791 ip=frommedia  nosplash i915.blacklist=yes radeonhd.blacklist=yes nouveau.blacklist=yes vmwgfx.blacklist=yes

label GParted Live
  MENU LABEL GParted Live (Default settings)
  kernel /gparted/live/vmlinuz
  append initrd=/gparted/live/initrd.img live-media-path=/gparted/live boot=live config  noswap noprompt  ip=frommedia  nosplash i915.blacklist=yes radeonhd.blacklist=yes nouveau.blacklist=yes vmwgfx.blacklist=yes

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#8 2013-01-03 17:06:29

kYd
Member
Registered: 2009-01-20
Posts: 78

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

teateawhy wrote:

Hi kYd, thank you for the howto.
I used it for clonezilla and gparted live, spreading the first partition over the complete usb stick. At first it did not boot, but that can be solved with adding the string "live-media-path=/clonezilla/live". Not only backtrack linux is picky about the location of this directory.

Thanks for that teateawhy. I'll update the post.

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#9 2013-01-03 17:32:06

teateawhy
Member
From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

If you want to run slitaz, this works ok. (Posted from slitaz.)
Edit: change the lang= and kmap= part to your own language.

label Slitaz Core
  MENU LABEL SliTaz Live
  kernel /slitaz/boot/bzImage
  append initrd=/slitaz/boot/rootfs4.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs3.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs2.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs1.gz lang= kmap= rw root=/dev/null vga=normal autologin

label gtkonly
	MENU LABEL SliTaz gtkonly Live
	kernel /slitaz/boot/bzImage
	append initrd=/slitaz/boot/rootfs4.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs3.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs2.gz lang= kmap= rw root=/dev/null vga=normal autologin

label justx
	MENU LABEL SliTaz justx Live
	KERNEL /slitaz/boot/bzImage
	append initrd=/slitaz/boot/rootfs4.gz,/slitaz/boot/rootfs3.gz lang= kmap= rw root=/dev/null vga=normal autologin

label base
	MENU LABEL SliTaz base Live
	KERNEL /slitaz/boot/bzImage
	append initrd=/slitaz/boot/rootfs4.gz lang= kmap= rw root=/dev/null vga=normal autologin

Last edited by teateawhy (2013-01-03 17:33:54)

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#10 2013-01-12 23:08:10

alexzose
Member
Registered: 2012-05-17
Posts: 10

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

I use gujin loader as my multiboot loader smile
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gujin/

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#11 2013-01-13 00:00:28

Mektub
Member
From: Lisbon /Portugal
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 647

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

I did build a multiboot USB from:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot- … rom-linux/

from a ubuntu derivative I have on my multi-boot laptop.

But meanwhile I noticed that in the AUR there are:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/multibootusb/
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/multisystem/

Mektub


Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/johnbina

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#12 2013-01-13 10:55:23

tydell
Member
From: actually: Hannover, DE
Registered: 2009-07-26
Posts: 109
Website

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

I made a multiboot pendrive about a year ago to use it in a server room at my work. It contains few live-cd iso, few linux install iso and some things like memtest etc. I used grub2 for that. Installation was similar to the same as first post.
My grub.cfg in a first version looked like this http://pastebin.com/5pM1n5b2 and everything worked excellent. Now I have about 3 times more isos on this pendrive

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#13 2013-01-14 18:05:32

mcloaked
Member
From: Yorkshire, UK
Registered: 2012-02-02
Posts: 1,217

Re: create a Multiboot USB Stick

I have been searching for a solution for running a Crucial SSD firmware update from usbkey for a new system I have recently built around a DQ77KB motherboard and want to make it my primary arch machine.... before installing arch I need to update the M4 SATA SSD and M4 mSATA SSD, and have so far failed with every method I have tried, including burning the iso to a physical CD and trying to boot it from an external CDROM!  The firmware from Crucial seems to be a memdisk kernel loading a floppy image file - and the update is available at  http://www.crucial.com/uk/help/ssd/inde … source=web (select mSATA SSD from the pulldown list in my case). However I must have got the method to specify loading the files wrong - I have tried syslinux, grub2 and unetbootin - and whatever I do gives a blank screen when I boot the resulting key. Yet the archiso install iso written to a usbkey with dd loads up fine - and PartedMagic iso written using unetbootin also works fine.

If anyone can point me to the details of how to boot the Crucial SSD iso or the files extracted from it on a usbkey it would really make my day - I have searched the web extensively for clues and failed.  Maybe I simply don't understand how to get the contents of the iso specified in any of the methods I have found to boot from a usbkey.

Thanks for any hints, tips or pointers to a guide on the web - with detailed steps - (I have searched the arch wiki too!)


Mike C

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