Arch Linux

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

title Arch Linux 2009.08
find --set-root /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso
map /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso (hd32)
map --hook
root (hd32)
chainloader (hd32)

Gives off an error:

Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/archiso/ ...
ERROR: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds...
  Falling back to interactive prompt
  You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finised
ramfs$ _

Using Grub 0.4.4. Do I also need to point to the kernel, initrd, etc ? Thank you.

Last edited by DSpider (2009-08-23 21:55:53)

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"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).

Gen2ly

Member

From: Sevierville, TN

Registered: 2009-03-06

Posts: 1,529

Website

Re: Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

Yeah, I had to build the ram image with usb support to get this to work:

http://linuxtidbits.wordpress.com/2009/ … e-liveusb/

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Setting Up a Scripting Environment | Proud donor to wikipedia - link

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

Is there any other way besides installing it ? I would just like to boot the ISO from the USB stick.

Should I try using archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686.img instead ?

Edit: For example kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/ .... ??

Last edited by DSpider (2009-08-24 08:59:38)

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"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).

brain0

Developer

From: Aachen - Germany

Registered: 2005-01-03

Posts: 1,382

Re: Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

title Arch Linux 2009.08
find --set-root /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso
map /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso (hd32)
map --hook
root (hd32)
chainloader (hd32)

Gives off an error:

I guess this won't work. GRUB apparently creates a mapping in the BIOS here, but as soon as Linux boots, it doesn't care about what the BIOS says and accesses hardware directly. You should do the following instead:

If you have a USB stick that you can completely erase, use the .img file and copy it to the stick with dd.

If not, you can try to place the files on any filesystem (usb, hard drive, everything) like this:

* Mount the ISO
* Copy the *.sqfs files and the isomounts file to the root directory on any filesystem (I think ntfs will not work, but fat32, ext2, ext3, ext4 should)
* Copy the vmlinuz26 and the initcpio_pata.img files from the /boot directory anywhere (can be the same filesystem as above, but doesn't have to be - we'll assume this is accesible from grub by (hd1,2)/boot below)

Now add the following GRUB entry:

title Arch Live
kernel (hd1,2)/boot/vmlinuz26 lang=en locale=en_US.UTF-8 archisolabel=YOURLABEL ramdisk_size=75%
initrd (hd1,2)/boot/initcpio_pata.img

Above, replace YOURLABEL with the label of the filesystem you copied the isomounts and *.sqfs to. If the filesystem doesn't have a label, give it one.

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

It would only boot with:

title Arch Live
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz26 lang=en locale=en_US.UTF-8 archisolabel=pqi ramdisk_size=75%
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/archiso_ide.img

... and still stop at:

Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/archiso/ ...
ERROR: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds...
  Falling back to interactive prompt
  You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finised
ramfs$ _

Maybe I should just "dd" and get it over with... "unetbootin-windows-357.exe" didn't work. Apart from the fact that it took bloody ages to "start" it didn't work. My stick is formatted as FAT32 if that makes any difference. Maybe I should reformat and use "dd" on it's ass. You think Parted Magic can "dd" ? I guess we'll find out...

Edit: Yes... It worked. But I lost everything on the USB stick. I anticipated this would happen and backed it up.

How come Arch Linux can't play nice with GRUB and Parted Magic can ? What's so special about Parted Magic ?

Using:

title Arch Linux 2009.08
find --set-root /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso
map /Images/archlinux-2009.08-netinstall-i686-isolinux.iso (hd32)
map --hook
root (hd32)
chainloader (hd32)

...works. But you don't get very far (as opposed to Parted Magic with the SAME settings). Strange...

Last edited by DSpider (2009-08-24 13:39:01)

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"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).

brain0

Developer

From: Aachen - Germany

Registered: 2005-01-03

Posts: 1,382

Re: Run Archlinux live from a USB stick using Grub (for install purposes)

How come Arch Linux can't play nice with GRUB and Parted Magic can ? What's so special about Parted Magic ?

I guess with parted magic, the whole image is loaded into memory on boot and that's it. But I don't know enough about Parted Magic and how it works.