Re: custom usb install image
On Sat, Apr 21, 2007 at 04:26:25PM -0500, nicholas wrote:
> I've had success installing Etch from a USB stick prepared using
> the easy way described in the manual[1], but I've had no luck
> with the flexible way.
> [1] http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.html.en
>
> Either the BIOS moves right past the USB stick, not thinking it's
> bootable, or I get a single flashing cursor in the upper-left of
> the screen. I think the difference between those two might have
> to do with whether I tried install-mbr on the USB stick or not.
I had difficulty when I did this when Etch was pre-RC1. I have a 4G USB
stick. Here's how I did it.
1. get the boot.img file.
2. Use mc.
3. follow the instructions re partitioning as sd*1, type msdos, and
put a vfat -16 (not 12) fs on it.
4. mount the boot.img file with a loop device
5. mount the USB stick.
6. I used mc (so I could see what was happening) to copy everything
from the boot.img file over to the USB stick.
7. Copy your CD of choice over to the USB stick.
8. unmount both.
9. run install-mbr on the stick.
This ensures that the syslinux, syslinux.cfg, the kernel, and the initrd
all get the correct parameters.
If this doesn't work, give us more info:
what you see when you try to boot it
contents of syslinux.cfg
ls -al of the stick.
Good luck,
Doug.
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