Re: Booting Debian 10 installer ISO from USB
On Tue 19 Nov 2019 at 10:20:16 -0600, prueba@finsakxim.com.mx wrote:
> I'm trying to boot Buster installer from a USB by using Grub's loopback
> device.
> I already installed grub in the USB and put Buster ISO in its data
> partition.
>
> I read this
> https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick#Using_GRUB.27s_Loopback_Facility
> so I downloaded both hd-media kernel and initrd from here
> http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/
> and put them in same directory as ISO, renaming them as "DebianVmlinuz" and
> "debianGtkInitrd" respectively.
>
> This is my grub.cfg config:
>
> iso_path=/boot/iso/debian-10.1.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
> export iso_path
> search --set=root --file "$iso_path"
> loopback loop "$iso_path"
> menuentry "Graphical install" {
> bootoptions="findiso=$iso_path desktop=xfce vga=788 --- quiet"
> linux /boot/iso/DebianVmlinuz $bootoptions
> initrd /boot/iso/debianGtkInitrd.gz
> }
>
> So booting from the USB works; the installer starts. But after selecting
> languages it searches for the installer ISO, but always fails to find it. I
> get "Debian was unable to find an ISO installer image". Even if I tell it to
> browse the specific partition where ISO is it just fails with same error.
The wiki page also warns:
> There is no guarantee that mixing an hd-media initrd with
> an ISO's kernel will produce a desirable outcome in all
> circumstances.
In other words, if the hack works for you - all well and good. If not,
you get to piece it together yourself.
Why is a loopback boot so important to you?
--
Brian.
Reply to: