Boot LMDE.iso from bootable USB Stick with Grub2

[black_screen]

Hi guys,
I recently download LMDE and test it, in personally reason i decide to use live it from my multiboot USB Stick that grub2 installed to it.
with this script http://www.panticz.de/MultiBootUSB i booted many iso file, directly from usb stick, but for LMDE i don`t know any true kernel option/cheatcodes for use as menuentry in grub.cfg file.
i try several cheatcodes but all of them failed.
if you look at the isolinux.cfg on iso file, find that kernel option might "live-media-path=/casper" to find location of this file : filesystem.squashfs (see the below structure)
i discuse this issue on irc #linuxmint-debian , #debian-live and #grub, but so far i have not recived any true response.

for ex: grub.cfg

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menuentry "LMDE" {
   loopbak loop /LMDE.iso
   linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=live live-media-path=/casper
   initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

and it`s a LMDE iso structure:

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ISO STRUCTURE
+
+casper
   |filesystem.manifest
   |filesystem.manifest-desktop
   |filesystem.squashfs
   |initrd.lz
   |vmlinuz
+isolinux
   |boot.cat
   |isolinux.bin
   |isolinux.cfg
   |memtest
   |splash.jpg
   |vesamenu.c32
+md5sum.txt

that seems kernel option not support isofrom=DEVICE , fromiso= or findiso=

and finally how to determin iso file to boot directly as same as this code?
code:

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menuentry "Linux Mint 9.0 Gnome" {

 loopback loop /linuxmint_9.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/linuxmint.iso noeject noprompt --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

and this is simple USB srtick structure:

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/
+boot <directroy that grub 2 install to it>
+LMDE.iso
+linuxmint_9.iso

also i can do extract 3 file {initrd.lz,vmlinuz,filesystemsquashfs} from iso file and boot it from usb , but i wanna use iso directly.
addition to you can see http://pastebin.com/HTVfwue8 and http://pastebin.com/Ln4d6mXz to compare live and casper file from initrd.lz/scripts/

[Oscar799]

I moved this here.
Seems like a better home for it
oscar799
Forum Admin

[darethehair]

Ouch! I just got hit by this same problem yesterday -- I was going to demonstrate Linux Mint Debian to a friend of mine on my grub2 'multi-boot' USB stick, and it failed to boot! I was a bit embarrassed, since I had just assumed that it would work like the other distros (including Mint Gnome and LXDE) on the stick. Here is my grub.cfg entry:

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menuentry "Mint Gnome Debian" {
    set isofile="/boot/isos/linuxmint-debian-201009-gnome-dvd-i386.iso"
 
    loopback loop $isofile
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile quiet splash noprompt --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

The message that I end up getting when I try to boot is:

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Loading.  please wait...
/init: .: line 215: can't open '/scripts/casper'
[    5.28909] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

Since 'Mint Debian' is the distro that I am going to offer my friends as '1st choice' from now on, it would sure be nice to have this grub2 direct ISO boot ability!

EDIT: Looks like this problem has been reported here as well: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/636798

[darethehair]

Hmmm...I just tried this again with the brand-new LMDE '201012' ISO, and the problem appears to still be present

Anybody have any more success in the meantime?

[wimac]

I was able to get it to work but not with the ISO I just mounted the iso and copied the contents to the usbdrive and this as my grub2 entry:

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menuentry "Linux Mint Debian Gnome" {

linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=live noeject noprompt --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}


[darethehair]

I was able to get it to work but not with the ISO I just mounted the iso and copied the contents to the usbdrive and this as my grub2 entry:

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menuentry "Linux Mint Debian Gnome" {

linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper noeject noprompt --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}


Yes, that would probably be how 'unetbootin' does it i.e. opening up the ISO file and copying the pieces to the USB stick. Personally, I want to be able to use *just* the ISO file itself -- so that I can have multiple on the single USB stick, as well as very easy replacement when new versions come out. My impression is that something is 'missing' from LMDE that currently makes direct USB booting of the ISO impossible -- but I would love to be proved wrong

[wimac]

Yes, that would probably be how 'unetbootin' does it i.e. opening up the ISO file and copying the pieces to the USB stick. Personally, I want to be able to use *just* the ISO file itself -- so that I can have multiple on the single USB stick, as well as very easy replacement when new versions come out. My impression is that something is 'missing' from LMDE that currently makes direct USB booting of the ISO impossible -- but I would love to be proved wrong

You can just have different entries in the grub.cfg for the other iso's just can't do it for this one.

[thermionix]

Got the current LMDE iso booting, will do a little more digging to see if I can avoid having to specify the device for it to search (it may be coming up in a future version)

NOTE - change disk uuid to suit device, use blkid to attain disk uuid

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menuentry "Linux Mint 201109-gnome-dvd-64bit live" {
    loopback loop /boot/linuxmint-201109-gnome-dvd-64bit.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz fromiso=/dev/disk/by-uuid/C1BC-D1C3/boot/linuxmint-201109-gnome-dvd-64bit.iso boot=live config live-media-path=/casper quiet splash noeject --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

[darethehair]

Got the current LMDE iso booting, will do a little more digging to see if I can avoid having to specify the device for it to search (it may be coming up in a future version)

NOTE - change disk uuid to suit device, use blkid to attain disk uuid

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menuentry "Linux Mint 201109-gnome-dvd-64bit live" {
    loopback loop /boot/linuxmint-201109-gnome-dvd-64bit.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz fromiso=/dev/disk/by-uuid/C1BC-D1C3/boot/linuxmint-201109-gnome-dvd-64bit.iso boot=live config live-media-path=/casper quiet splash noeject --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

I wonder if (or why) the 'isoscan' syntax would work in this case? It did not way back in my earlier attempts, but isn't that what it is for i.e. not needing to specify the exact name/location of the ISO? Anyways, thanks for plugging away at this problem

[anmys]

Thanks thermionix. This has really helped me to put the iso on a key drive and carry it around.

Regards,

sridhar

[darethehair]

For anyone still following this old thread, here is what (finally) is a working solution for me, using the latest LMDE as an example:

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menuentry "Mint Debian Edition" {
    set isofile="/boot/isos/lmde-201204-mate-cinnamon-dvd-32bit.iso"

    loopback loop $isofile
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz fromiso=/dev/disk/by-label/darelinux/$isofile boot=live config live-media-path=/casper noeject --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

This solution came out of this newer thread:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=103062

Yes, the 'uuid' method mentioned on this thread also worked, but -- unless I am missing something -- only works on a *specific* PC for that particular UUID (?), so that is not an option for me.

[breaker]

Yes, the 'uuid' method mentioned on this thread also worked, but -- unless I am missing something -- only works on a *specific* PC for that particular UUID (?), so that is not an option for me.

Hello again! I prefer the label method, but the uuid is going to be the uuid of the parition on the usb flash drive. I don't think it would change unless you repartitioned or maybe reformatted the drive. But, yes, labels are so much more human friendly. You can also use labels to mount your partitions from a working system; http://debian-resources.org/node/9/

BTW, you can use

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sudo blkid

to get the uuid of your partitions. Personally, I modify fstab to mount my partitions by label because I always seem to change things around.

cheers...

[darethehair]

Hello again! I prefer the label method, but the uuid is going to be the uuid of the parition on the usb flash drive. I don't think it would change unless you repartitioned or maybe reformatted the drive

For max portability, am I not correct that the UUID *only* works for the machine that the particular UUID was generated for? That is my experience i.e. the UUID of my USB stick is *different* on my desktop PC than the one assigned on my netbook, so I cannot boot the ISO on the netbook that way (?).

[breaker]

No, I tried it on my desktop, then on my laptop and it worked in both places. I'm not sure how or where it is obtained on FAT32 or ext2/3/4 partitions. But, yeah, label is better.