booting off a partitioned flashdrive
so i bought a 64 gig flash drive, with the intent to use it for backups, but then decided for something better. I partitioned it with an msdos partition table (using gparted) and then dedicated 1 gig to the first partition (which i believe was fat32) and then the other 63 gigs to the other partition, which is ext4. i tried booting to it in qemu, which worked because i was able to specify which partition the os was on, but when i tried to boot my laptop to it, it said OS NOT FOUND. How can i make it boot to puppy? I am on linux mint (petra i think. the one based on ubuntu 13).
I think you need to make sure that the partition with the boot data is the first partition. Also, another problem I had with my BIOS (which may happen with you) when doing this is that it was only compatible with FAT16 for some reason, so you may have to reformat that partition.
i think i did make it the first partition with gparted. but i will double check and make it fat16 too. thanks
Hi Little Bobby Tables,
I would be a little irate <8+| if I had to have a FAT16 partition when using Linux. I amfairly sure that GRUB2 will boot any kind of partition, but it probably needs to be a physical one, rather than logical.
I have a GRUB2 boot menu, which allows me to boot to Linux or Windows. However it is actually a series of bash scripts, so some knowledge of that would be needed to specify a partition. I guess the tricky part is determining which USB port the stick is plugged into.
PS I am using Fedora, so your situation might be different to mine, in which case you might have to view this reply as "Ideas Only".
Good Luck !
I would be a little irate <8+| if I had to have a FAT16 partition when using Linux. I am
I have a GRUB2 boot menu, which allows me to boot to Linux or Windows. However it is actually a series of bash scripts, so some knowledge of that would be needed to specify a partition. I guess the tricky part is determining which USB port the stick is plugged into.
PS I am using Fedora, so your situation might be different to mine, in which case you might have to view this reply as "Ideas Only".
Good Luck !
@TheIdeasMan
With me, the problem wasn't grub, it was the actual BIOS itself: It wasn't compatible with FAT32. Apart from that, loading from a USB seemed to work first... though I guess all computers are different.
With me, the problem wasn't grub, it was the actual BIOS itself: It wasn't compatible with FAT32. Apart from that, loading from a USB seemed to work first... though I guess all computers are different.
Hi NT3,
Firstly apologies in advance, if I am presenting simplistic ideas to someone who knows much more than me, especially if it turns out that I am wrong. I just think it is important for a dabbler like me to have an accurate ideas of my relative position in the scheme of things.
Yeah, I understood what you said about FAT32. But was that due to the BIOS trying to boot the FAT32 partition directly?
This is my (fairly simplistic & probably naive) understanding of my system:
The installation of GRUB2 modifies the MBR so it boots from
I am guessing that it is the MBR that has the details of which partition to boot initially, and it's default is probably disk 0, partition 0. So if the MBR is altered so it is the Linux partition being booted, then the FAT partitions become irrelevant, as does the order of them on the disk. Although, I think they do have to be physical partitions as opposed to logical partitions.
I am unclear on all the nitty-gritty details, but am saying that if one manages to get one Linux OS booted, it shouldn't be that hard to boot another from there.
I am sure you already know that
I am intrigued that your BIOS wouldn't boot FAT32, how about VFAT or whatever Windows uses these days?
@Little Bobby Tables,
If what I said above is right, then you may have to look into installing grub2, or adding extra stuff into your existing boot menu system - hopefully you already have a boot menu. If not, then prefer grub2 - It should be possible to write a bash script to track down which USB port the stick is plugged into. With grub, I am not sure that is possible, unless you always plug it into the same port.
The grub2 on my system was installed along with my Fedora, not sure how to install it manually after the fact - I am sure you will find something via Google.
If you do this, you shouldn't need any type of windows partition on the USB at all.
Another work around ( a bit painful) is to see if you can boot the USB stick from the Boot Options when you first Power On. Although I guess you have probably already tried that.
Any way I hope this has given you some ideas.
Firstly apologies in advance, if I am presenting simplistic ideas to someone who knows much more than me, especially if it turns out that I am wrong. I just think it is important for a dabbler like me to have an accurate ideas of my relative position in the scheme of things.
Yeah, I understood what you said about FAT32. But was that due to the BIOS trying to boot the FAT32 partition directly?
This is my (fairly simplistic & probably naive) understanding of my system:
The installation of GRUB2 modifies the MBR so it boots from
/boot partition on my Disk with the Fedora OS (ext4 fs) on it. Then the GRUB2 menu executes the selected bash script, which boots whatever partition is specified there.I am guessing that it is the MBR that has the details of which partition to boot initially, and it's default is probably disk 0, partition 0. So if the MBR is altered so it is the Linux partition being booted, then the FAT partitions become irrelevant, as does the order of them on the disk. Although, I think they do have to be physical partitions as opposed to logical partitions.
I am unclear on all the nitty-gritty details, but am saying that if one manages to get one Linux OS booted, it shouldn't be that hard to boot another from there.
I am sure you already know that
grub2 is way different to grub. grub has it own limited set of commands, while grub2 uses bash - making it much more powerful.I am intrigued that your BIOS wouldn't boot FAT32, how about VFAT or whatever Windows uses these days?
@Little Bobby Tables,
If what I said above is right, then you may have to look into installing grub2, or adding extra stuff into your existing boot menu system - hopefully you already have a boot menu. If not, then prefer grub2 - It should be possible to write a bash script to track down which USB port the stick is plugged into. With grub, I am not sure that is possible, unless you always plug it into the same port.
The grub2 on my system was installed along with my Fedora, not sure how to install it manually after the fact - I am sure you will find something via Google.
If you do this, you shouldn't need any type of windows partition on the USB at all.
Another work around ( a bit painful) is to see if you can boot the USB stick from the Boot Options when you first Power On. Although I guess you have probably already tried that.
Any way I hope this has given you some ideas.
@TheIdeasMan: i actually got it to work. i put the partition with puppy at the end of the flash drive and made it fat16. your idea might work, but tbh it doesnt bug me what kind of file system i use
@Little Bobby Tables
All right, great that you have it working.
Just for future reference maybe, I would have used the
Anyway, have a great weekend !!
All right, great that you have it working.
Just for future reference maybe, I would have used the
mkfs command in bash, have a gander at the man page for it if you want. I also have in the back of my mind that it is possible to do almost anything with bash .......Anyway, have a great weekend !!
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