Forum: EasyBoot
Topic: Booting Linux based images
started by: Bunta
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 15 2007,20:31
Well, I was having a huge amount of trouble getting EasyBoot to work with images such as GParted, memtest etc With the new version of GParted it was even harder.

However I have found a way to get it to work and the solution is actually very simple! I created a forum account just to tell you all the answer I found.

I'm sure the same fix could be applied to many Linux based boot images as well so go ahead and try it.

Anyway here are the steps I applied for loading the latest GParted image (0.3.4.8 at the time)

1) < Download > the latest GParted LiveCD iso image
2) Open the image up with UltraISO and choose save Boot file and save to disk1/ezboot/gparted.bif
3) configure your easyboot menu to run the command "bootinfotable;run gparted.bif"
4) Create the iso image without adding the gparted files from the gparted iso to the disk1 folder.
5) After the iso is created open it up with UltraISO
6) Choose File > Properties and tick the check box for "Allow lower case"
7) copy all of the files from the GParted CD into the iso and save it, making sure that all the files save as lowercase.

And thats it, the only problem with it loading was that easyboot would save all the files with uppercase text which wouldn't work.

No need to use BCDW, no need to use memdisk or anything else. Go ahead and give it a try and let me know how you fare. :D
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 15 2007,21:25
Thought I'd add that creating the GParted image in this way allows you to use the full GNU boot menu that you get when loading the GParted iso directly.

This means you can choose any of the options available instead of having to set the boot kernel to one specific type which you do when using the bcdw isolinux/memdisk boot method.
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 16 2007,22:38
OK, I've got another problem with this method.

I tried creating a multi-boot CD with this method to boot the GParted-Clonezilla CD image. However when the clonezilla boot runs it fails because it sees all the files on the CD in lower case format.

Within UltraISO all the files have a mixed case but within the linux boot system it sees them all as lower case. This means that two of the scripts do not run since they have an upper case letter in them.

I've tried editing the file system so that it will run the scripts as lower case but the script that calls them is contained within a squashfs filesystem and cannot be edited (AFAIK)

I've tried saving the iso with all sorts of different file system formats including Joliet (Standard and Extended), Rockridge and UDF but they all appear as lower case when clonezilla boots.

Does anyone know how I can save this ISO image so that the linux file system will see the files in both upper and lower case as they are???
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 18 2007,17:30
OK, I've fixed the new problem.

By selecting the Joliet tick box when creating the iso with EasyBoot the iso would come out with both cases in it.

You then have to open the iso up with UltraISO and select "Allow lower case" in the iso properties and save it again.

This then works perfectly for me.
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 19 2007,16:39
OK, the new fix was a bad idea.

Changing the CD file system in this way made the GParted-Clonezilla image work fine but it caused my Bart PE image to stop working. :(

Back to the drawing board....

ps. it would be easier if the edit function worked for posts...?
Posted by Bunta on Jul. 26 2007,22:59
OK, all fixed now. All I did was to use mkisofs to build the iso image instead of using easyboot using the following command line switches:

mkisofs.exe -iso-level 4 -volid "DiskName" -b loader.bin -J -R -joliet-long -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o "PathToOutputImage.iso" "PathToEasybootSourceFiles"

and make sure you copy the loader.bin file from the ezboot folder into the parent folder with all the source files.
Posted by PHAN on Nov. 11 2007,23:03

(Bunta @ Jul. 16 2007,00:31)
QUOTE
Well, I was having a huge amount of trouble getting EasyBoot to work with images such as GParted, memtest etc With the new version of GParted it was even harder.

However I have found a way to get it to work and the solution is actually very simple! I created a forum account just to tell you all the answer I found.

I'm sure the same fix could be applied to many Linux based boot images as well so go ahead and try it.

Anyway here are the steps I applied for loading the latest GParted image (0.3.4.8 at the time)

1) < Download > the latest GParted LiveCD iso image
2) Open the image up with UltraISO and choose save Boot file and save to disk1/ezboot/gparted.bif
3) configure your easyboot menu to run the command "bootinfotable;run gparted.bif"
4) Create the iso image without adding the gparted files from the gparted iso to the disk1 folder.
5) After the iso is created open it up with UltraISO
6) Choose File > Properties and tick the check box for "Allow lower case"
7) copy all of the files from the GParted CD into the iso and save it, making sure that all the files save as lowercase.

And thats it, the only problem with it loading was that easyboot would save all the files with uppercase text which wouldn't work.

No need to use BCDW, no need to use memdisk or anything else. Go ahead and give it a try and let me know how you fare. :D

Hello, this method doesn't work with me any ideas why not?

Thanks in advance
Posted by billonious on Nov. 13 2007,04:32
i suggest you replacing gparted with parted magic.

The man behind gparted states at the end of his < webpage >:

QUOTE
Parted Magic is the continuation of the GParted LiveCD project that I originated (GParted LiveCD versions greater than 0.3.3 are now the work of LarryT)....


It is an evolution of gparted. I worked both of them and i can say that parted magic is better by far.

Parted Magic works like a charm with easyboot.