pcguy Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 Hey there, Well, I am new here. I just have a simple question (I hope). I am using Boot CD Wizard in association with Bart's PE. I also have a burned systemrescuecd-x86-1.0.0.iso and I am trying to create a bootable IMG file so when I select it from the BCDW's menu, the file boots. The first thing I tried was selecting the "Create Image from a Disk" option. This created an "img" file but after I pass it to BCDW, the file doesn't boot. It just hangs. The next option I selected was creating an IMG from a folder. In this case I extracted the ISO and created in img from the file however this didn't work also. The third option I am now using is the "Create IMG from a file or folder->Advanced->Bootable Disk" I am a bit confused here. I select "Make Image Bootable" and then it also asks me to locate the bootable file (which I did). That's it. I don't know what else to do. Below there is Extract Boot Image option. I selected my DVD-DRIVE (D:) and after I select "Save" it creates am "ima" file but it's only 4KB/5KB where the the whole image is about 178MB. My understanding is that *this* the "ima" file is the one that would boot. It is the loading section but how can I combine this with the real IMG file so I can start "System Rescue" CD" from my boot menu. For a reference, here is what I have for BCDW, in the INI file: \sysres.img ; System Rescue CD ; ^ Example of floppy images using This is the one that doesn't work. I think if I do sysres.ima which is the small file, that will boot but will load nothing but I a, not sure. Basically, all I want to achieve is, create a bootable IMG file out of the systemrescue ISO and boot it from BCDW. Please assist me if you can.
pcguy Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 (edited) Here is a screenie... Edited March 12, 2008 by pcguy
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 Isn't the image that Boot CD Wizard and BartPE made already bootable? Just burn it in Write mode. I have no experience of either of those tools and you're probably better off asking for help on forums that deal with them.
pcguy Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 That is bootable indeed. When it boots, I have a custom boot loader (BCDW) on the CD which then launches other images. This is done when the computer starts. If the selected "other" image isn't bootable, it won't work so I think the problem is caused by that but I could be wrong. I will try later today just using the "ima" file and see if it boots.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 So you put bootable images inside a bootable image? That's pretty cool! You should probably get your rescue disc bootable in it's own right before then starting to worry about putting the multiboot menu around it. What do you need in order to get the rescue bit working? Just something that gives you a command prompt?
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Sorry for my late reply. I just came from work. So you put bootable images inside a bootable image? Yes, exactly. I have a few images that already work. These are pre-made by who ever distributes the OS. What I am doing is called a multiboot CD. I have done it in two ways: 1st by using isolinux and 2nd by using BCDW. The problem now is that *I* can't find my own way of creating a bootable img file so that when the boot loader (BCDW or isolinux) reads it, it will be as it read as a bootable CD. All I need to do is convert the "img" file produced by ImgBurn into a bootable "img" unless I am missing something out. What do you need in order to get the rescue bit working? Just something that gives you a command prompt? Not even that, the boot loader is installed on the boot sector of the CD and then by having bootable img or ima or imz files, you can tell the boot loader which img (OS) you want to boot. The whole OS is in a file.
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Ok, the generated BootImage.ima file from the "Extract Boot Image" section almost worked. It started booting BUT it immidiately stopped after it realized it's missing the remaining 178MB of the "img" file. It gave me a checksum error and it quit. So what needs to be done is, somehow incorporate the created "ima" file into the created "img" and then when I pass the "img" file to the bootloader it should work because the boot image "ima" is incorporated within the "img" file. I am not sure if your program can do this.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 You should be adding the normal disc content in the 'Source' box on the left and then adding the *.ima file to the bootable disc tab. i.e. the remaining (as you call it) 178MB goes into the source box. Get the files out of the non booting 178MB iso using something like daemon tools, winrar, 7zip, isobuster etc. Add those to the source box, put the ima in the bootable tab with the correct settings (they go into the log when you extract it) and then build your new iso. Add that new iso to the disc with the boot menu.
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Ok I will try that. I will see how I go. Just for the record: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/cd-roms.html 11.2. How it Works The El Torito standard works by making the CD drive appear, through BIOS calls, to be a normal floppy drive. This way you simply put any floppy size image (exactly 1440k for a 1.44 meg floppy) somewhere in the ISO filesystem. In the headers of the ISO fs you place a pointer to this image. The BIOS will then grab this image from the CD and for all purposes it acts as if it were booting from the floppy drive. This allows a working LILO boot disk, for example, to simply be used as is. Roughly speaking, the first 1.44 (or 2.88 if supported) Mbytes of the CD-ROM contains a floppy-disk image supplied by you. This image is treated like a floppy by the BIOS and booted from. (As a consequence, while booting from this virtual floppy, your original drive A: (/dev/fd0) may not be accessible, but you can try with /dev/fd1).
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 I know el torito, that's what ImgBurn has to write the descriptors for in the file system! It was the booting of other bootable images within the bootable images that interested me! Normally your bios handles the bootable bit but it would only do that for the physical disc, not the images inside it. They must have made some funky program stored within the boot image of the physical disc to do that bit - and that's what I thought was cool.
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Here is what I am about to try. I hope it works. By the way, other people have done this but I got tired of googling and decided to start asking questions. See my screenie below:
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Ok I think I get what's happening. The "ima" file is the boot catalog. It is not a floppy img file. I am totally messed up and my head hurts. I don't think what I am doing is right. There has be an easier way. Using isolinix, it is possible to pass parameters to the 178MB "img" file. I think these parameters tell the loader where to find the boot img file when reading the ".img". I wish I had done OS-level programming....
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 As I mentioned in my above post, when you extract the boot image via the 'Extract Boot Image' option, the program logs everything you need to know in order to fill out the boxes and create a new bootable image with new 'Source' content. If you've only got a 2k file it's obviously not emulating a FDD, it's a custom boot image with 4 sectors that need to be loaded. (each being 512 bytes) I think these parameters tell the loader where to find the boot img file when reading the ".img". I'd expect the menu program to parse the image properly and read the El Torito file descriptor for all the info it needs.
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 I am not sure if I am following you correctly or if I am misunderstanding you and if I do, I am tully sorry, it's been a long day and I have been messing around with this for almost a week now. Here is what I have done. See screenshot. As you can see, it keeps creating 2K files. I just click on the little "Save" icon in "Extract boot image" and this is what I get. Am I missing something?
LIGHTNING UK! Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 That's ok, I really have no idea what you're doing/talking about either! I thought I did but then you post something else and I just think.... why?! Do you actually want the systemrescuecd-x86-1.0.0.iso image on the disc which then becomes an option in your boot menu? If not, what is it's purpose? I just click on the little "Save" icon in "Extract boot image" and this is what I get. Yeah that's right. The bootable bit of that image is not a floppy disc image, it's a custom one. It probably invokes some other file within that image that then does all the hard work. That C:\BootImage.ima is what should go into the 'Boot Image' field on that tab. 'Emulation Type' should be set to None (Custom). Leave 'Developer ID' blank Leave 'Load Segment' on 07C0 Sectors to load should be 4. As you can see, all that info is in the log for you to just copy out. I tried to make this stuff easier! lol
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Do you actually want the systemrescuecd-x86-1.0.0.iso image on the disc which then becomes an option in your boot menu? Exactly that, you have a menu and then you select which img you want to boot but it won't be in ISO format. They are normally in IMG or IMZ or IMA or something else, without an extension. So in the boot menu you have: GParted, System Rescue, PMagic, GAG, memtets86 and you select it and it boots. I think I just found what I am doing wrong. Currently, the only working images I've got are fdboot.img (FreeDOS) and memtestp.img and they are *both* 1.40 MB (size of a floppy) and I have been trying all this time to boot "non-standard" "imgs" wth an option that is design to boos floppy disks only. Doh! No wonder my "img" file's won't boot. Look what I found in the boot menu's config file: \BCDW\dos4bcdw.ima; Volkov Commander ; ^ Example of DOS programs using; \VC\vc.com \ACRONIS\acronis.wbt; Acronis program ; ^ Example of Acronis programs using /isolinux/isolinux.bin; Partition Image (isolinux); ^ Example of isolinux using ; /partimg/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=/partimg/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 rw /isolinux/isolinux.bin; Memtest86 (memdisk) ; ^ Example of memdisk using; /isolinux/memdisk initrd=/Images/memtest.img I have been using: \sysres.img ; System Rescue CD 3 ; ^ Example of floppy images All this time... I will try the other options later today with the standard generated img file.
pcguy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Sorry, code above is messed up. Here it is again: \BCDW\dos4bcdw.ima; Volkov Commander ; ^ Example of DOS programs using; \VC\vc.com \ACRONIS\acronis.wbt; Acronis program ; ^ Example of Acronis programs using /isolinux/isolinux.bin; Partition Image (isolinux); ^ Example of isolinux using ; /partimg/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=/partimg/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 rw /isolinux/isolinux.bin; Memtest86 (memdisk) ; ^ Example of memdisk using ; /isolinux/memdisk initrd=/Images/memtest.img \Images\memtest.img; Memtest86 (BCDW) ; ^ Example of floppy images using So now if I do, /isolinux/isolinux.bin; System Rescue; ^ Example of isolinux using ; /vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=/sysres.img root=/dev/ram0 rw That should most definately may be work using the img files I had before If that fails, I will need to seek professional linux help I will try it later as I am at work atm.
pcguy Posted March 13, 2008 Author Posted March 13, 2008 (edited) Hey, Just for your info, I have almost succeeded. /isolinux.bin; Sys Recue Test6 (isolinux); ^ Example of isolinux using; /vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=/initram.igz root=/dev/ram0 rw /isolinux.bin; Sys Recue Test7 (isolinux); ^ Example of isolinux using; /vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=/sysres.img root=/dev/ram0 rw /isolinux.bin is the linux loader and it launches after you select Sys Rescue and it starts loading up but it then fails, kernel panic etc. The parameters are wrong I think. So what I asked originally from you is baseless and stupid and it doesn't make any sense (now that I know). I do apologize for wasting time. This is how it works: once the isolinix.bin is loaded, it starts loading the rest of the stuff but isolinux.bin is the bootable file that boots once "Sys Rescue" is selected. I am so close. I must do more research and I DO say a big THANK YOU for your responses and the fact that you tried to help. So really thank you for that. Edited March 13, 2008 by pcguy
pcguy Posted March 19, 2008 Author Posted March 19, 2008 I made everything work. I have multiple linux distributions as well as UBCD for DOS starting from one disk - So I can start System Rescue, GParted, Trinity etc and I can also start UBCD for DOS all from one disk. I might release an ISO so other people can download it but I am still experimenting and adding stuff. I will be using isolinux as a boot loader. (I did it with BCDW but I am switching to isolinux)
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