kof94

I tried what you said to start with but couldn't get it to work. The boot sector just keeps returning something like "Cannot find BOOTMGR". I'm not really a Vista user either, I just keep a copy of the Vista Recovery Disk to fix other peoples PC's so I don't really have anyway of editing the bootmgr. I'll give it another go later and get back to you.

I've been making multi-boot discs for the last three years and apart from Flyakite's guide the bulk of my knowledge has been acquired right here in this forum. Trail and error is the key as well as the ability to search (Google is your friend) and ask specific questions. What I'm trying to say is... if your looking for an detailed guide that just happens to fit your exact needs you'll be waiting a long time.

The only full blown tutorial I know of is Flyakite's guide. It's a bit old now though and focuses mainly on Windows and using CDShell (now discontinued) as the boot loader.

Super-Disc: Multi-Boot Project CD/DVD Using ISOLINUX, A HOWTO and Conversation Linux and Multi-Boot These should get you started

@Israeru Sounds to me like you missed out the .disk hidden directory from the livecd. @killr Ophcrack and BackTrack are both based on slax. There's loads of info about Slax around here so I'll leave you to search. If your using isolinux you wont be able to boot Vista's bootmgr but you do have the choice of using either GRUB4DOS or BCDW instead. I use BCDW as the launcher from isolinux: isolinux label label vista menu label Windows Vista Recovery Console kernel /bcdw/loader.bin append - bcdw.ini [InitOptions] [MenuItems] \boot\bootmgr [MenuOptions] MenuDefault = 0 MenuTimer = 1

Jotnar's post here is also very useful.

Does anyone have any idea how to make apt see the repo on the livecd when you don't have rockridge extensions on the disc? I've replaced the symlinks stable and unstable in /dists with copies of /dists/hardy but still no go. In the past it didn't really bother me (find and dpkg does the trick) but the hardy installer has a little paddy if it can't find the repo now.

There is some info in the docs on the CDShell site about creating modules but when I read it I do remember thinking that it was quite involved.

I think your looking for a modular approach that simply doesn't exist because nothing really works like that. I wish I could explain this better but I think your just going to have to go through the whole trial and error pain before you see what I mean.

Before I start I'd like to point out that CDShell ceased development in 2005 and the version of isolinux contain there in is seriously out of date. Your correct about using the isolinux command but your going to have to write a command for each option in the /isolinux.cfg from Parted Magic and any additional commands for troubleshooting (see F1 help menu or /pmagic/message*.txt). You'll need to take the kernel and append lines from each menu option in the /isolinux.cfg, merge them and append the isolinux boot command from CDShell. Here's an example: * Default boot option from /isolinux.cfg. I've highlighted the kernel and append lines in italic. * Adapted CDShell menu command. The F1 key just serves as an example. Note! You will need to replace the 'livecd' init command with 'multiboot' (as marked in bold) or init will fail. You may want to read my post here as well. Later

Well, for the basics you need the following from the syslinux package: isolinux.bin no emulation boot image memdisk for loading floppy images into RAM vesamenu.c32 graphical menu system (or) menu.c32 basic menu system chain.c32 for booting hard disks You also need a isolinux.cfg configuration file (that you create) in one of the following locations: / /isolinux/ /boot/isolinux/ It's very simple really. I wouldn't get bogged down with having everything in it own folder either. As you build your disc you'll learn about how to hack just about everything to get it to boot and during that process you'll learn to compromise on file and folder locations. So-long-as you know how it all comes together then who cares if no one else does! In fact it's probably better if they don't. Start small, learn how to create a boot menu then move on to adding distro's and apps. It's a pain learning something new but you've just got to pick one thing at a time. You might want to take a look at this topic and I would suggest picking apart some existing distro's that use isolinux and vesamenu.32 or menu.c32. If you get stuck on something specific then post back but you'll learn almost everything through trial and error and reading a lot of docs. I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful but I can't think of any other way to generalise on this subject.

As you requested (in PM) here's a quick guide to adding Parted magic to your disc. Note! I'm assuming your using isolinux for your boot disc. Mount the Parted Magic iso image or use an archiver to extract the contents. # mkdir -p /mnt/iso && mount -o loop -t iso9660 $HOME/pmagic-2.1.iso /mnt/iso Copy 'pmagic' dir to the root of your disc structure (/tmp/build) and copy Parted Magic isolinux.cfg inside it. # mkdir -p /tmp/build && cp -r /mnt/iso/pmagic /tmp/build && cp /mnt/iso/isolinux.cfg /tmp/build/pmagic Edit the Parted Magic isolinux.cfg with your favourite text editor replacing the 'livecd' init commmand with 'multiboot' on each option. # nano /tmp/build/pmagic/isolinux.cfg Default Boot Option: Updated APPEND line: Now add an option your isolinux.cfg or relevant config file to launch the Parted Magic menu. LABEL pmagic MENU LABEL Parted Magic 2.1 KERNEL /pmagic/vesamenu.c32 APPEND /pmagic/isolinux.cfg Done. This isn't the cleanest approach or the most creative but it is the simplest and a lot easier than my original guide all thanks to Pat adding the 'multiboot' init command. Good luck.

That's one of the reasons I always look for a FOSS alternative now. I had a version of my multi-boot disc stolen from my desk at work recently but it doesn't matter because everything on it was FOSS or freeware. I would have liked to have been asked but at least I've done that person a favor by introducing them to Linux (oops wrong forum ).

If you want to make use of multi-casting then you need to setup a DRBL server but if you just want to clone local disks or backup an image to a system on your network then you use the Clonezilla LiveCD! Incidentally Clonezilla implements Partimage, ntfsclone, UDPcast etc for this task. An added bonus with Clonezilla is it can either create a traditional raw copy of the source disk (entire disk) or just clone the used part of the disk which obviously makes your image smaller and the process faster. I know I'm starting to sound like an advert here but I've been using Clonezilla for a while now and I really can't see why anyone would spend out on a commercial piece of software that just provides a pretty Windowsy front end with less functionality. End of rant

Acronis True image is a pain in the a**. I had version 9 working about two years ago but to be honest Clonezilla does just as good a job (if not better). All the info you need is right here in the forum if you really want to get it working though, just search .

Yes and no. K3B is definitely the best burner in the Linux world but I ran in to some annoying limitations which forced me to switch to mkisofs. It doesn't help that genisoimage is broken (joliet I think) in the current version either.

Hi Jet good to see you back posting on the forum I noticed this with RockRidge a while ago but I've never had any probs omiting it from my multi-boot disc. None of the Linux distros I've used have really needed symbolic links on the disc anyway. Here's my mkisofs script if anyones interested. #!/bin/bash ~/mkisofs -o "/tmp/test.iso" -V "test" -J -joliet-long -N -D -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.catalogue ~/test

Thanks but that doesn't work for me and it was the first thing I tried. All I get is a 'Can Not Find BOOTMGR' error! At first I thought it was the filesystem I had specified with mkisofs (Joliet, RockRidge etc) but nothing seams to work. Any ideas?

Has anyone managed to boot Vista's bootmgr from isolinux or indirectly from isolinux? All I'm trying to do is add the Vista Recovery Disk to my current menu! Thanks. Edit: I've managed to quickly develop an indirect approach using CDShell just to load bootmgr. This approach has probably been used before but this does mean I can keep my isolinux setup but load CDShell for specific tasks as and when I need to (without a CDShell menu). I'll write a guide later but I will warn you first there's nothing new here.

Nice work. Edit: (deleted stupid question )

B)

Sorry buddy I completely missed your last question, I'm glad you managed to resolve the issue though. In short, no. Unlike many live systems Debian's casper system seams to be totally hardcoded which means your stuck with only one live distro at a time. This can be a right pain if your a Ubuntu/Debian user and want Clonezilla Live on your multi-boot disc . Thankfully I'm not one of those any more . My suggestion would be to take a look at the alternative, installer only boot CD's for Ed/X/K/Ubuntu. Since these don't have a live system I doubt casper would exist on these disc's so you might be able to work something out with them instead. Apart from that there's always the remaster route or change distro .

I did think of that but since this "bug" was never officially solved I thought it might be prudent to raise this issue again .

This doesn't work either. I've never used the ExtractToPath feature until now but my setup seams to bomb out with the same error unless I launch WPI by clicking WPI.hta. Anyone have any idea?

@Mazin Is there anyway to make your StartCD exit after executing your selection? Thanks. Edit: Nevermind, Resource Hacker told me all I needed to know and more