[syslinux] Large disk image boot. Any suggestions?

[Nazo]

On 8/20/05, Nazo <nazosan at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/20/05, Gary W. Smith <gary at primeexalia.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> >
> > I am managing 15 separate boot disks with various network disk images.
> > These disk images are used for network installs of Windows OS's.
> > Basically the network boot disk contains dos, the network drive in
> > question and the connection information to the shared server for doing a
> > ghost install.
> >
> > The problem is the 1.44 disk doesn't hold enough space to accomplish the
> > job.  What I really need is a 16mb or 32mb boot disk in order to do what
> > I really want to accomplish.  I have tried using a USB disk formatted
> > with dos and ripped the image from linux but that doesn't seem to work.
> >
> > Does anyone have any good directions for create a 32mb boot disk which
> > boots to dos?  Anyone already have one and willing to share it?  Also,
> > what would my PXE boot configuration look like?
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Gary Wayne Smith
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't memdisk supposed to support using
> a harddisk image?  Normally after the image filename you're supposed
> to say "harddisk" or "floppy" if the image is of a non-standard size,
> but, as I understand it, it's supposed to just assume harddrive if
> it's any size but a standard floppy (which means you really only have
> to tell it anything if you have a floppy image that discarded empty
> sectors to make the image smaller.)
> 
> That said, on the subject of 1.44MB not being enough, you are aware
> that memdisk can work with the standard for 2.88MB floppies as well?
> Since that's an official standard, it means the system will still
> treat it as an official standard floppy drive once booted.  This has
> some compatibility advantages and the fact that it's annoying to have
> your real harddrive letters pushed up by one (at least, for me, but,
> I'm probably among the very few here still using FAT32 for all Windows
> partitions.)  If you use software that can work with disk images, you
> can even just switch the format with a good image editing software
> (well, I have WinImage, but, there's probably a good free thing that
> can do this.)  You can then inject more files with the image editor or
> mount the floppy (in windows VFD can do this for free) and work with
> the files directly.
> 
> Of course, if you need 16 or 32MB, harddrive image is the way to go.
> Mind you, sometimes you can just set up the floppy with a cd-rom
> driver if booting from a CD, or, in the case of my flashdrive, I find
> that I'm able to access it as drive C: without drivers after booting a
> floppy image from it.  Ensure that you don't have an easy solution
> like this before doing it the hard way.
> 
> I think the simplest way to make a hd image would be to actually make
> an image of a real partition via WinImage or some other such utility.
> In linux you can create an image without needing another partition,
> but, if you want it to boot a non-linux os it gets a tad trickier to
> copy the boot information to it.  You might have to extract it from
> another disk and put it on there via dd.  There are instructions on
> how to do this sort of thing in the syslinux documation I believe.  In
> the end, once you know and understand how to do it, the linux way is
> easier and better, but, until you know all that, it's much simpler
> just to make an image of something that already exists on a real
> harddrive.
> 
> Just my two cents anyway.  Of course, you can always try Bart's little
> tools, some of them have been a lifesaver for me in the past, so maybe
> something on there could save you some pains.  If that doesn't work,
> then there's always this method.
> 
Heh, oops, just ignore me.  Didn't notice that this topic got
duplicated with an ever so slightly different title...