[syslinux] isolinux + windows installation CD

Thu May 25 19:07:37 PDT 2006

One of the things I have struggled with is why extracting the El
Torito sector using geteltorito
(http://freshmeat.net/projects/geteltorito/) doesn't work. Any why
can't I extract the boot sector using dd?

I'm on Unix, so I don't want to switch to a Windows machine just to
extract the boot sector off an ISO image. And I don't want to reinvent
the wheel and figure it all out from first principals - I just want
the most direct way possible.

Then I want to build this damn Windows install disc :)

Regards,

Luke.

On 5/26/06, Nazo <nazosan at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/25/06, Andrey Vul <andrey.vul at gmail.com> wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Use IsoBuster. Extracts bootsectors (floppy, hd, eltorito) without
> > registration.
> >
> > Nazo wrote:
> > > On 5/25/06, Luke Burton <luke at burton.echidna.id.au> wrote:
> > >> Hi all,
> > >>
> > >> I am at the end of my wits, after a day and a half of mucking around
> > >> with this :)
> > >>
> > >> My intention was to take a multi-boot DVD - of the style you get with
> > >> an MSDN subscription - and burn an individual installer to disc.
> > >>
> > >> How to do this? My theory was to take the files for the installation
> > >> CD, add isolinux, add a bootsector, and away I go. Unfortunately it
> > >> doesn't seem this easy.
> > >>
> > >> So I took a step back and said: let's take a standard Win XP ISO image
> > >> that we know works. Let's re-image that to use isolinux to bootstrap
> > >> the standard boot sector. So it's just sandwiching isolinux between
> > >> the BIOS and the regular El Torito boot sector from the CD.
> > >>
> > >> Unfortunately I can't even do that.
> > >>
> > >> My process is as follows:
> > >>
> > >> 1. copy the contents of the ISO to a temporary folder.
> > >> 2. make the isolinux folder.
> > >> 3. copy the isolinux-debug.bin file in.
> > >> 4a. use the geteltorito (google finds it) perl script to strip the
> > >> boot image from the original ISO. Place that in the isolinux folder as
> > >> eltorito.bin.
> > >> 4b. take the magical w2ksect.bin file, also found on google, and put
> > >> that in the isolinux folder.
> > >> 5. create an isolinux.cfg file that looks something like:
> > >>
> > >> label winxp
> > >>         kernel eltorito.bin
> > >>
> > >> label winkernel
> > >>         kernel w2ksect.bin
> > >>
> > >> 6. make the iso using this command:
> > >>
> > >> mkisofs -o ../isotest.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -J -r -N -c
> > >> isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table  .
> > >>
> > >> 7. boot the CD and try both winxp and winkernel - and get nowhere.
> > >>
> > >> I tried many variations on this theme, including using memdisk and the
> > >> bin files as the initial RAM disk.
> > >>
> > >> The exact symptom I get is isolinux loading, a prompt where I type my
> > >> boot option, then a single "." symbol, then isolinux tries to run
> > >> again and complains about a bad checksum - I assume the bin file
> > >> booted part way and left the memory in a bad state.
> > >>
> > >> My assumption was that the boot sector I load would do something
> > >> sensible like go looking for setupldr.bin or ntldr or something.
> > >> Instead it just hangs there.
> > >>
> > >> Also, why can't I make my own boot sector using "dd"? Is it in a
> > >> different place in each ISO image? Or is the El Torito boot sector
> > >> from a Win XP ISO not really something I should be using to do this?
> > >>
> > >> Help! I'm drowning!
> > >>
> > >> Regards,
> > >>
> > >> Luke.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Luke Burton.
> > >>
> > >> Yes, questions. Morphology, longevity, incept dates.
> > >> www.hagus.net
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> SYSLINUX mailing list
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> > >> Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > Ok, bootable Windows installation discs are a pain.  Once I finally
> > > got it right, I have been afraid to change ANYTHING on my "Ultimate
> > > Boot DVD" which includes a XP SP2 installation.  First, you must have
> > > the i386 folder in the root of the disc unless you plan to do some
> > > hacking.  Second, I think you have to have the bootsector from the
> > > correct windows installation.  Strangely, I haven't had any luck
> > > ripping my own from my disc, but, I have had plenty of luck getting
> > > them online.
> > >
> > > First of all, I'm not sure if the filesystem matters, but, it may.
> > > Back when I was running the installer from a DOS bootdisk (you can
> > > just run winnt.exe from DOS to start the installation, but, that
> > > obviously requires a FATxx filesystem and a bootdisk with a CD-ROM
> > > driver) I found that it was REALLY picky about the CD filesystem.  In
> > > particular, it uses Microsoft's system of using a tilde character to
> > > tell the OS that a filename is the short version of a long one, but,
> > > the ISO filesystem seems to not like that tilde character.  As such,
> > > you have to break a few standards to get it working in DOS.  Now, I
> > > don't know if this applies to the bootable installer or not, but, I've
> > > been afraid to change it since I got it working in DOS.  Anyway, here
> > > is my mkisofs command line I use to generate the ISO:
> > >
> > > mkisofs -o ultboot.iso -b isolinux/isolinux-debug.bin -c
> > > isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table
> > > -pad -relaxed-filenames -iso-level 1 -N -disable-deep-relocation
> > > -exclude exclude -exclude EXCLUDE -exclude ultboot.iso -J -preparer
> > > Nazo -sort ./sort.lst ./
> > >
> > > Also, here are the lines I use to start the windows installer via the
> > > isolinux.cfg file:
> > >
> > > LABEL winxp
> > >     MENU LABEL ^Windows XP Pro Installation/Recovery (SP2)
> > >     KERNEL /xpboot.bin
> > >     APPEND -
> > >
> > > I'm not sure if I can give you more details as I got all this working
> > > more than a year ago and have since forgotten some of the absolute
> > > pains I've had to go through to get it rully working, but, if you need
> > > more let me know and I can try to remember more.
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > SYSLINUX mailing list
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> > > Unsubscribe or set options at:
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> > > Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > - --
> > #andreyvul 2006
> > andrey.vul at gmail.com
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> That's the curious thing.  I DID use ISOBuster.  In fact, I have the
> registered version of ISOBuster because I've found it so useful over
> the years.  I never really figured out what I did wrong.  At any rate,
> I had to use one I got off the internet instead of the one on my disc
> when I wanted to create a slipstreamed installation disc.  I just
> reused the old stuff I came up with for that when I later on made the
> "Ultimate Boot DVD" with isolinux, so, in fact, all the stuff I did I
> did probably more like two years ago.
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>

-- 
Luke Burton.

Yes, questions. Morphology, longevity, incept dates.