[syslinux] Booting

[H. Peter Anvin]

Barry Fawthrop wrote:
> 
> Question: Is there a way to click a file or exe, which will cause the 
> machine to reboot pointing to the USB stick (which is already inserted)
> without:
>    (a) effecting or modifing the MBR
>    (b) or the HDD?
> 
> Some hardware
>   (1) Will boot from USB no problems
>   (2) Some you have to change the BIOS order
>   (3) Others don't know what USB booting is  (TO overcome this)
> 
> In sequence in mind:
> Running Windows,
> Insert the USB stick,
> Change to F: (or whatever USB stick is)
> Click a reboot file
> reboot the machine into the USB stick
> Work in the USB environment
> shutdown, removed the USB stick
> boot back into Windows (totally uneffected)
> 
> How is this possible? (I'm willing to write my own reboot.exe if it does 
> not exist already)
> 

It's not possible except with older versions (95/98/ME) of Windows 
(where you could use Loadlin) or by using a virtual machine.

	-hpa