[syslinux] Win32 syslinux needs to support mount points, disk numbers or volume names in addition to drive letters

[Robert]

This is just a follow up to the reply (by Gene)to the subject (see subject line) that I initiated earlier.1. It seems to me when talking about replacing the MBR and making a drive bootable by mark one of the partitionsactive(in Windows), disk numbers are the ones that make the most sense. Because a disk number represents the entire disk not just a partition of it. Don’t you think? Any drive letter may just represent a partition of the disk. Volume name is also unique (\\?\Volume{f3421bd0-145d-11e0-9cd0-00270e03f84a}\) and usable. MBR belongs to the disk not partitions; drive letters represents partitions. So disk number is the more qualified than drive letters.. Just  my 2 cents. -Robert On May 7, 2012 12:54 AM, "Robert" <rliu at msn.com> wrote:
>
> As you know, the Linux version of syslinux supports mount points. But for
the Win32 version, it only supports drive letters as in:
>
>    syslinux –ma e:
>
> However, drive letters are not always available, such as drives mounted
to NTFS folders. In order to install syslinux to these drives, future
release of syslinux should support using mount points as the drive spec; or
alternatively, support disk numbers or volume names. Most Windows built in
utilities support mount points (such as format) and it should not be too
hard to implement.

I'd vote mount point only as it fits the current implementation.  Disk
number is useless for multiple partitions.  Volume name is not necessarily
unique.  Volume number could however be conceivable.

> I tried to get around this by backing up the first sector from a USB key
that was formatted as a supper disk (that is, single partition with offset
= 0 and no MBR, just like a floppy disk) and with syslinux successfully
installed; then applying this boot sector to other USBS drives (also copy
the ldlinux.sys to those drives). The drives do not boot.

To be expected based on the contents of the SYSLINUX VBR.  Never copy
ldlinux.sys to make a bootable system.

> Just a suggestion! If you need further info on this, please email me.

With a stated and good use case.  Thanks.

--Gene