[syslinux] isohybrid and partition type 0x17

H. Peter Anvin hpa at zytor.com
Mon Apr 15 21:25:43 PDT 2013


On 04/15/2013 08:31 PM, Andres Salomon wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> OLPC's Openfirmware (OFW) implementation chokes when attempting to boot
> an iso created by isohybrid.  The problem is that OFW's ISO-9660
> support expects a partition type of 0x96 (CHRP ISO-9660, according to
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_type).  I see from
> http://git.kernel.org/cgit/boot/syslinux/syslinux.git/commit/utils/isohybrid.in?id=aee4e8fa73571eaca80ad43aa007523cde5d4567
> that the partition type was originally 0x83 (Linux), and was changed to
> 0x17 (hidden IFS) to satisfy windows.
> 
> I'm wondering what's the correct partition type to actually use.  Does
> windows balk if 0x96 is used?  Should OFW be using 0x17, or should
> isohybrid (and debian-installer) be using 0x96 for a partition table
> containing an ISO-9660 filesystem?
> 

OK, once again, is this yet another "OFW" which really means "OLPC OFW"?
 There seem to be quite a few little "cute ideas" in that pile...

The 0x1X are used by Windows as partitions that aren't actually seen,
which keeps Windows from puking on the disc.  I don't remember the exact
way it would puke, but it is probably in the archives.  As far as
testing 0x96 under Windows, that is easy to do; there is even a
command-line option to do so.  If it works I have no objections to
changing the default.

	-hpa


-- 
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel.  I don't speak on their behalf.



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