[syslinux] syslinux.exe, on XP, fails to run on a USB stick

[Regid Ichira]

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 03:42:35PM +0200, Regid Ichira wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 01:31:45PM +0100, Bernd Blaauw wrote:
> > Op 17-3-2013 13:10, Regid Ichira schreef:
> > >   I was trying to set up a USB stick with syslinux.exe, on a
> > >XP machine.  Had the following problems:
> > 
> > You're not specifying the following things:
> > * Syslinux version (4.06 ? 5.01?)
> > * if you're running the console window as administrator or not
> > * if the filesystem on the USB stick is FAT/FAT32
> > * if directory '\SYSLINUX' already exists or not (it should)
> > 
> > I'd recommend trying to get syslinux on the device using programs
> > such as RUFUS (rufus dos usb) or RMprepUSB (or Unetbootin, YUMI, or
> > whatever) and verify that that works.
> > Afterwards you could still try to run a syslinux.exe installation command.
> > 
> > Bernd
> 
> * It is 5.01 from kernel.org.
> * I am running the console window as administrator.
> * The filesystem on the USB stick is FAT.
> * \syslinux already exists.  syslinux.exe is in that directory.
> 
> I will look into RUFUS, or the other programs mentioned.


  Before trying RUFUS or the other programs, I decided to format the
USB stick natively.  With what XP offers.  After that, syslinux.exe
run without noticeable errors.  No matter if the stick was formatted
with a fat, or fat32.  Then I realized that prevoiusly, when it
failed, ldlinux.c32 was not put on the stick.  Only ldlinux.sys was.
It is a new stick.  I have wrote only few files into it.  There is a
lot of free space.  

  Turned out this success was not what I wanted to.

  When booting, someone issued a

      boot error

message, and kept waiting.  It could be the BIOS, only that whatever
boot order devices I set it to, that message was there after a reboot.
I had it even though I rebooted with the USB stick disconnected.
Eventually I used Windows media recovery facility.  It iwarned me
there was an unusal boot settings, or something similar.  Both the
USB stick and the hard disk had an MBR.  Was that the problem?  After
I used fixboot, and maybe fixmbr, from Windows recovery media, I no
longer got a boot error, even when the USB was connected.

How should I run syslinux in order to have it installed both on the
HD and USB stick?

On the HD, I am using 

       c:\syslinux\syslinux.exe --active \
                                --directory /syslinux/ --force \
                                --install --mbr c:

When booting, it is working as expected.  Ofcourse there is a
syslinux.cfg involved. How should I run it to have it on e:, without
doing something wrong to its working state on c:?  

  e:\syslinux\syslinux.exe --active \
                           --directory /syslinux/ --force \
                           --install --mbr e:

caused the machine not to boot.  What is wrong with it?