[syslinux] Boot fails in a VMware player VM - syslinux 6.03

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

i downloaded
  http://slint.fr/misc/testing/slint64-14.1_syslinux.6.03.iso

Inspection by xorriso-1.3.8:

  xorriso -indev slint64-14.1_syslinux.6.03.iso \
          -report_el_torito plain \
          -report_system_area plain

yields

  El Torito catalog  : 46  1
  El Torito cat path : /isolinux/isolinux.boot
  El Torito images   :   N  Pltf  B   Emul  Ld_seg  Hdpt  Ldsiz         LBA
  El Torito boot img :   1  BIOS  y   none  0x0000  0x00      4       22645
  El Torito boot img :   2  UEFI  y   none  0x0000  0x00  24856          47
  El Torito img path :   1  /isolinux/isolinux.bin
  El Torito img opts :   1  boot-info-table isohybrid-suitable
  El Torito img path :   2  /isolinux/efiboot.img
  xorriso : NOTE : No System Area was loaded

There is neither MBR nor GPT. So booting from USB-stick or other
hard-disk-like device would demand that the UEFI implementation
understands ISO 9660 and knows where to look for efiboot.img.

If presented as (pseudo-)CD-ROM, /isolinux/efiboot.img should
be found and interpreted by UEFI.
Here it probably fails with the known inability of ISOLINUX to
boot via UEFI.

All UEFI capable ISOs known to me use a GRUB2 produced FAT image
file as UEFI boot image. E.g. debian-7.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso :

  El Torito catalog  : 847  1
  El Torito cat path : /isolinux/boot.cat
  El Torito images   :   N  Pltf  B   Emul  Ld_seg  Hdpt  Ldsiz         LBA
  El Torito boot img :   1  BIOS  y   none  0x0000  0x00      4        1072
  El Torito boot img :   2  UEFI  y   none  0x0000  0x00    896         848
  El Torito img path :   1  /isolinux/isolinux.bin
  El Torito img opts :   1  boot-info-table isohybrid-suitable
  El Torito img path :   2  /boot/grub/efi.img
  System area options: 0x00000102
  System area summary: MBR isohybrid cyl-align-on GPT APM
  ISO image size/512 : 454656
  Partition offset   : 0
  MBR heads per cyl  : 64
  MBR secs per head  : 32
  MBR partition table:   N Status  Type        Start       Blocks
  MBR partition      :   1   0x80  0x00            0       454656
  MBR partition      :   2   0x00  0xef         3392          896
  MBR partition path :   2  /boot/grub/efi.img
  GPT                :   N  Info
  GPT disk GUID      :      b3aadf1d79f37941a9e16e9d465702f1
  GPT entry array    :      12  208  overlapping
  GPT lba range      :      64  454602  454655
  GPT partition name :   1  490053004f00480079006200720069006400
  GPT partname local :   1  ISOHybrid
  GPT partition GUID :   1  b3aadf1d79f37941a9e36e9d465702f1
  GPT type GUID      :   1  a2a0d0ebe5b9334487c068b6b72699c7
  GPT partition flags:   1  0x1000000000000001
  GPT start and size :   1  0  454600
  GPT partition name :   2  490053004f004800790062007200690064003100
  GPT partname local :   2  ISOHybrid1
  GPT partition GUID :   2  b3aadf1d79f37941a9e26e9d465702f1
  GPT type GUID      :   2  a2a0d0ebe5b9334487c068b6b72699c7
  GPT partition flags:   2  0x1000000000000001
  GPT start and size :   2  3392  896
  GPT partition path :   2  /boot/grub/efi.img
  APM                :   N  Info
  APM block size     :      2048
  APM gap fillers    :      0
  APM partition name :   1  EFI
  APM partition type :   1  Apple_HFS
  APM start and size :   1  848  224
  APM partition path :   1  /boot/grub/efi.img

The UEFI boot image /boot/grub/efi.img is advertised by
El Torito for CD, by MBR, GPT, and APM for USB-stick.
So the firmware has a lot of entry points to pick from.
(I believe that the APM equipment is put here in vain.
 It does not harm, nevertheless.)

I cannot tell how the GRUB2 image file was created.
It is done by the ISO production scripts of the distros.
At least with Debian, Ubuntu, Archlinux, and Fedora.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas