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

[Ady]

>  > In other words, I was only referring to the limitation of Syslinux in
>  > UEFI mode about being able to boot *optical media*. Expressing this
>  > (current) limitation as "[not] able to boot in UEFI and BIOS modes
>  > using Syslinux" is inaccurate.
> 
> Thanks Ady, I appreciate your accuracy and stand corrected.
> 
> However, in my use cases at least (providing installers able to boot in
> in BIOS _and_ UEFI modes) there's no point in providing _hybrid_ images
> relying _only_ on Syslinux as they will be usable _only_ for USB booting
> anyway, in case of UEFI.
> 
> So if I want to "uniformize" the look of the greeting screens I'll have
> to provide "USB only" images, not hybrid ones. Or use grub for both BIOS
> and USB booting, but that's out of scope.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Didier
> _______________________________________________
> Syslinux mailing list
> Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com
> Unsubscribe or set options at:
> http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
> 

Indeed...

For Syslinux (BIOS and EFI) in the .img file:
_ the user understands that it is not for optical media;
_ not for optical media, not even in BIOS/CSM;
_ if the user needs the media / content to be limited to read-only, 
it needs some additional method.

For Syslinux (BIOS and EFI) in the .iso file:
_ the user might assume that the system can boot from optical media 
not only in BIOS mode but also in UEFI mode (sadly, the latter is 
currently untrue);
_ can be used for optical media in BIOS/CSM;
_ can be used from a read-only filesystem, or a writable one.

Realistically, less and less users are using optical media, 
especially on newer computers (which are of course UEFI systems). 
This means that investing resources in Syslinux development with the 
specific goal of achieving bootable optical media in UEFI mode is 
less "productive" than investing resources to achieve other 
improvements / features. I'm not saying it won't happen - possibly by 
adding some other, more-important features, then booting optical 
media in UEFI mode might be also achievable.

Regards,
Ady.