Mailing List Archive: Re: Creating a bootable partition on a USB disk with syslinux

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 11:45:54AM +0300, Ian Brown wrote:
> Hello,
> Thanks!
> So the answer given by Ali is not enough:
> >if you can see "ldlinux.sys" file on the disk syslinux did its job
>
> As I understand, seeing "ldlinux.sys" does not yet says that it is bootable.
>
> If I understand right, If it is bootable, than "fdisk -l" must show it
> is bootable (by showing an '*' in the partition entry)
>
> Another answer here said that you install an MBR and mark the partition active
> by syslinux. "rpm -ql syslinux" shows me /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin;
> but I don't know how to
> install an MBR and mark the partition active with syslinux (and if it
> is possible at all).

The MBR is simple:
cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin > /dev/device

Marking the partition as active is also simple:
fdisk /dev/device
a 1 # if we're talking of first partition
w

--
lfr
0/0

Ian Brown wrote:
>
> I know for sure that this is possible from DOS or Win32, according to
> /usr/share/doc/syslinux-3.36/syslinux.doc (I have syslinux-3.36).
>
> It says in that doc:
>
> "Under DOS or Win32, you can install the SYSLINUX MBR with the -m
> option to the SYSLINUX installer, and use the -a option to mark the
> current partition active:
>
> syslinux -ma c:"
>
>
> But I work with Linux, and as I understand, there are no -a and -m options
> from Linux.
> " syslinux -h" gives:
> Usage: syslinux [-sf][-d directory][-o offset] device
>

The reason it's not supported in Linux is that it's a lot more complex
to find the "master device" in Linux, and in some cases (involving disk
images) it is actually impossible.

-hpa

_______________________________________________
SYSLINUX mailing list
Submissions to SYSLINUX@zytor.com
Unsubscribe or set options at:
http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.