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Thread: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

  1. #1
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    How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Hello to all,


    I am looking for a solution that will allow me to be able to create a USB drive with multiple ISO boot images, and choose anyone I want, say from a GRUB Menu or any menu that can handle the task. I've been to penndrivelinux and also messed with unetbootin, but they don't seem to accomplish exactly what I want. How would I customize a solution like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


    Traxster

  2. #2
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    I thought pendrive had a version and there are several scripts that automate the process. But I prefer to do it myself but I started before scripts became available.
    You just need to partition flash drive and label so auto mount is by label, install grub to flash drive, manually create boot stanza(copy examples & edit slightly for your path) and add as many ISO as flash drive will hold.

    It really is the same as the hard drive version except for the install of grub to the flash drive.
    This will boot an ISO from a hard drive.
    ISO Booting with Grub 2 from Hard drive - drs305
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot
    Examples - you may copy & edit for your path & ISO version
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...OBoot/Examples
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1549847
    Boot ISO from harddrive. To install it would have to be different partition
    [SOLVED] Using grub 2 to boot an iso off hard drive old examples
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1535864

    MultiBoot USB with Grub2 (boot directly from iso files)
    Basically you just install grub2, create a folder for the isos and edit a grub.cfg to loop mount the isos.
    HOWTO: Booting LiveCD ISOs from USB flash drive with Grub2
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1288604
    http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/sh....php?t=1535864
    Install grub2 to USB -general info, note that path for 12.10 and later to flash drive includes your $USER name
    http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/....html#GRUB_USB
    Label partition if grub2 & mount - older version where user not in default mount:
    sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/grub2 /dev/sdb
    How to make a GRUB_II USB
    http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/....html#GRUB_USB
    This was me (fred) and flash drive was MC4GB when mounted as sdb from newer version where user is in mount.
    sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/fred/MC4GB /dev/sdb
    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...tly_From_GRUB2
    Reported to have a few typos? But shows process on one page
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install...-ubuntu-linux/


    These are scripts to install many ISOs. Some that will not loopmount by installing a kernel and boot image.
    MultiBootUSB - Install and boot multiple Linux from Pendrive / Flash drive / USB disk w/grub2
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...shDriveUSBDisk
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1518273
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/
    MultiSystem Another LiveUSB Multiboot French(translate) w/grub2
    http://liveusb.info/dotclear/
    Another: multiboot055.sh
    http://blog.p-mt.net/blog/2009/12/27...oot-usb-stick/
    See yumi for multi-boot versions
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
    Last edited by oldfred; August 25th, 2013 at 07:19 PM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Quote Originally Posted by oldfred View Post
    I thought pendrive had a version and there are several scripts that automate the process. But I prefer to do it myself but I started before scripts became available.
    You just need to partition flash drive and label so auto mount is by label, install grub to flash drive, manually create boot stanza(copy examples & edit slightly for your path) and add as many ISO as flash drive will hold.

    It really is the same as the hard drive version except for the install of grub to the flash drive.
    This will boot an ISO from a hard drive.
    ISO Booting with Grub 2 from Hard drive - drs305
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot
    Examples - you may copy & edit for your path & ISO version
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...OBoot/Examples
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1549847
    Boot ISO from harddrive. To install it would have to be different partition
    [SOLVED] Using grub 2 to boot an iso off hard drive old examples
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1535864

    MultiBoot USB with Grub2 (boot directly from iso files)
    Basically you just install grub2, create a folder for the isos and edit a grub.cfg to loop mount the isos.
    HOWTO: Booting LiveCD ISOs from USB flash drive with Grub2
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1288604
    http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/sh....php?t=1535864
    Install grub2 to USB -general info, note that path for 12.10 and later to flash drive includes your $USER name
    http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/....html#GRUB_USB
    Label partition if grub2 & mount - older version where user not in default mount:
    sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/grub2 /dev/sdb
    How to make a GRUB_II USB
    http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/....html#GRUB_USB
    This was me (fred) and flash drive was MC4GB when mounted as sdb from newer version where user is in mount.
    sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/fred/MC4GB /dev/sdb
    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...tly_From_GRUB2
    Reported to have a few typos? But shows process on one page
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install...-ubuntu-linux/


    These are scripts to install many ISOs. Some that will not loopmount by installing a kernel and boot image.
    MultiBootUSB - Install and boot multiple Linux from Pendrive / Flash drive / USB disk w/grub2
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...shDriveUSBDisk
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1518273
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/
    MultiSystem Another LiveUSB Multiboot French(translate) w/grub2
    http://liveusb.info/dotclear/
    Another: multiboot055.sh
    http://blog.p-mt.net/blog/2009/12/27...oot-usb-stick/
    See yumi for multi-boot versions
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
    Excellent,

    Thanks for the resources, I will look them over, and try to work a solution.


    Traxster

  4. #4
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Quote Originally Posted by oldfred View Post
    Reported to have a few typos? But shows process on one page
    http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install...-ubuntu-linux/

    I attempted to run the commands in the above tutorial and here are the errors I received..

    Code:
    root@xxx:~# mkdir /mnt/USB && mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/USB 
    mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/mnt/USB’: File exists
    and

    "Before proceeding, take note:
    Old versions of grub used --root-directory=/mnt/USB
    while current versions use --boot-directory=/mnt/USB/boot" <-- This is a warning that appears in the tutorial

    I am running Ubuntu 13.04 I tried the command both ways, just in case there was a chance that i might I have an old version of grub, however I still receive the same error.




    Code:
    root@xxx:~# grub-install --force --no-floppy --boot-directory=/mnt/USB/boot /dev/sdd
    Path `/mnt/USB/boot/grub' is not readable by GRUB on boot. Installation is impossible. Aborting.

    I too am getting errors with these commands. Does anyone know how to modify these commands so they work?


    traxster
    Last edited by Traxster; August 27th, 2013 at 10:28 PM.

  5. #5
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    I think they all rely on the label or assume you substitute the label of your USB for USB in command.

    My first example, I had labelled my flash drive's partition as grub2 or a 'grub2' boot partition.
    In my second example I labelled it as MC4GB or my MicroCenter 4GB flash drive.
    I try to label all partitions when I create them with gparted or go back and use Disks (or Disk utility) to add labels. If you do not have labels it may use UUIDs or whatever mount point you manually assign.

    mount

    Shows this now for my flash drive from 12.04.
    /dev/sdb1 on /media/MC4GB type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed ,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush,uhelper=udisks)

    If I do the same from 13.04 it is /media/fred/MC4GB.
    Last edited by oldfred; August 27th, 2013 at 11:56 PM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  6. #6
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    YUMI is my favorite multi ISO booter.

  7. #7
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Quote Originally Posted by VMC View Post
    YUMI is my favorite multi ISO booter.

    Looks good, however, the list does not include all the iso's I want to use, and it requires windows to build. I did look at the article and it does have some good information I can use.

    Thanks for the link

    ***UPDATE***

    I see their is an option to try to use ISO's.

    I would still prefer to do it the manual way, but how hard is it going to be to learn how to input the menu entries? Am I going to have to take apart the ISOs to this?

    Traxster
    Last edited by Traxster; August 28th, 2013 at 06:45 PM.

  8. #8
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Actually, I made a mistake. I use to use YUMI, and was looking for what I replaced it with and thought it was YUMI, but its not.
    I couldn't find the exact program, but I found a great replacement if you have Windows. Its called RMPrepUSB. The only reason I'm mentioning it, is it has a great feature. QEMU is built in, so you can test you USB device before you reboot. In the past, sometimes I make mistakes, and it takes several re-tries to get it right. QEMU booted the virtual device right before my eyes.

    That aside, what I used it for was to load grub4dos as the boot loader, and menu.list to point to my ISOs. It works exactly as the one I use to have, and building it yourself is easy.

    The only thing the program that I can't find had, was the ability to drop your ISOs into a gui and it did the work for you. But there are payoffs. It had some odd menuing system that I managed to remove - Along with its name
    Last edited by VMC; August 28th, 2013 at 10:49 PM.

  9. #9
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive

    Most of the ISO that we usually boot have sample entries in the link on the hard drive boot of ISO. And a few will not boot directly from ISO no matter what.

    Some change a lot from one version to the next, and I do open ISO with Archive Manager and check what boot parameters it uses. And sometimes file or paths change and have to be updated. One version of Ubuntu used a .efi even for the BIOS boot version.

    Best to start with one known like Ubuntu and make sure path & settings work and build from that. Example from mine below. I have an iso folder in my /boot where grub exists so that is my path. I also have nVidia and have to have nomodeset as a parameter to boot.

    Code:
    set default=0 
    set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
    set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
    set gfxpayload=800x600
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu 13.04" {
    set isofile="/boot/iso/ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso"
    loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile nomodeset 
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
    }
    
    menuentry "Ubuntu 12.04.3 Precise ISO 64bit" {
        set isofile="/boot/iso/ubuntu-12.04.3-desktop-i386.iso"
        loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile 
        linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile nomodeset
        initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
    }
    
    menuentry " " {
    set root= 
    }
    Two corrections added to above. first entry did not have(hd0,1) See posts below.
    And 13.04 & later use vmlinuz.efi for the 64 bit to boot in BIOS or UEFI mode.
    12.04 still uses vmlinuz
    Thanks vmc and Werne for noticing the missing .efi.
    Last edited by oldfred; August 30th, 2013 at 04:22 PM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  10. #10
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    Re: How to boot multiple ISO's into USB Drive


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