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Thread: Bootable CD to chainload ISO from USB?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Beans
    25

    Question Bootable CD to chainload ISO from USB?

    Hello!

    My parents have this aged PC, which is not enabled to boot from USB (there simply is no option in the BIOS). So I had it boot an old live CD of Kubuntu 08.04 64-bit (working OK) ... but I'd rather prefer to install a longterm-support lubuntu 16.04.1 LTS Now the image is bigger than the 700MB empty disk I have, so I was thinking to just make a minimal CD, to chainload the actual ISO from USB...

    Is this possible? How to do it? Is there some howto-guide or an ISO ready to burn to my CD?

    I could also install the Lubuntu Iso to the USB-Pendrive via usb-disk-creator, if this is of any help, I just need the CD to tell the computer to go on booting from USB.

    Thanks
    private_lock

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    SW Forida
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Kubuntu

    Re: Bootable CD to chainload ISO from USB?

    Server install may be better than minimal.
    You can still then add desktop of choice.

    You can use plop on older systems.
    http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html
    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
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka
    Beans
    3,449
    Distro
    Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: Bootable CD to chainload ISO from USB?

    Plop +1

    Or if the computer has a hard drive you might consider installing grub on it.
    Last edited by C.S.Cameron; February 4th, 2017 at 04:17 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Beans
    25

    Re: Bootable CD to chainload ISO from USB?

    Thank you! I got it working ...

    Just to document the steps in a little more detail, should I come back to this later
    - prepare a bootable empty USB-pendrive (don't mount it, everything will be deleted anyway)
    - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/re...ktop-amd64.iso
    - beware, usb-creator-kde is a little spooky, as the progress-window is always there, even right after the start
    - and the progress-window might creep under other windows, so just minimize everything else, if you suspect it might have crashed
    - luckily the LED of the USB-pendrive was still blinking, keeping me from withdrawing it

    - download https://download.plop.at/files/bootm...pbt-5.0.15.zip or newer (*not* PlopKexec or the other new bootmanager project)
    - extract plpbt.iso from the main directory (*not* any of the other iso in deeper directories)
    - you can test the iso in a VirtualBox, to start some chooser menu on a starfield screensaver (though, I could not get VirtualBox to chainload my USB-pendrive ...)
    - burn the plpbt.iso to CD anyway (yes, it is a tiny file of only 544 KiB from February 2015)
    - high-end hardware like my notebook will only boot the CD when put in legacy mode deactivating UEFI support in BIOS (again no luck chainloading my USB-pendrive here)
    - now boot the old computer (pre-UEFI-aera) from CD (to get the starfield-menu again)
    - only now stick the prepared USB-pendrive in
    - select USB with cursor-buttons and press Enter
    - Jippie: Lubuntu is finally starting a life session, ready to install

    Finally a note on the failed experiments: the doc says, USB-hubs are not supported. So besides UEFI, this might also be an issue to explain, why the other two setups did not succeed.

    Thanks again
    private_lock

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