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Initial boot from CD then pass to USB


Iain

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I'm not sure if this is possible:

I have a laptop which is about 4 years old. There's no option within BIOS to boot from a USB memory stick though it will boot from a USB floppy. There is no BIOS update available on the manufacturer's website.

Is it possible to have it boot from CD initially then pass the control to the USB to load the OS from there? I've seen credit card sized mini CDs so one would fit into a wallet easily. Such a small CD wouldn't hold the iso. I've burned the iso to CD and everything works normally.

If it's possible, can I have some key terms that I can research to investigate how to go about creating the bootable CD?

Of course, this might be completely impossible, in which case I might be forced into getting a new laptop (not a bad thing though ;) )

Thanks for your time.

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If it boots from USB floppy, then it shoudl be able to boot from any USB device. You just need to make the device bootable, either with a tool like the HP USB format tool or with Linux. The device will actually need a boot sector, not just dragging files over to it (although some devices only require the files and the ability to see the plugged in key or card upon boot and it will do the rest). Grub4DOS works well on Bootable Formatted USB keys which can then launch Linux or Windows right off the key.

As for bootable CD, two things come to mind. Bootable ISO downloads, ala Live Linux Discs, and two, burn your own using Windows 98 DOS boot files + burner software of your choice. A lot of burner software will create bootable cd's these days, but they often use their own boot image. Nero 6 does this, but if you know where to look, you can replace their files with a windows98 image to make it boot to dos, then launch whatever you want from there, like Grub4dos, etc.

Setups like ubcd4win will help you create bootable ISO's which can then just be burned normally and will allow you to boot from cd.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf...amp;btnG=Search

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Thanks digip.

I know about the HP USB format tool and, since posting earlier today, I've been playing around with UBCD4Win which does exactly what I've been thinking about. I followed the instructions to the letter to create a bootable USB flash drive but it doesn't work. If I use the "Kicker CD" with the UBCD4Win, the USB flash drive loads correctly.

I suppose I'd like to create my own "Kicker CD" so I can, for instance, have BackTrack on the USB flash drive and a mini CD in my wallet so I can boot to it even if the PC or laptop can't boot from USB. I'll look into the suggestions to see if I can get a CD to pass control to the USB.

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Thanks for the link to the UBCD forum. It's clearly possible and whilst the UBCD has a very easy process to create the "Kicker CD", I'd like to "get under the hood" and know exactly the steps to follow to create my own CD from scratch.

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I have UBCD4WIN and Backtrack 2 and 3 on one USB dongle so I can triple boot them all off one key. What I needed to do was format it with the HP tool, but use Win98 boot files, then once in, use Grub4dos to boot each of the three systems when needed. The Win98 DOS files are just to get it to boot a basic system, then grub4dos handles the rest. Once you build the files you want with ubcd4win, I just drag them over to the drive(after properly formatting witht eh win98 boot files), then copy grub4dos and edit the menu.lst file to point to the XP startup files. The same goes for Backtrack, you just point to the kernel with the proper commands and it boots up fine. I'll have to post the menu.lst file one of these days, as other people have asked me for it in the past and I keep forgetting to do it.

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