boot.iso vs. all.img

[martinw]

In Installation Media page on the Wiki, it says

• boot.iso is like a regular ISO you can burn it on an optical disc or dump it on a USB stick (see below) like any of the other Mageia ISOs.
• all.img is an image that you dump on a USB stick using the dd command; this is explained in detail in the next section, just replace the name of the iso with all.img.

I certainly can dump boot.iso onto a USB stick, but on both my desktop and notebook, I can't boot from it. Using all.img does allow me to boot on both machines. So is the above information incorrect? Can anyone explain the difference between boot.iso and all.img? (don't be afraid to get technical!)

[ozky]

Both are used to network install of mageia not use to booting the system,if you want mageia to usb live you need to download mageia livecd iso from mageia website and dump it to usb flash.

[wobo]

No. Both are made to boot the system and run a netinstall as described in the wiki. I did not try the image yet but worked with boot.iso several times.

[martinw]

No. Both are made to boot the system and run a netinstall as described in the wiki. I did not try the image yet but worked with boot.iso several times.

Just to be quite clear, did you get boot.iso working on a USB stick? Did you use 'dd', or another method?

I've had a similar lack of success in creating a bootable USB stick from the Mageia 2 beta 1 ISO, which is why I'm trying to understand the difference between all.img and boot.iso, in case that helps solve the problem. Some poking around shows that both boot.iso and the beta 1 ISO create recognisable partition tables, e.g. for boot.iso

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# fdisk /dev/sdb
...
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1       81919       40959+  17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS


whereas all.img does not:

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# fdisk /dev/sdb
...
This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   ?  3223366781  3470046704   123339962   78  Unknown
/dev/sdb2   ?   432871117  1208554935   387841909+  10  OPUS
/dev/sdb3   ?  1869562563  3788792630   959615034   8b  Unknown
/dev/sdb4   ?  2639790080  2648113151     4161536    a  OS/2 Boot Manager


Note that it's this second one, with the invalid partition table, that actually boots

[dyfi]

Just a point that may be worth mentioning with this thread is that I too had difficulty in creating a bootable device using the dd command. The mistake was to copy to dev sdb1 instead of dev sdb.

[wobo]

Just to be quite clear, did you get boot.iso working on a USB stick? Did you use 'dd', or another method?

Yes and Yes.

I look for the USB device with

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# fdisk -l

which returns all storage devices with all their partitions. There I see something like

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Platte /dev/sdb: 4127 MByte, 4127195136 Byte
64 Köpfe, 32 Sektoren/Spur, 3936 Zylinder, zusammen 8060928 Sektoren
Einheiten = Sektoren von 1 × 512 = 512 Bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6b8b4567

   Gerät  boot.     Anfang        Ende     Blöcke   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           0     7096319     3548160   17  Verst. HPFS/NTFS

Now I know that /dev/sdb is teh USB device. So I do

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dd if=boot.iso of=/dev/sdb

This command does not create several partitions. I writes the boot.iso to the device, not to a partition.

That's all. It boots.

[doktor5000]

Just a point that may be worth mentioning with this thread is that I too had difficulty in creating a bootable device using the dd command. The mistake was to copy to dev sdb1 instead of dev sdb.

Yeah, you should always remember that you need to write to the whole drive (/dev/sdb) not to a partition on that drive (/dev/sdb1) as the image which you write already contains partitions.

[ozky]

That's why there is mandriva seed gui to dd,it's easy to use and you don't need to use konsole/terminal to seed your iso to usb flash.

[martinw]

Now I know that /dev/sdb is teh USB device. So I do

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dd if=boot.iso of=/dev/sdb

This command does not create several partitions. I writes the boot.iso to the device, not to a partition.

Exactly the command I used.

That's all. It boots.

Mine doesn't But

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dd if=all.img of=/dev/sdb

does.

[leuhmanu]

Hi, iirc the boot.iso is not hybrid like the others isos, so indeed dd with this one doe'nt work.

[wobo]

No, it is hybrid as it is said on the website. To be correct I just downloaded boot.iso from /<mirror>/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/x86_64/install/images/ - wrote it to a USB stick with 'dd' and booted my notebook without any problems. Then I took all.img from the same place, 'dd' it to the stick, boot the notebook, works. At first sight I see no difference in behavior, both are hybrid and both are booting.

So, that is the expected behavior and a proof that it works (at least on my machine). If it does not work on a second machine (yours) then there is a reason to be found out - but it is nothing wrong with the boot.iso or the all.img.

[Ken-Bergen]

No, it is hybrid as it is said on the website. To be correct I just downloaded boot.iso from /<mirror>/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/x86_64/install/images/ - wrote it to a USB stick with 'dd' and booted my notebook without any problems. Then I took all.img from the same place, 'dd' it to the stick, boot the notebook, works. At first sight I see no difference in behavior, both are hybrid and both are booting.

I don't believe that to be the case.
The boot.iso being hybrid when dd'ed to a usb stick fools the system into thinking it's a usb attached optical drive.
The all.img on the other hand is meant to go on a usb stick and I doubt it would boot if burnt to a CD. Unfortunately I don't have a working burner to test with.

[wobo]

No, it is hybrid as it is said on the website. To be correct I just downloaded boot.iso from /<mirror>/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/x86_64/install/images/ - wrote it to a USB stick with 'dd' and booted my notebook without any problems. Then I took all.img from the same place, 'dd' it to the stick, boot the notebook, works. At first sight I see no difference in behavior, both are hybrid and both are booting.

I don't believe that to be the case.
The boot.iso being hybrid when dd'ed to a usb stick fools the system into thinking it's a usb attached optical drive.
The all.img on the other hand is meant to go on a usb stick and I doubt it would boot if burnt to a CD. Unfortunately I don't have a working burner to test with.

I can't test that burning thing, you may be right there. My conclusion only stands for USB stick.

[martinw]

The boot.iso being hybrid when dd'ed to a usb stick fools the system into thinking it's a usb attached optical drive.

Unfortunately, none of my three systems are fooled. Looks like I'm going to have to continue burning DVDs.

The all.img on the other hand is meant to go on a usb stick and I doubt it would boot if burnt to a CD. Unfortunately I don't have a working burner to test with.

I doubt it too.

[Ken-Bergen]

The boot.iso being hybrid when dd'ed to a usb stick fools the system into thinking it's a usb attached optical drive.

Unfortunately, none of my three systems are fooled. Looks like I'm going to have to continue burning DVDs.

Why do you say that?
The boot.iso and the all.img do exactly the same thing but one is meant for a CD and the other a USB stick.
As you say that the boot.iso on a USB stick doesn't boot I would think you have a corrupt download. Did you check the md5sum of the iso you're using?