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| slackware:usbboot [2006/10/02 20:55] – Some touch-ups to the text. alien | slackware:usbboot [2009/11/27 12:43] – Fixed a typo in an example command, thanks to 'Hence'. alien |
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| ====== Install Slackware using a bootable USB stick ====== | ====== Install Slackware using a bootable USB stick ====== |
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| | <note>Please note that starting with Slackware 12.0 installing from USB stick or from the network (PXE boot) is supported out of the box!\\ You can find the USB bootable image file called ''usbboot.img'' in the **/usb-and-pxe-installers** directory. Also, Slackware contains modified versions of my Wiki pages in that same directory. They are called **README_USB.TXT** and **README_PXE.TXT**.\\ |
| | The remainder of this Wiki article is basically preserved here as a technical reference, but you are no longer required to follow all the instructions below. Check out the Slackware //README//s instead. |
| | </note> |
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| ===== Introduction ===== | ===== Introduction ===== |
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| * Create a DOS formatted image file: <code> | * Create a DOS formatted image file: <code> |
| mkfs.msdos -n USBSLACK -F 16 -C /tmp/slackboot/usbboot.img ${USBIMG) | mkfs.msdos -n USBSLACK -F 16 -C /tmp/slackboot/usbboot.img ${USBIMG} |
| </code> You will notice that we use the switch "''-C''" and the variable ''${USBIMG}'' that we calculated in the previous step. With the ''mkfs.msdos'' commandline like that, we can omit the step where we would use the "''dd''" command to create the file prior to formatting it - ''mkfs.msdos'' will do that for us at no cost.\\ The command also labels the new FAT filesystem with the name //USBSLACK// (the "''-n USBSLACK''" option) but this is not required.\\ The important piece of information that is contained in the command is the fact that this FAT filesystem **must** be a FAT16 filesystem (''-F 16''). It is tempting to use FAT32 but the ''syslinux'' bootloader will fail to make the USB stick bootable if the filesystem is not FAT16.\\ \\ The file ''/tmp/slackboot/usbboot.img'' will eventually be the file to copy to the USB stick. | </code> You will notice that we use the switch "''-C''" and the variable ''${USBIMG}'' that we calculated in the previous step. With the ''mkfs.msdos'' commandline like that, we can omit the step where we would use the "''dd''" command to create the file prior to formatting it - ''mkfs.msdos'' will do that for us at no cost.\\ The command also labels the new FAT filesystem with the name //USBSLACK// (the "''-n USBSLACK''" option) but this is not required.\\ The important piece of information that is contained in the command is the fact that this FAT filesystem **must** be a FAT16 filesystem (''-F 16''). It is tempting to use FAT32 but the ''syslinux'' bootloader will fail to make the USB stick bootable if the filesystem is not FAT16.\\ \\ The file ''/tmp/slackboot/usbboot.img'' will eventually be the file to copy to the USB stick. |
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| FIXME __This part remains to be written__ FIXME | FIXME __This part remains to be written__ FIXME |
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| ===== Restoring a USB stick to its original state ===== | ===== Restoring a USB stick to its original state ===== |
| </code> | </code> |
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| * Then, create a new FAT32 partition on the stick and write a FAT32 filesystem on it (vfat or //type 'b'// in fdisk terminology): <code> | * Then, create a new FAT16 partition (//type '6'// in fdisk terminology) on the stick and write a FAT32 (vfat) filesystem on it: <code> |
| fdisk /dev/sda <<EOF | fdisk /dev/sda <<EOF |
| n | n |
| |
| t | t |
| b | 6 |
| w | w |
| EOF | EOF |
