Prepare USB Flash Drive

[Michel REYDET]

Hi,

I would like boot whith a USB flash drive.
But I can't active the partition with diskmanager !!!
I selected in Bios "1th drive : USB RMD-DFF"
I copy the XPE image on the USB Flash Drive
During the boot, I obtained "Boot Failure" message.

- How prepare the flash drive ?
- Which of the processes must I choose between "BootRam" and "El-Torrito
CD-Rom" ?

Thks.

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

SDI RAM boot.
And DOS fdisk, format, bootprep are your best bet for making this work.

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Greg Martin]

Solobodan,

How do you get the ARC path for the USB device? I have tried using an
SDI, and I keep getting "could not load SDI image" (or something similar).

Greg Martin.

 

[Michel REYDET]

Hi Slobodan,

Use BootPrep only with DOS.
But when I boot with DOS, I don't see the USB disk drive...

Regards.

 

[Greg Martin]

I think this is a function of the PCs BIOS.

I've had a lot of trouble with this. I finally found a machine that will
allow me to boot to DOS, and see the USB drives (floppy, flash, etc).
Took 8 different machines, before I tried my DELL 8600 laptop

Greg Martin.

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Michel,

If your BIOS can't use it as HDD then you will have to use some third party tool from windows to format disk to be bootable.
Or command line format but you will have to use /T: /N: options to set appropriate disk geometry.

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Could you post your boot.ini?

Regards,
Slobodan

Solobodan,

How do you get the ARC path for the USB device? I have tried using an
SDI, and I keep getting "could not load SDI image" (or something similar).

Greg Martin.

 

[Greg Martin]

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
/rdimageoffset=4096

I also tried:
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi /rdimageoffset=4096
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect

Always the same problem: Can't find SDI image...

Tried two different brands of USB drive, with no luck (Apacer Steno -
boots to DOS as A:, and Sandisk Cruzer Mini 256MB)

Greg

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Greg,

Where did you found usb(0) syntax?

Second parameter is correct so you should use
/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi
Also make sure that /rdimageoffset=4096 value is correct (this is default value and correct in most cases)

BTW: Try preparing disk/BIOS in a way to have partition tables, at least one partition.

Regards,
Slobodan

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
/rdimageoffset=4096

I also tried:
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi /rdimageoffset=4096
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect

Always the same problem: Can't find SDI image...

Tried two different brands of USB drive, with no luck (Apacer Steno -
boots to DOS as A:, and Sandisk Cruzer Mini 256MB)

Greg

Could you post your boot.ini?

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Greg Martin]

I've given up, pretty much. If someone else can get it to work, please
let me know how.

/rdimageoffset=4096 is correct for the image I built.

Disk was prepped using DOS FDISK/Format/bootprep. Partition is active,
and it boots, up until it clears the screen for the first time, then it
dies with the error.

Greg

Hi Greg,

Where did you found usb(0) syntax?

Second parameter is correct so you should use
/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi
Also make sure that /rdimageoffset=4096 value is correct (this is default value and correct in most cases)

BTW: Try preparing disk/BIOS in a way to have partition tables, at least one partition.

Regards,
Slobodan

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
/rdimageoffset=4096

I also tried:
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect /rdpath=usb(0)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi /rdimageoffset=4096
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect
/rdpath=/rdpath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\test.sdi
ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="RAM XPE" /fastdetect

Always the same problem: Can't find SDI image...

Tried two different brands of USB drive, with no luck (Apacer Steno -
boots to DOS as A:, and Sandisk Cruzer Mini 256MB)

Greg

Slobodan Brcin (eMVP) wrote:

Could you post your boot.ini?

Regards,
Slobodan



Solobodan,

How do you get the ARC path for the USB device? I have tried using an
SDI, and I keep getting "could not load SDI image" (or something similar).

Greg Martin.

Slobodan Brcin (eMVP) wrote:


SDI RAM boot.
And DOS fdisk, format, bootprep are your best bet for making this work.

Regards,
Slobodan




Hi,

I would like boot whith a USB flash drive.
But I can't active the partition with diskmanager !!!
I selected in Bios "1th drive : USB RMD-DFF"
I copy the XPE image on the USB Flash Drive
During the boot, I obtained "Boot Failure" message.

- How prepare the flash drive ?
- Which of the processes must I choose between "BootRam" and "El-Torrito
CD-Rom" ?

Thks.