How to edit grub for Win8 + Fatdog64 on USB?

[gary101]

I have a windows 8.1 Box that I am trying to run fat dog 64 on. I have got it to boot but it goes to a Grub screen with a prompt. I presume I will have to manually edit the grub file to point to the installation but would like some advice on the entry to make.

The steps I have taken to get to this point is to download fatdog64 to my 32bit slacko box and dd the iso to /dev/sdb then copied bootia32.efi to the efi/boot directory. the windows uefi shows the USB as bootable but as stated just boots to grub. So any help appreciated.

[Flash]

You have put the Fatdog iso on a USB flash memory, using dd, and Grub on the hard disk drive. Is that correct?

[gary101]

Hi Flash

No, the grub is part of the dd of the ISO to the USB. I used the instructions here:
http://lhpup.org/help/faqs/uefi-flashdrive.html

Except that I used fatdog64-701

Grub cant seem to find the grub.cfg from what I have read. Grub2 is new to me. Last time I used grub it was quite easy to edit menu.lst. Now it seems that the cfg file is handled by scripts from what I have read.

I have followed some steps in an article and used the grub command line to find the files, they are on hd0. Apparently I will need to get booted from the command line and then run update grub. This is from instructions here:
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/7 ... -on-linux/

The file names eg vmlinuz are supposed to auto complete when you use the tab key but unfortunately for me it is just taking me to a new line and the files in the file manager just show vmliniz and initrd.img without versions numbers.

I am guessing that if I knew the version numbers of these files I would then be able to follow the instructions from the link above to get booted.

[gcmartin]

As I remember on a UEFI PC, you merely hit the Enter-key. (or it should timeout).

[gary101]

Thanks for that. Tried again and pressed the enter key but it just brings up a new line of grub prompt.
Went out this morning and bought a usb DVD rewriter, burnt a fatdog64 dvd but it is not showing in the boot options.
I am having to fight this machine every step of the way to get Linux booted but it will be worth it in the end!

[gcmartin]

Thanks for that. Tried again and pressed the enter key but it just brings up a new line of grub prompt.
Went out this morning and bought a usb DVD rewriter, burnt a fatdog64 dvd but it is not showing in the boot options.
I am having to fight this machine every step of the way to get Linux booted but it will be worth it in the end!

Understood.

Try this.
Boot entering the BIOS/UEFI screens. Turn off/disable "Secure Boot". Save and reboot normally using your DVD. BTW, did you check your md5sum to insure it matched the downloaded ISO?

[gary101]

Hi
Thanks for the reply.

First thing I did is turn off secure boot and fast boot optios. There is not an option for legacy (Bios) boot or csm on this machine that I can find.

I have verified the burn of the disk (first on was not good) and went through the reboot with shift procedure and the DVD came up in the boot options, it did not boot however and now won't show up in the boot options again, very strange.

I will give it another go and then have a good think. At the moment I am wondering whether I can manually add the security key to the bios and get around the issue that way, just thinking out loud.

[gcmartin]

... I am wondering whether I can manually add the security key to the bios and get around the issue that way, just thinking out loud.

Yes. Set BIOS to Default, add the FD7xx key, and should work, OOTB, but I haven't done this step in couple years.

There is a write up by @Jamesbond somewhere on his website as I remember.

[gary101]

OK, so I have had the cyclone mini PC for a week now.
I can get mint booted from USB without wifi support and that's about it.
I think for now that I will just use it as a windows machine (at which it is very capable) and look for another similar style of box for Linux.
It is a shame that the uefi options are so restrictive on this box as otherwise it is great for it's size.

[Billtoo]

OK, so I have had the cyclone mini PC for a week now.
I can get mint booted from USB without wifi support and that's about it.
I think for now that I will just use it as a windows machine (at which it is very capable) and look for another similar style of box for Linux.
It is a shame that the uefi options are so restrictive on this box as otherwise it is great for it's size.

Mint supports the wireless adapter in my HP Stream but I'm running
lxpup on an Acer desktop that doesn't have wireless built-in, I'm using an
usb wireless adapter with the Acer:

Linksys WUSB54GC v1 802.11g Adapter [Ralink RT73]

I've used this adapter with many distros, maybe you could find an
inexpensive usb adapter somewhere?

EDIT: I'm dual booting Mint 17.2 and Windows 10 from the hard drive and
booting LxPup from a 32gb flash drive, on my Acer desktop.

[mikeslr]

Hi gary101,

I don't have a computer employing UEFI + Secure boot. But total ignorance has never previously deterred me from giving advice.

Jamesbond and kirk have provided instructions for FatDog64 which may differ from those Tazoc provided for LHPup. You'll find the former here: http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/fa ... -boot.html

You may also find Arch Linux's Wiki on Grub helpful. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB

Hope this helps.

If you find a path thru the barely explored new wilderness of UEFI-Secure-Boot, please post a road-map to assist others.

Thanks,


mikesLr

[gary101]

Thanks fot the tip biltoo, I have forgotten that I hade a stash of mini usb wifi dongles and they work great with the mint on usb. The trouble with mint and ubuntu booting on usb is that it is so slow, so not a long term solution but it will do for now.

I will continue with trying to get puppy booting on this machine as I have come across some new information but I need to check it out first. @mikeslr, I will post if I manage to make any progress. I am hoping to be able to post a how to at some point (fingers crossed)

Cheers guys

[Ted Dog]

there is another idea use an unmodified usb flash ( still using a version of FAT ) its found on my older thread.. Still without computer so using a phone to reply hopefully someone else can post the one where it boots directly from the ISO file using a zip file ( efi directory and grub inside ) that you can unpack with Windows8.1.

[Ted Dog]

oh just saw you used 32bit bootloader for 64bit.. that doesn't work, 64bit can work in most cases with 32bit OS but major hardware UEFI has a bug ( Apple ) that also keeps 64bit EFIloaders from loading 32bit OSes

[gary101]

Hi Ted dog. Thanks for the input.
Thats the route I was looking at,I thought it was the bootloader.
With Ubuntu and mint I have used the bootia32.efi to get up and running. This obviously doesnt work with puppy.
On the fatdo64 iso the efiboot.img file does the same job I presume but for 64 bit?
I have tried renaming bootia.32.efi but it looks like on fatdog the boot process is expecting a .img file.
At the moment I am just looking to see if the bootia.efi can be converted to .img and renamed. Well that's my next experiment, no clue as to whether it will work or not.

[Ted Dog]

let me see if I can find my thread Nd cut paste link.. its hard to do on cell phone but it will make getting a EFI boot loader on a usb easy ( works best wi5h generic factory styoe format.) sorry if typos typing in dark outside watching the meteor shower have a small group of clouds directly overhead so wasting time checking for new updates.prime viewing is suppost to be pre dawn so I have about 4 hrs left.

[Ted Dog]

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=97141

hope that is the right one.. search grub4efi in search box at top of page for more details.

[gary101]

Thanks Ted Dog

I had a quick look at the post andfollowed the link to the download but the file I down loaded was malware (I probably clicked the wrong downlod link, it was very late last night)
So I will reinstall windows on the cyclone and have an in depth read of you post at the weekend.
It does look as though there is some hope there.
It is strange that these boxes work with a 64bit OS but a 32bit bootloader, makes no sense to me lol.[/list]

[Billtoo]

@gary101

Hi, I have an older mini computer (Acer Revo) which has a dual core +
hyperthreading atom processor, 1.6 Ghz + 2gb ram.
It came with 64bit Windows 7 which I've upgraded to 64bit Windows 10,
that took a while but got there.
It's working pretty well, Google Chrome + Kodi running as I write this.

Also have my manual frugal install of LxPup which is on a 32gb USB 3.0
flash drive and has grub4dos as the bootloader.
When I boot the Revo I press F12 which brings up the bios boot menu and
then choose the flash drive, grub4dos boots LxPup.

The Revo only has usb 2.0 ports but a fast usb 3.0 flash drive works
faster plugged into a usb 2.0 port than a usb 2.0 flash drive would so
LxPup boots fairly quickly on the Revo.

I don't know if your mini pc has usb 3.0 ports, if not a usb
3.0 flash drive may speed up booting linux installs, works for me with
LxPup.

[Ted Dog]

Thanks Ted Dog

I had a quick look at the post andfollowed the link to the download but the file I down loaded was malware (I probably clicked the wrong downlod link, it was very late last night)
So I will reinstall windows on the cyclone and have an in depth read of you post at the weekend.
It does look as though there is some hope there.
It is strange that these boxes work with a 64bit OS but a 32bit bootloader, makes no sense to me lol.[/list]

yes need to edit that post for the cleaner link at a puppylinux friendly site, it needs dusting off and some editing for more current iso names. Got some cheap 16G usbs at the back to school bin at wally world ( haven't been in one in years ) but a frugal friend has a way of getting gas there cheaper by buying a giftcard and getting even more discount.