Making bootable USB keys

[Samuel Martín Moro]

In fact, we provide the servers and the keys.
So we're sure everything will work.

And also, our install CD is already able to create this kind of USB stick.
It was a former co-worker who did it.
I started mine looking its. But most of used commands haven't exact
equivalent under linux (and I fucking hate sfdisk and counting in
cylinders!)

Here's an example of a generated stick:
h2g2:~# fdisk da0
******* Working on device /dev/da0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=493 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=493 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 11 (0x0b),(DOS or Windows 95 with 32 bit FAT)
    start 63, size 6602652 (3223 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 410/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 6602715, size 1317330 (643 Meg), flag 80 (active)
        beg: cyl 411/ head 0/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 492/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>
h2g2:~#



Samuel Martín Moro
CamTrace
{EPITECH.} tek4



On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 6:31 AM, Fbsd1 <fbsd1 at a1poweruser.com> wrote:

> Samuel Martín Moro wrote:
>
>> Hello
>>
>> I'm having some troubles, trying to create bootable USB keys.
>> I found (freebsd-hackers ML archives) a script, supposed to create the
>> bootable image from my iso file.
>> But, it still don't boot... (I may do it wrong)
>>
>> In details:
>> -We distribute a FreeBSD (4.7, 5.4, 6.2 and 7.2) "custom" server.
>> -We burn our install CD (and, in a few, our USB sticks) on a Ferdora 9
>> (sorry...)
>> -USB sticks must contain a FAT32 partition (we'ld like to provide doc for
>> windows users)
>>
>> Well, my english isn't so great... so I'll post my code (more
>> understandable)
>>
>>
> clip ----
>
> I have same problem with getting a usb stick to boot. After much testing
> with different sticks and PC combinations have come to this conclusion.
>
> When usb hardware first can out they were created for usb 1.0 standard and
> at that same period PC's where using software drivers for usb support and
> the PC's bio's boot selection did not include option to boot from usb disk.
> As usb devices became more popular PC manufactures started adding USB
> firmware to their motherboards for usb 2.0 standard. From my research into
> usb 2.0 it only supports data recording and does not support booting
> function. About 2007 usb 2.2 standard came out and it supports an usb memory
> stick as bootable. In 2008 some manufactures of motherboards added usb 2.2
> standard to their motherboards and bio's selection to boot from memory
> stick.
>
> To be bootable the first file on the the stick has to be the boot image.
>  Haveing a ms fat partition first on the stick will never work unless you
> fill it with an bootable ms/windows or ms/dos system or the same kind of
> setup found on the cdrom1 release cd.
>
> Only usb 2.2 memory sticks are bootable on newer PC's that have usb 2.2
> firmware on their motherboards and matching Bio's with selection for booting
> from usb 2.2 memory sticks. Please note that bio's booting selection for
> booting from USB disk is different than booting selection for booting from
> usb memory stick. I have posted many posts on this list about this subject
> and have not received any posts contrary to the above statement.
>
> The pending 8.0 release has a complete rewrite of the USB code and a new
>  stick.img is being generated as part of the release install distribution's.
> I can dd the 8.0-stick.img file to an 2.0 stick and it never boots, but do
> the same thing to a 2.2 stick and it boots on all 3 of my PC manufactured
> since June 2008.
>
> Final Conclusion: Booting from a USB memory stick successfully is totally
> dependent on using new start-of-the-art hardware.
>
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