can't make a bootable liveusb with livecdtools

[ganlu]

Everything seems fine, but the usb disk can't boot. No error message, just simply can't boot. When I use livecd-iso-to-disk, the process went successfully. I have checked the shasum value of image file, which is cerrect for sure. Anyone help? Thanks.

[ryptyde]

What version of Fedora are you using when running livcd-tools as there was a problem a while back:If you are running Fedora 9 or 10, be sure to install the latest operating system updates to fix a bug that will render Fedora 11 LiveUSB sticks unbootable. You can use a graphical update tool, or run "yum update" as root. this was taken from the fedora livecd wiki. :)

[beaker_]

Partition type might be catching you (compatibility). Format it as Fat, as in Fat16.

[ryptyde]

Partition type might be catching you (compatibility). Format it as Fat, as in Fat16.

You can use FAT32 also if you plan on using a persistent overlay >2GB. :)

[beaker_]

Yeah but some, mostly older, machines wont pull themselves up. FAT16 often boots where FAT32 won't.

[ganlu]

Sorry not to list my configuration firstly, I am running Fedora 11 with the lastest updates, and the format of my usb disk is FAT 32, FAT 16 can't support > 2G partition if I don't make mistake.

[JEO]

Check to make sure that the fat32 partition has the boot flag set "on" (windows calls this making the partition "active"). It's a common reason why a usb won't try to boot. You can set the boot flag on with parted.

[beaker_]

Um FAT supports up to 4G but JEO makes a good point. Also, gparted is a gui to JEO's reccomendation.

[ganlu]

Oh, I have used cfdisk to make sure the partition has been marked "boot", so I guess it's ok, anything could be wrong with livecdtools?

[ganlu]

I forgot to mean I am using a ThinkPad T40.

[JEO]

Since you posted this in Fedora 12 alpha/beta section, I take it you are trying to install that version using a live usb?

You might retry the installation using Fedora 11 live cd image to create your live usb just to see if that boots, which would point to a F12 bug if F11 works.

[ganlu]

Yes, I am tring to install F12 Snap 3, I don't have F11 live image at hand, downloading this takes some time, so I maybe wait a while, thank you.

[JEO]

Since you have F12 snapshot 3 I recommend you try burning it to a cd first, boot the cd and run the livecd-iso-to-disk from the /mnt/live/LiveOS directory. That way you are using the F12 snap 3 tools. Running the F11 script and tools on an F12 cd might be the problem.

[RaiCoss]

I made my LiveUSB with this;


dd if=kde-x86_64-20091002.15.iso of=/dev/sdb

[ganlu]

Tried, Grub boot showed, then got a kernel panic, a little better than nothing happens. Wait for the beta release, thanks everyone.

[JEO]

Just for fun I tried the method that I put in post #13 because I just happened to have snapshot 3 and it worked (on a 4GB fat32 formatted usb flash drive).

[Jongi]

is your BIOS set to boot from USB first?

[ganlu]

Sure. I will try again when beta releases.

[giulix]

Partition type might be catching you (compatibility). Format it as Fat, as in Fat16.

I did the following: Created a FAT16 boot partition and one additional primary FAT32 one. The problem is that now windoze only mounts the first partition (FAT16) and not the second one, whilst Linux mounts both. Anyone knows why (I know this is not a windoze forum, but I am not going to enlist for such a negligible glitch)?

[beaker_]

Use a single vfat (fat32) partition if you can. I use fat because of a couple problematic machines. If you're stuck with fat, then an extended partition might be the cure.

[giulix]

Thank you! I tried that, but no dice. Looks like windoze doesn't support multiple partitions on a removable media (http://www.lancelhoff.com/multi-partition-a-usb-flash-drive-in-windows) (lancelhoff.com). I tried the solution described there, but it seems my USB stick does not support flipping the removable bit. The funny thing is that the disk management application recognizes the additional partition and suggests to reboot for it to be mounted... over and over. Well, enough of toying and back to more serious operating OSs :D

P.S I can't have one big FAT32 partition, 'cause it seems my laptop supports only booting from a USB FAT16 partition...

[beaker_]

Sounds like you dug deaper than I did. Instead of carrying two sticks, I eventually picked up one of those kingston's with a micro card reader. 2G usb 4G micro but it's not the prettiest route.

[AdamW]

yeah, I always thought that was one of the more spectacularly dumb things about Windows XP.

[AdamW]

did you take a picture of the panic and file a bug?

[giulix]

Who, me? I managed to keep my cool.... :D

[gthill]

This should offer a good solution

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/USBHowTo

[AdamW]

no, that was aimed at someone back on page 1. I should've quoted. :)

[Demz]

no, that was aimed at someone back on page 1. I should've quoted. :)

bad bad Ads, learn to quote man