Introduction

This page has been created to allow Ubuntu contributors to provide known, working menuentries for the ISOs of popular Linux and utility discs. General information on creating a GRUB 2 menuentry is provided on the Grub2/ISOBoot page.

If an example of a desired ISO is not listed, the user may be able to determine the proper menuentry commands by comparing the file structure of the ISO with the menuentry commands of ISOs laid out in a similar fashion. Mounting the ISO as detailed in the Exploring_the_ISO_Contents section of the Grub2/ISOBoot guide may help determine the proper entries.

Additionally, the user can search the Internet for menuentry examples or seek advice in forums specializing in the specific OS or utility.

Ubuntu ISOs

The Ubuntu family all contain the same ISO file structure and format. To create a menuentry for an Ubuntu ISO, merely choose a new name in the title line and ensure the set isofile command reflects the exact name of the ISO file to be booted.

Some things to consider when creating and using an Ubuntu ISO:

  • 32-bit ISOs contain -i386 in the title. 64-bit ISOs contain -amd64

    • A 32-bit ISO will run on a 64-bit computer, but a 64-bit ISO will not work on a 32-bit system.
    • Other than the filename, the file structure is the same as far at the GRUB 2 menuentry is concerned.

  • The main files referenced in the menuentry, vmlinuz and initrd.lz, are located in the ISO's casper folder.

  • Ubuntu ISO's can be downloaded from http://www.ubuntu.com/download

Ubuntu Menuentry Examples

Please refer to the ISOBoot page if you have questions regarding the correct paths, formatting and ISO file location designations.

important.png In the following examples, the ISO file is located in the /iso folder of the partition /dev/sda5 alias (hd0,5) in grub. For other location examples, see the loopback line explanation of Grub2/ISOBoot's Menuentry_Details section.

The following menuentries serve as examples only.

  • The ISO file may be located on any partition - update the path information in the menuentry as necessary.

  • Modify the names and version numbers to match your iso files.

Lubuntu 18.04.1 (64-bit) standard (live-only)

menuentry "Lubuntu 18.04.1 Desktop iso - live-only" {
   set isofile="/iso/lubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso"
   loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile
   linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
   initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

Lubuntu 18.04.1 (64-bit) persistent live

When you have a partition with the label casper-rw (or a file with the name casper-rw) containing an ext file system, it will be found during boot and serve as container for persistence. In an internal drive (HDD or SSD) ext4 is recommended. Persistence with a partition will work, when booted via grub and an iso file.

So add the boot option persistent into the 'linux' line: 

menuentry "Lubuntu 18.04.1 Desktop iso - persistent live" {
   set isofile="/iso/lubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso"
   loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile
   linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile persistent noprompt noeject
   initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

Please notice that it should be one line: linux ... noeject but the rendering may wrap the line

You can have two menuentries for the same iso file, one 'live-only' and one 'persistent live'.

Lubuntu Eoan released as 19.10

menuentry "Eoan Desktop iso" {
   set isofile="/iso/eoan-desktop-amd64.iso"
   loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile
   linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
   initrd (loop)/casper/initrd
}

Notice the difference: Eoan alias 19.10 has initrd where 18.04.1 has initrd.lz at the end. If problems, you can loop mount the iso file and search for initrd.

Lubuntu Focal released as 20.04 LTS and booting with grub 2.04

Generally, when booting with '''grub 2.04''' in UEFI mode you need an extra command to remove tpm. 

menuentry "Focal Desktop iso" {
   set isofile="/iso/focal-desktop-amd64.iso"
   rmmod tpm
   loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile
   linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
   initrd (loop)/casper/initrd
}

Other ISO Menuentries

Operating Systems

BackTrack 5

Bootable, but only after modifying the ISO's initrd file.

elementary OS

To install elementary on a machine without a DVD Drive and where you are unable to boot from a USB memory stick but where you do have access to grub. This method should work on any .iso for a release based upon ubuntu

  • Create a bootable image of the current elementary .iso file on a USB memory stick.
  • Ensure that the grub menu is accessible when booting
  • Insert the USB drive and reboot the machine
  • From the grub menu, type a 'c' to use the command line
  • Determine the device name of the USB drive using the ls command, on my ACER S532 laptop it is (hd1), I'll use that in these notes. Explore the contents of of the USB drive, using ls, to verify the paths given in the example commands below.
  • Issue the linux and initrd commands as follows
    • linux (hd1)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper
    • initrd (hd1)/casper/initrd.lz
  • Issue the boot command
    • boot

A menu entry can be created, using the syntax in other entries heree, containing the linux and initrd commands. Do not include the boot command in the menu entry.

Fedora

Fedora 17's ISO can boot via Grub 2, but only after running a script available on the Fedora forums.

Knoppix

Knoppix Live DVD

menuentry "Knoppix 7.0.4 DVD ISO" {

set iso_path="/iso/KNOPPIX_V7.0.4DVD-2012-08-20-EN.iso"

loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$iso_path

echo "Loading linux"

linux (loop)/boot/isolinux/linux bootfrom=/dev/sda1$iso_path acpi=off keyboard=us language-us

echo "Loading minirt"

initrd (loop)/boot/isolinux/minirt.gz

}

Mint

For some example menuentry's for both Ubuntu-based Mint and LMDE, see this online tutorial.

SliTaz

The SliTaz IOS contains 4 initrd images. If the user boots the 4th initrd file the ISO will boot a limited version of SliTaz. There are alternate ISOs which contain a modified initrd file containing all the required images but it is not the standard SliTaz ISO.

Utility Menuentries

Clonezilla

The following menuentry works as of Clonezilla version='2.4.2-10' : details here 

menuentry 'Clonezilla 32-bit (i586, no PAE) ISO' {
  set gfxpayload=text # ~= vga='normal'
  # isofile_abspath is relative to LiveUSB root.
  set isofile_abspath='/ISOs/clonezilla-live-2.4.2-10-i586.iso'
  # isofile_devpath is relative to (and begins with) "/dev"
  set isofile_devpath="${devroot}${isofile_abspath}"
  # "mount" the ISO
  loopback loop "(${root})${isofile_abspath}"
  # Following (single!) line adapted from ISO's menuentry='Clonezilla Live (Failsafe mode)' and
  # from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Multiboot_USB_drive#GParted_Live
  linux '(loop)/live/vmlinuz' boot='live' union='overlay' username='user' config components noswap edd='on' nomodeset nodmraid noeject locales='' keyboard-layouts='' ocs_live_run='ocs-live-general' ocs_live_extra_param='' ocs_live_batch='no' ip='' acpi='off'irqpoll noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nosmp nomodeset nosplash findiso="${isofile_abspath}"
  # start RAMdisk from device=loop
  initrd '(loop)/live/initrd.img'
}

Gparted

The following menuentry works as of GParted version='0.22.0-2' : details here 

menuentry 'GParted 64-bit ISO' {
  set gfxpayload=text # ~= vga='normal'
  # isofile_abspath is relative to LiveUSB root.
  set isofile_abspath='/ISOs/gparted-live-0.22.0-2-amd64.iso'
  # isofile_devpath is relative to (and begins with) '/dev'
  set isofile_devpath="${devroot}${isofile_abspath}"
  # "mount" the ISO
  loopback loop "(${root})${isofile_abspath}"
  # Following (single!) line adapted from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Multiboot_USB_drive#GParted_Live
  linux '(loop)/live/vmlinuz' boot='live' union='overlay' username='user' config components noswap noeject toram='filesystem.squashfs' ip='' nosplash findiso="${isofile_abspath}"
  # start RAMdisk from device=loop
  initrd '(loop)/live/initrd.img'
}

Grub Rescue Remix

http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org

Grub Rescue Remix does not have a graphical interface. cat /root/CheatSheet.txt | less

Note the initrd image filename extension is .gz (initrd.gz)

  • menuentry 'Ubuntu Rescue Remix ISO ' {

    set isofile="/iso/ubuntu-rescue-remix-12-04.iso"

    loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile

    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject

    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz

    }

Parted Magic

http://partedmagic.com

  • menuentry 'Parted Magic ISO ' {

    set isofile="/iso/pmagic_2013_05_01.iso"

    loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile

    linux (loop)/pmagic/bzImage iso_filename=/iso/pmagic_2013_05_01.iso boot=live

    initrd (loop)/pmagic/initrd.img

    }

SystemRescueCD

http://www.sysresccd.org/Download

After booting to the command prompt, type startx for a graphical interface.

important.png The systemrescue ISO file has changed the designation of the 32 bit version. The specific ISO filename in the linux line is still dependent on the system on which the ISO is being run. In the following example, for 64-bit systems, use rescue64; for 32-bit systems, use rescue32

  • menuentry 'System Rescue ISO (64-bit) ' {

    set root=(hd0,5)

    set isofile="/iso/systemrescuecd-x86-3.7.0.iso"

    loopback loop (hd0,5)$isofile

    linux (loop)/isolinux/rescue64 setkmap=us isoloop=$isofile

    initrd (loop)/isolinux/initram.igz

    }

Links

External Links

CategoryBootAndPartition

Grub2/ISOBoot/Examples (last edited 2020-05-05 08:25:08 by nio-wiklund)