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While this works, I find this method a bit tedious to use, at least compared to Ventoy [0]. Ventoy allows you to create a bootable USB containing any number of

While this works, I find this method a bit tedious to use, at least compared to Ventoy [0]. Ventoy allows you to create a bootable USB containing any number of ISO files just by writing to a partition. It even supports Windows, and has some cool features like overriding Secure Boot on some machines. [0] https://www.ventoy.net/ https://www.ventoy.net/

csdvrx 3y ago
> While this works, I find this method a bit tedious to use, at least compared to Ventoy [0]. No, I find ventoy more tedious, because you can't use it as a standalone on your hard drive with a sane partitioning scheme. The only reason is because of how the ventoy detection hardcodes the partition boundaries in its checks, and it means Ventoy can only run with the partitions set in a way that may lead to alignment issues like write-amplification: I've detailed that in https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/1342 https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/1342 It used to be a warning - now it's a stopping error, causing the boot to hang. I don't like the boot to hang if the partition boundaries are changed. Ideally I'd have a 10G partition after the EFI (or it could even be the EFI itself) with a few ISOs for rescue purposes + a UEFI entry to avoid having to use a bootable USB: automatically booting the ISOs in case the normal UEFI entry has a problem is less tedious that having to find and plug a thumbdrive. I could give Ventoy its own partition wherever, but that's not possible unless I accept Ventoy hardcoded choices of partition boundaries: (pMBR->PartTbl[0].StartSectorId != 2048 || pMBR->PartTbl[1].SectorCount != 65536 || pMBR->PartTbl[1].StartSectorId != pMBR->PartTbl[0].StartSectorId + pMBR->PartTbl[0].SectorCount) If you don't accept this, and want to boot of multiple ISO files by a grub2 bootloader, whether from a thumbdrive or a hard drive, also check the old https://github.com/a1ive/grub2-filemanager https://github.com/a1ive/grub2-filemanager (now archived)
- rgoulter 3y ago
  For just wanting to boot into a live iso.. with Ventoy, the setup is "grab a spare thumbdrive, and install ventoy to that", and adding more live ISOs is just copy pasting to USB mass storage. Compared to that, I think formatting another partition to install ventoy to (in the use case you're outlining), or updating a grub config with code like `loopback loop (hd0,5)`.. for me, these take more effort and care. Though, I'll keep the posted solution in mind if I'm ever wanting to boot from ISOs and I happen to not have a spare thumb drive around.
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    > Compared to that, I think formatting another partition to install ventoy to (in the use case you're outlining), or updating a grub config with code like `loopback loop (hd0,5)`.. for me, these take more effort and care. The other partition with the ISOs is not for when I plan to boot into a newer live ISO (which I would have to add to the partition etc): it's for when I don't plan to, or even want to!! The last time it helped me, I had made a configuration mistake on my laptop in an airport. "grab a spare thumbdrive, and install ventoy to that" would have been very painful, but rebooting and selecting from the UEFI grub2fm to then pick an ISO from which I could fix my mistakes was very easy (or at least, easier than the alternative!) However TBH I I hadn't had such a setup, I don't think I'd have taken the risk of doing some configuration and UKI tweaks at the airport while bored :)
3np 3y ago
After trying various approaches, I settled on Glim. It's basically the same approach as TFA with the same just-mount-and-drop-an-ISO UX of Ventoy. https://github.com/thias/glim https://github.com/thias/glim You'll still have to go through basically the same excercise of the article if you want to boot another dist/iso than the ones it already recognizes.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > You'll still have to go through basically the same excercise There should be a way to automatize that, using Ventoy as a "database" of the recognized isos which could be fed to glim or anything else
Heston 3y ago
I've never been able to get Ventoy to boot a modern windows installation iso, otherwise it's a very handy tool
- justin_oaks 3y ago
  I recently upgraded to using a faster USB stick for Ventoy. For some reason, Windows 10 wouldn't install from my newer, faster USB stick, but would install from my older, slower USB stick. I haven't yet figured out what the problem is. When booting the Windows ISO, the boot process would never progress past the screen showing the blue windows icon on a black background.
  - xprn 3y ago
    Windows uses some weird install process where it needs two partitions for the install media. Basically the whole installation is too big for FAT32 so IIRC the way to have it work is to split the ISO in two having the bootable part on one partition and a lot of the installation content on another. https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB
  - Heston 3y ago
    I wonder if it's related to being a USB 2 stick rather than 3? Different drivers and perhaps UEFI handles it differently
- RealStickman_ 3y ago
  Not sure when they added it, but there's a "wimboot" mode that works for Windows isos. Just used it last week without issue.

csdvrx 3y ago

> While this works, I find this method a bit tedious to use, at least compared to Ventoy [0]. No, I find ventoy more tedious, because you can't use it as a standalone on your hard drive with a sane partitioning scheme. The only reason is because of how the ventoy detection hardcodes the partition boundaries in its checks, and it means Ventoy can only run with the partitions set in a way that may lead to alignment issues like write-amplification: I've detailed that in https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/1342 https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/1342 It used to be a warning - now it's a stopping error, causing the boot to hang. I don't like the boot to hang if the partition boundaries are changed. Ideally I'd have a 10G partition after the EFI (or it could even be the EFI itself) with a few ISOs for rescue purposes + a UEFI entry to avoid having to use a bootable USB: automatically booting the ISOs in case the normal UEFI entry has a problem is less tedious that having to find and plug a thumbdrive. I could give Ventoy its own partition wherever, but that's not possible unless I accept Ventoy hardcoded choices of partition boundaries: (pMBR->PartTbl[0].StartSectorId != 2048 || pMBR->PartTbl[1].SectorCount != 65536 || pMBR->PartTbl[1].StartSectorId != pMBR->PartTbl[0].StartSectorId + pMBR->PartTbl[0].SectorCount) If you don't accept this, and want to boot of multiple ISO files by a grub2 bootloader, whether from a thumbdrive or a hard drive, also check the old https://github.com/a1ive/grub2-filemanager https://github.com/a1ive/grub2-filemanager (now archived)

rgoulter 3y ago
For just wanting to boot into a live iso.. with Ventoy, the setup is "grab a spare thumbdrive, and install ventoy to that", and adding more live ISOs is just copy pasting to USB mass storage. Compared to that, I think formatting another partition to install ventoy to (in the use case you're outlining), or updating a grub config with code like `loopback loop (hd0,5)`.. for me, these take more effort and care. Though, I'll keep the posted solution in mind if I'm ever wanting to boot from ISOs and I happen to not have a spare thumb drive around.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > Compared to that, I think formatting another partition to install ventoy to (in the use case you're outlining), or updating a grub config with code like `loopback loop (hd0,5)`.. for me, these take more effort and care. The other partition with the ISOs is not for when I plan to boot into a newer live ISO (which I would have to add to the partition etc): it's for when I don't plan to, or even want to!! The last time it helped me, I had made a configuration mistake on my laptop in an airport. "grab a spare thumbdrive, and install ventoy to that" would have been very painful, but rebooting and selecting from the UEFI grub2fm to then pick an ISO from which I could fix my mistakes was very easy (or at least, easier than the alternative!) However TBH I I hadn't had such a setup, I don't think I'd have taken the risk of doing some configuration and UKI tweaks at the airport while bored :)

3np 3y ago

After trying various approaches, I settled on Glim. It's basically the same approach as TFA with the same just-mount-and-drop-an-ISO UX of Ventoy. https://github.com/thias/glim https://github.com/thias/glim You'll still have to go through basically the same excercise of the article if you want to boot another dist/iso than the ones it already recognizes.

csdvrx 3y ago
> You'll still have to go through basically the same excercise There should be a way to automatize that, using Ventoy as a "database" of the recognized isos which could be fed to glim or anything else

Heston 3y ago

I've never been able to get Ventoy to boot a modern windows installation iso, otherwise it's a very handy tool

justin_oaks 3y ago
I recently upgraded to using a faster USB stick for Ventoy. For some reason, Windows 10 wouldn't install from my newer, faster USB stick, but would install from my older, slower USB stick. I haven't yet figured out what the problem is. When booting the Windows ISO, the boot process would never progress past the screen showing the blue windows icon on a black background.
- xprn 3y ago
  Windows uses some weird install process where it needs two partitions for the install media. Basically the whole installation is too big for FAT32 so IIRC the way to have it work is to split the ISO in two having the bootable part on one partition and a lot of the installation content on another. https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB
- Heston 3y ago
  I wonder if it's related to being a USB 2 stick rather than 3? Different drivers and perhaps UEFI handles it differently
RealStickman_ 3y ago
Not sure when they added it, but there's a "wimboot" mode that works for Windows isos. Just used it last week without issue.