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    Can I put a Live CD .ISO Image onto the GRUB Bootloader And Boot From it?:D

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by Emor, Oct 16, 2008.

  1. Emor

    Emor Notebook Consultant

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    Is this possible, I REALLY want to do so, since my DVD drive is pretty much... well, y'ah broken, and I always loose pen drives...
    Also, I think it'd be so AWESOME... Having like 60 live CD images... :D. Thanks for any help in advance,
    EMZ=]
     
  2. kuncheesh

    kuncheesh Notebook Evangelist

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    i dont think that it is possible as third party software is required to read the *.iso file. the basic grub or the bash that u get there maynot help in decomposing the iso format. however this is only hypothesis as i havent tried that yet.
     
  3. Emor

    Emor Notebook Consultant

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    I've tried before, but all of the other entries are .img, and have kernal information and stuff... I guess it'd be better if I put it like, 'How do I convert a .iso to a .img so I can boot off it from GRUB'.
    I'm pretty sure it's possible... since, I mean, look at Wubi.
    EMZ=P
     
  4. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    Like kuncheesh said, you would need a 3rd party program to create a virtual optical drive device in order to mount the ISO (CD do use their own standard filesystem). What you're asking for isn't possible unless you wanted grub to boot from a disc in your physical drive, which would be pointless since your BIOS already has that function.
     
  5. Emor

    Emor Notebook Consultant

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    Okay. So how can I make a virtual drive, which I can boot from, or do most do that?
    EMZ=]
     
  6. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    As stated in my first post, running a virtual disc would require that you have an OS already running, so booting from an ISO file using GRUB is not possible.
     
  7. Emor

    Emor Notebook Consultant

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    I thought so... I guess I'll just get Flash Drive :p.
    EMZ=]
     
  8. Francis85

    Francis85 Notebook Enthusiast

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    You could probably create a partition the size of the livecd, and do a dd if=/dev/whatever_cd of=/dev/whatever_drive_partition, and then add that to grub..