Boot jessie installation iso with grub2

[Thisesiost]

I have a problem installing Debian Jessie on my laptop with WiFi adapter.

I'm trying to run Debian installation from USB flash drive (don't have CD-ROM), using grub2 boot from ISO feature.

I have these entries in my grub.cfg:

Code: Select all

...
# rsync --progress --checksum {rsync://mirrors.advancedhosters.com,.}/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
set amd64_debian_testing_mini=/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
set amd64_debian_stable_mini=/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
set amd64_debian_stable_netinst=/debian/debian-8.7.1-amd64-netinst.iso
...
menuentry $amd64_debian_stable_netinst {
  loopback loop /boot/iso/$amd64_debian_stable_netinst
  linux    (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz vga=788 --- quiet 
  initrd   (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
}

menuentry $amd64_debian_stable_mini {
  loopback loop /boot/iso/$amd64_debian_stable_mini
  linux    (loop)/linux priority=low vga=788 -- noprompt
  initrd   (loop)/initrd.gz
}

menuentry $amd64_debian_testing_mini {
  loopback loop /boot/iso/$amd64_debian_testing_mini
  linux    (loop)/linux priority=low vga=788 -- noprompt
  initrd   (loop)/initrd.gz
}
...

Option #1 (Stable debian-8.7.1-amd64-netinst.iso) won't work at all, claiming that no valid CD could be detected (which is obvious, as no CD-drive present).

Option #2 (Stable mini.iso) won't allow to use wireless adapter, i.e. it detects the built-in network adapter (which requires some dongle attached in order to use this adapter, which I don't have) and behaves like a built-in WiFi adapter doesn't exist at all.

Option #3 (Testing mini.iso) runs very well until the disk detection step, which fails with error about kernel module mismatch. This is very strange, as this always worked as a charm to me. The recent release must have broken something.


Using boot by `grub2` iso feature is very important to me as there is a bunch of other ISO's on that flash drive and I cannot dedicate the whole drive just to Debian only. What options do I have here?

[TonyT]

Is grub2 installed on the internal drive? Why not just make a custom bootable flash drive with a menu of choices?

[Thisesiost]

Is grub2 installed on the internal drive? Why not just make a custom bootable flash drive with a menu of choices?

It is custom bootable flash drive. I'm using grub2 as a loader, as it is the the only known to me loader which can boot from ISO images.

[peer]

put Stable debian-8.7.1-amd64-netinst.iso to usb with the dd-command in the terminal:

sudo dd if=Stable debian-8.7.1-amd64-netinst.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

- this command should be run from the directory where the iso-file is (otherwise you should addd the path to the iso)
- /dev/sdX points to your usb-drive. Replace sdX with your usb (f.e /dev/sde)

Then you can install debian from your usb.

[TonyT]

Is grub2 installed on the internal drive? Why not just make a custom bootable flash drive with a menu of choices?

It is custom bootable flash drive. I'm using grub2 as a loader, as it is the the only known to me loader which can boot from ISO images.

Lots of other methods to boot multiple distros on a usb stick:
https://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0 ... ux+distros&*