Installing Fedora 10 with grub4dos

[voldenet]

I wanted to install Fedora 10 without need of using optical drive.

I downloaded following files:
Fedora 10 live CD
Grub4dos (grldr)

added

C:\grldr="Start GRUB4DOS"

into my boot.ini file
and created menu.lst file:

color black/cyan yellow/cyan
timeout 10
default /default

title fedora10
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /F10.iso
map /F10.iso (hd32)
map --hook
root (hd32)
chainloader --force /isolinux/isolinux.bin
boot

Now there is a problem with following error:

-----------
WARNING: Cannot find root file system!
-----------
Create symlink /dev/root and then quit this shell to continue the boot sequence.

Right.

I got /F10.iso on (hd0,4) ntfs partition, which Fedora 10 is unable to mount.

Does anyone know how to resolve this problem?

[XaeroOne]

Hey,

I am interested in doing the same thing. I was searching for some info on it and came across your post

I don't think you can use the iso as it is because it is not supported as mentioned here:
Grub4dos tutorial - Grub4Dos Wiki

what I am trying to do is, I have created a /boot partition in my C: drive and copied the vmlinuz and initrd.img images to it and tried booting, You will also need to copy the LiveOS folder from the iso to the C: drive.

However since my drive is NTFS, the rootfstype=ntfs argument causes problem
Here is my Grub4Dos menu.lst for your reference

default 0
timeout 20

title Fedora Live
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz0 root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=ntfs ro quiet liveimg rhgb
initrd=(hd0,0)/boot/initrd0.img 

title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader  +1

I'm still looking for more info on this. Will keep you posted if there's any luck.
Do let me know if you come across anything helpful

[voldenet]

Done without using any removable media.
1. I installed debian (Say goodbye to Microsoft. Now.)
2. Copied contents of LiveCD disc:

mkdir /CD
mount /Fedora10.iso /CD
cd /CD
cp -rf * /

It's possible to create ext3fs partition and copy data on it without use of linux, but it's not as simple as it should be. ;P

Then I added following lines to /boot/grub/menu.lst (i think it would be also possible on grub4dos menu.lst).

title F10CD
root (hd0,4)
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz0 root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img
boot

You have to know on which partition is debian installed (look at its section in menu.lst).

Remember that there is difference between /dev/hda5 (debian) and /dev/sda5 (fedora).

That's it!

BTW, fedora seems to be unable to mount fat16/32/ntfs partitions, works with iso9660, but grub4dos isn't supporting iso9660, so there might be no other way to install it.

[XaeroOne]

Well I got something similar done as well although I got fedora to boot from the FAT32 parition. Looks like fedora doesn't have ntfs support in the kernel so NTFS doesn't work.

kernel (hd0,0)/liveos/vmlinuz0 root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=vfat ro quiet liveimg rhgb
initrd=(hd0,0)/liveos/initrd0.img

But this doesn't help me boot other distros (like Antix) that keep searching for the cd, it would have been great booting from iso directly was possible.

[voldenet]

Well there is possibility to create iso9660 partition, then use dd to copy contents of disc and chainload a partition. Then add root=/dev/sdaX to kernel options. But i don't know if is that working...

[XaeroOne]

iso9660 partition is highly uncessary, any partition other than ntfs would do for fedora, for other distros like slitaz, grml etc ntfs also works.