Installing openSUSE 10.3 from USB

[birdeboy]

Hi All,

I have been trying to install openSUSE 10.3 from my external USB device (60GB). It has caused many hours of pain lool. I managed to get to the stage where it would begin installing the OS, in other words I had set the time, Windows X system, partitioned my hard drives etc and it would then begin the actual installation of the OS.

An Error would then present itself saying that it could not access the installation media with the actual error expressing that it could not mount my USB device (which was performing the actual installation) as it was already mounted and busy, if I hit the retry or skip button the error does not budge. I tried many different approaches to resolve this issue such as removing the USB device once the installation had loaded into memory, or even removing the USB device before hitting the begin install button. This would produce a different message at the same point during the installation saying that it could not find the installation media but this time the actual error message would display the USB device was missing at the destination it was trying to perform the installation from. Even if i then plugged the USB device back in and hit the retry button it would not budge.

Any Ideas?

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Here are the steps to make my USB an installation media:

1. Download openSUSE DVD ISO to computer, note down the file name for later.
2. Download Syslinux from website.
3. Extract using winRAR files for syslinux to desktop in a folder called syslinux.
4. Open openSUSE ISO with WinRAR and extract bootloader files to folder on desktop called bootloader.

Extract all files under /boot/i386/loader/* to folder bootloader folder on desktop.

5. Delete isolinux.bin and rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg in bootloader folder on desktop.
6. Insert USB device.
7. Use Windows Disk partitioner to partition the USB device into two partitions:

First is an active primary 1GB FAT32 or FAT partition this needs to be FAT32/FAT as the bootloader files will be placed in that partition and it only work with that format.

Format the rest of the USB as NTFS or as much as you need for the ISO as the ISO will be copied to this partition. NTFS is used instead of FAT because in FAT your are limited to a maximum single file size of 3.4GB whereas NTFS the maximum is 3.5TB and generally the latest openSUSE DVD ISO's are bigger than 3.4GB. Make note of name of partition for later.

8. Copy the openSUSE ISO to the NTFS partition.
9. Copy the files within the bootloader folder on the destop to the 1GB FAT/FAT32 partition.
10. Open the command line Start->RUN type in RUN utility cmd.
11. Change to correct drive (for example for C: drive. Type C: at the command line prompt.)
12. In the command line prompt navigate to the syslinux folder on the desktop cd Documents and Settings\<USER>\Desktop\syslinux\win32.
13. Execute the following executable file with X being the drive label assigned to the USB device: syslinux.exe -f X:
14. Remove the USB device.
15. Ensure that the computer or laptop you want to do the install on has its bios set to boot USB.
16. Insert USB device on computer you want to do install on.
17. On boot enter BIOS setup.
18. Configure BIOS to boot from USB.
19. Select 'Save & Exit' Option, type Y and hit enter which will exit the BIOS and reboot the computer.
20. This should now boot the USB device.
21. This will load an installation menu.
22. Type Linux and hit enter to begin install.
23. The install will display a message saying 'Could not find openSUSE Repository. Activating manual setup program.' Click 'OK'.
24. 'Select the language' dialogue will pop up select 'English'. Click OK.
25. 'Select a Keyboard map' dialogue will pop up select 'English (UK)' and Click OK.
26. 'Main Menu' dialogue will appear select 'Start Installation or System' option and Click OK.
27. At 'Start Installation or System' menu select 'Start Installation or Update' option and Click OK.
28. At 'Choose the source medium' menu select Hard Disk option and click OK.
29. Now on the 'Choose the hard disk partition' select the NTFS partition with the Linux ISO on which you noted the name down for as this will help you identify the correct partition and Click OK.

As we had copied the openSUSE ISO to the root of the NTFS partition just enter '/<ISONAME>.iso' and click OK, with the <ISONAME> as the name of the Linux ISO file name we noted down earlier.

30. Loading install dialogue with progress bar will appear.
31. If 'No new Driver Updates found' dialogue appears just Click OK.
32. This will begin the installation and the Graphical installation Wizard will present itself.
33. Follow the installation wizard instructions to install the OS and there you have it.

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If that was only the case. If any one has any solutions to resolve the error I am getting I will be extremely grateful.

As I was unable to get any further I decided on another strategy which was to create an extra partition on the computer I wanted to perform the installation on and copy the ISO to that partition. I could then boot from my USB device and point the syslinux bootloader (from the USB device) at that computers partition instead of the ISO on USB device itself as before and install from there. This worked and I now have openSUSE 10.3 installed on my computer, only problem is that when I restarted my computer it would not load up openSUSE it would display some error messages about the MBR (don’t know off the top of my head).

So i though i would try and boot it from the USB device that I originally wanted to perform the whole installation from, but it just brings up an error message:

grub loading error 15. Please wait...

Any Ideas on cause and resolution?

If anybody can provide resolutions for both problems described:
-- Performing whole install from USB.
-- Installed Linux from Hard drive now cant boot Linux.

I apologise if this seems like an essay as a lot has taken place .

I hope it makes sense as well looooool

[birdeboy]

The following are the message I recieve from my computer when trying to boot openSUSE 10.3:

-- Boot PC normally I recieve the following errors:

Verifying DMI Pool Data....
MBR Error 3

MBR Error 1
Press any key to boot from floppy

-- Boot PC using USB device (60GB) and ensuring USB is first device to be booted by BIOS, I now recieve an error:

GRUB loading, stage 1.5.

GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 15

I dont quite understand why the error is occuring with booting from USB as it shouldnt matter if linux has been installed on the PC or not it should still boot as usual I would have thought. Plus my Damn Small Linux (DSL) on my 1GB USB Stick boots into memory on the PC without a problem.

Any help you can provide would be great as this is becoming frustrating.