3 A suite of bootloaders for Linux
5 Copyright 1994-2011 H. Peter Anvin and contributors
7 This program is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public
8 License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. There is no
9 warranty, neither expressed nor implied, to the function of this
10 program. Please see the included file COPYING for details.
12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
14 Syslinux now has a home page at http://syslinux.zytor.com/
16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
18 The Syslinux suite contains the following boot loaders
19 ("derivatives"), for their respective boot media:
21 SYSLINUX - MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem
22 PXELINUX - PXE network booting
23 ISOLINUX - ISO9660 CD-ROM
24 EXTLINUX - Linux ext2/ext3 filesystem
26 For historical reasons, some of the sections in this document applies
27 to the FAT loader (SYSLINUX) only; see pxelinux.txt, isolinux.txt and
28 extlinux.txt for what differs in these versions. The all-caps term
29 "SYSLINUX" generally refers to the FAT loader, whereas "Syslinux"
30 refers to the project as a whole.
32 Help with cleaning up the docs would be greatly appreciated.
37 These are the options common to all versions of Syslinux:
39 -s Safe, slow, stupid; uses simpler code that boots better
41 -r Raid mode. If boot fails, tell the BIOS to boot the next
42 device in the boot sequence (usually the next hard disk)
43 instead of stopping with an error message.
44 This is useful for RAID-1 booting.
46 These are only in the Windows version:
48 -m Mbr; install a bootable MBR sector to the beginning of the
50 -a Active; marks the partition used active (=bootable)
53 ++++ CREATING A BOOTABLE LINUX FLOPPY +++
55 In order to create a bootable Linux floppy using SYSLINUX, prepare a
56 normal MS-DOS formatted floppy. Copy one or more Linux kernel files to
57 it, then execute the DOS command:
59 syslinux [-sfrma][-d directory] a: [bootsecfile]
61 (or whichever drive letter is appropriate; the [] meaning optional.)
63 Use "syslinux.com" (in the dos subdirectory of the distribution) for
64 plain DOS (MS-DOS, DR-DOS, PC-DOS, FreeDOS...) or Win9x/ME.
66 Use "syslinux.exe" (in the win32 subdirectory of the distribution) for
69 Under Linux, execute the command:
71 syslinux [-sfr][-d directory][-o offset] /dev/fd0
73 (or, again, whichever device is the correct one.)
75 This will alter the boot sector on the disk and copy a file named
76 LDLINUX.SYS into its root directory (or a subdirectory, if the -d
79 The -s option, if given, will install a "safe, slow and stupid"
80 version of SYSLINUX. This version may work on some very buggy BIOSes
81 on which SYSLINUX would otherwise fail. If you find a machine on
82 which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please send
83 as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure
86 The -o option is used with a disk image file and specifies the byte
87 offset of the filesystem image in the file.
89 For the DOS and Windows installers, the -m and -a options can be used
90 on hard drives to write a Master Boot Record (MBR), and to mark the
91 specific partition active.
93 If the Shift or Alt keys are held down during boot, or the Caps or Scroll
94 locks are set, Syslinux will display a LILO-style "boot:" prompt. The
95 user can then type a kernel file name followed by any kernel parameters.
96 The Syslinux loader does not need to know about the kernel file in
97 advance; all that is required is that it is a file located in the root
98 directory on the disk.
100 There are two versions of the Linux installer; one in the "mtools"
101 directory which requires no special privilege (other than write
102 permission to the device where you are installing) but requires the
103 mtools program suite to be available, and one in the "linux" directory
104 which requires root privilege.
107 ++++ CONFIGURATION FILE ++++
109 All options here apply to PXELINUX, ISOLINUX and EXTLINUX as well as
110 SYSLINUX unless otherwise noted. See the respective .txt files.
112 All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
113 file called "syslinux.cfg" in the root directory of the boot disk.
115 Starting with version 3.35, the configuration file can also be in
116 either the /boot/syslinux or /syslinux directories (searched in that
117 order.) If that is the case, then all filenames are assumed to be
118 relative to that same directory, unless preceded with a slash or
121 The configuration file is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format,
122 containing one or more of the following items, each on its own line with
123 optional leading whitespace. Case is insensitive for keywords; upper
124 case is used here to indicate that a word should be typed verbatim.
130 Inserts the contents of another file at this point in the
131 configuration file. Files can currently be nested up to 16
132 levels deep, but it is not guaranteed that more than 8 levels
133 will be supported in the future.
135 DEFAULT kernel options...
136 Sets the default command line. If Syslinux boots automatically,
137 it will act just as if the entries after DEFAULT had been typed
138 in at the "boot:" prompt.
140 If no configuration file is present, or no DEFAULT entry is
141 present in the config file, an error message is displayed and
142 the boot: prompt is shown.
145 Selects a specific user interface module (typically menu.c32
146 or vesamenu.c32). The command-line interface treats this as a
147 directive that overrides the DEFAULT and PROMPT directives.
150 Add one or more options to the kernel command line. These are
151 added both for automatic and manual boots. The options are
152 added at the very beginning of the kernel command line,
153 usually permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override
154 them. This is the equivalent of the LILO "append" option.
156 IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
157 The IPAPPEND option is available only on PXELINUX. The
158 flag_val is an OR of the following options:
160 1: indicates that an option of the following format
161 should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
163 ip=<client-ip>:<boot-server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>
165 ... based on the input from the DHCP/BOOTP or PXE boot server.
167 NOTE: The use of this option is no substitute for running a
168 DHCP client in the booted system. Without regular renewals,
169 the lease acquired by the PXE BIOS will expire, making the
170 IP address available for reuse by the DHCP server.
172 2: indicates that an option of the following format
173 should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
175 BOOTIF=<hardware-address-of-boot-interface>
177 ... in dash-separated hexadecimal with leading hardware type
178 (same as for the configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.)
180 This allows an initrd program to determine from which
181 interface the system booted.
183 4: indicates that an option of the following format
184 should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
186 SYSUUID=<system uuid>
188 ... in lower case hexadecimal in the format normally used for
189 UUIDs (same as for the configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.)
194 IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
195 Indicates that if "label" is entered as the kernel to boot,
196 Syslinux should instead boot "image", and the specified APPEND
197 and IPAPPEND options should be used instead of the ones
198 specified in the global section of the file (before the first
199 LABEL command.) The default for "image" is the same as
200 "label", and if no APPEND is given the default is to use the
201 global entry (if any).
203 Starting with version 3.62, the number of LABEL statements is
206 Note that LILO uses the syntax:
211 ... whereas Syslinux uses the syntax:
216 Note: The "kernel" doesn't have to be a Linux kernel; it can
217 be a boot sector or a COMBOOT file (see below.)
219 Since version 3.32 label names are no longer mangled into DOS
220 format (for SYSLINUX.)
222 The following commands are available after a LABEL statement:
224 LINUX image - Linux kernel image (default)
225 BOOT image - Bootstrap program (.bs, .bin)
226 BSS image - BSS image (.bss)
227 PXE image - PXE Network Bootstrap Program (.0)
228 FDIMAGE image - Floppy disk image (.img)
229 COMBOOT image - COMBOOT program (.com, .cbt)
230 COM32 image - COM32 program (.c32)
231 CONFIG image - New configuration file
232 Using one of these keywords instead of KERNEL forces the
233 filetype, regardless of the filename.
235 CONFIG means restart the boot loader using a different
236 configuration file. The configuration file is read, the
237 working directory is changed (if specified via an APPEND), then
238 the configuration file is parsed.
241 Append nothing. APPEND with a single hyphen as argument in a
242 LABEL section can be used to override a global APPEND.
245 Attempt a different local boot method. The special value -1
246 causes the boot loader to report failure to the BIOS, which, on
247 recent BIOSes, should mean that the next boot device in the
248 boot sequence should be activated. Values other than those
249 documented may produce undesired results.
251 On PXELINUX, "type" 0 means perform a normal boot. "type" 4
252 will perform a local boot with the Universal Network Driver
253 Interface (UNDI) driver still resident in memory. Finally,
254 "type" 5 will perform a local boot with the entire PXE
255 stack, including the UNDI driver, still resident in memory.
256 All other values are undefined. If you don't know what the
257 UNDI or PXE stacks are, don't worry -- you don't want them,
260 On ISOLINUX, the "type" specifies the local drive number to
261 boot from; 0x00 is the primary floppy drive and 0x80 is the
265 Starting with version 3.71, an initrd can be specified in a
266 separate statement (INITRD) instead of as part of the APPEND
267 statement; this functionally appends "initrd=initrd_file" to
268 the kernel command line.
270 It supports multiple filenames separated by commas.
271 This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can be composed of
272 multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
273 Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a
274 4K page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.
277 If flag_val is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been
278 explicitly named in a LABEL statement. The default is 1.
280 ALLOWOPTIONS flag_val
281 If flag_val is 0, the user is not allowed to specify any
282 arguments on the kernel command line. The only options
283 recognized are those specified in an APPEND statement. The
287 Indicates how long to wait at the boot: prompt until booting
288 automatically, in units of 1/10 s. The timeout is cancelled as
289 soon as the user types anything on the keyboard, the assumption
290 being that the user will complete the command line already
291 begun. A timeout of zero will disable the timeout completely,
292 this is also the default.
295 Indicates how long to wait until booting automatically, in
296 units of 1/10 s. This timeout is *not* cancelled by user
297 input, and can thus be used to deal with serial port glitches
298 or "the user walked away" type situations. A timeout of zero
299 will disable the timeout completely, this is also the default.
301 Both TIMEOUT and TOTALTIMEOUT can be used together, for
304 # Wait 5 seconds unless the user types something, but
305 # always boot after 15 minutes.
309 ONTIMEOUT kernel options...
310 Sets the command line invoked on a timeout. Normally this is
311 the same thing as invoked by "DEFAULT". If this is specified,
312 then "DEFAULT" is used only if the user presses <Enter> to
315 ONERROR kernel options...
316 If a kernel image is not found (either due to it not existing,
317 or because IMPLICIT is set), run the specified command. The
318 faulty command line is appended to the specified options, so
319 if the ONERROR directive reads as:
323 ... and the command line as entered by the user is:
327 ... Syslinux will execute the following as if entered by the
330 xyzzy plugh foo bar baz
332 SERIAL port [[baudrate] flowcontrol]
333 Enables a serial port to act as the console. "port" is a
334 number (0 = /dev/ttyS0 = COM1, etc.) or an I/O port address
335 (e.g. 0x3F8); if "baudrate" is omitted, the baud rate defaults
336 to 9600 bps. The serial parameters are hardcoded to be 8
337 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
339 "flowcontrol" is a combination of the following bits:
342 0x008 - Enable interrupts
343 0x010 - Wait for CTS assertion
344 0x020 - Wait for DSR assertion
345 0x040 - Wait for RI assertion
346 0x080 - Wait for DCD assertion
347 0x100 - Ignore input unless CTS asserted
348 0x200 - Ignore input unless DSR asserted
349 0x400 - Ignore input unless RI asserted
350 0x800 - Ignore input unless DCD asserted
352 All other bits are reserved.
356 0 - No flow control (default)
357 0x303 - Null modem cable detect
358 0x013 - RTS/CTS flow control
359 0x813 - RTS/CTS flow control, modem input
360 0x023 - DTR/DSR flow control
361 0x083 - DTR/DCD flow control
363 For the SERIAL directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it
364 should be the first directive in the configuration file.
366 NOTE: "port" values from 0 to 3 means the first four serial
367 ports detected by the BIOS. They may or may not correspond to
368 the legacy port values 0x3F8, 0x2F8, 0x3E8, 0x2E8.
370 Enabling interrupts (setting the 0x008 bit) may give better
371 responsiveness without setting the NOHALT option, but could
372 potentially cause problems with buggy BIOSes.
375 If flag_val is 1, don't halt the processor while idle.
376 Halting the processor while idle significantly reduces the
377 power consumption, but can cause poor responsiveness to the
378 serial console, especially when using scripts to drive the
379 serial console, as opposed to human interaction.
382 If flag_val is 0, disable output to the normal video console.
383 If flag_val is 1, enable output to the video console (this is
386 Some BIOSes try to forward this to the serial console and
387 sometimes make a total mess thereof, so this option lets you
388 disable the video console on these systems.
391 Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output
392 (except the copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys
393 itself is loaded.) Syslinux only loads the font onto the
394 video card; if the .psf file contains a Unicode table it is
395 ignored. This only works on EGA and VGA cards; hopefully it
396 should do nothing on others.
399 Install a simple keyboard map. The keyboard remapper used is
400 *very* simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from
401 the BIOS, which means that only the key combinations relevant
402 in the default layout -- usually U.S. English -- can be
403 mapped) but should at least help people with AZERTY keyboard
404 layout and the locations of = and , (two special characters
405 used heavily on the Linux kernel command line.)
407 The included program keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution
408 can be used to create such keymaps. The file keytab-lilo.txt
409 contains the documentation for this program.
412 Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before
413 the boot: prompt, if displayed). Please see the section below
416 NOTE: If the file is missing, this option is simply ignored.
419 Prints the message on the screen.
422 If flag_val is 0, display the boot: prompt only if the Shift or Alt
423 key is pressed, or Caps Lock or Scroll lock is set (this is the
424 default). If flag_val is 1, always display the boot: prompt.
427 If flag_val is set to 1, ignore the Shift/Alt/Caps Lock/Scroll
428 Lock escapes. Use this (together with PROMPT 0) to force the
429 default boot alternative.
432 If flag_val is set to 1, the Tab key does not display labels
442 Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is
443 pressed at the boot: prompt. This can be used to implement
444 pre-boot online help (presumably for the kernel command line
445 options.) Please see the section below on DISPLAY files.
447 When using the serial console, press <Ctrl-F><digit> to get to
448 the help screens, e.g. <Ctrl-F><2> to get to the F2 screen.
449 For F10-F12, hit <Ctrl-F><A>, <Ctrl-F>B, <Ctrl-F>C. For
450 compatibility with earlier versions, F10 can also be entered as
454 Specify a colon-separated (':') list of directories to search
455 when attempting to load modules. This directive is useful for
456 specifying the directories containing the lib*.c32 library
457 files as other modules may be dependent on these files, but
458 may not reside in the same directory.
460 Blank lines are ignored.
462 Note that the configuration file is not completely decoded. Syntax
463 different from the one described above may still work correctly in this
464 version of Syslinux, but may break in a future one.
467 ++++ DISPLAY FILE FORMAT ++++
469 DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX
470 format (with or without <CR>). In addition, the following special codes
473 <FF> <FF> = <Ctrl-L> = ASCII 12
474 Clear the screen, home the cursor. Note that the screen is
475 filled with the current display color.
477 <SI><bg><fg> <SI> = <Ctrl-O> = ASCII 15
478 Set the display colors to the specified background and
479 foreground colors, where <bg> and <fg> are hex digits,
480 corresponding to the standard PC display attributes:
482 0 = black 8 = dark grey
483 1 = dark blue 9 = bright blue
484 2 = dark green a = bright green
485 3 = dark cyan b = bright cyan
486 4 = dark red c = bright red
487 5 = dark purple d = bright purple
489 7 = light grey f = white
491 Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the
492 corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing.
494 Colors are not visible over the serial console.
496 <CAN>filename<newline> <CAN> = <Ctrl-X> = ASCII 24
497 If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display
498 the graphic included in the specified file. The file format
499 is an ad hoc format called LSS16; the included Perl program
500 "ppmtolss16" can be used to produce these images. This Perl
501 program also includes the file format specification.
503 The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode. Once in
504 graphics mode, the display attributes (set by <SI> code
505 sequences) work slightly differently: the background color is
506 ignored, and the foreground colors are the 16 colors specified
507 in the image file. For that reason, ppmtolss16 allows you to
508 specify that certain colors should be assigned to specific
511 Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with
512 care: 0 is the background color, and 7 is the color used for
513 the text printed by Syslinux itself.
515 <EM> <EM> = <Ctrl-Y> = ASCII 25
516 If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode.
518 <DLE>..<ETB> <Ctrl-P>..<Ctrl-W> = ASCII 16-23
519 These codes can be used to select which modes to print a
520 certain part of the message file in. Each of these control
521 characters select a specific set of modes (text screen,
522 graphics screen, serial port) for which the output is actually
525 Character Text Graph Serial
526 ------------------------------------------------------
527 <DLE> = <Ctrl-P> = ASCII 16 No No No
528 <DC1> = <Ctrl-Q> = ASCII 17 Yes No No
529 <DC2> = <Ctrl-R> = ASCII 18 No Yes No
530 <DC3> = <Ctrl-S> = ASCII 19 Yes Yes No
531 <DC4> = <Ctrl-T> = ASCII 20 No No Yes
532 <NAK> = <Ctrl-U> = ASCII 21 Yes No Yes
533 <SYN> = <Ctrl-V> = ASCII 22 No Yes Yes
534 <ETB> = <Ctrl-W> = ASCII 23 Yes Yes Yes
538 <DC1>Text mode<DC2>Graphics mode<DC4>Serial port<ETB>
540 ... will actually print out which mode the console is in!
542 <SUB> <SUB> = <Ctrl-Z> = ASCII 26
543 End of file (DOS convention).
545 <BEL> <BEL> = <Ctrl-G> = ASCII 7
549 ++++ COMMAND LINE KEYSTROKES ++++
551 The command line prompt supports the following keystrokes:
553 <Enter> boot specified command line
554 <BackSpace> erase one character
555 <Ctrl-U> erase the whole line
556 <Ctrl-V> display the current Syslinux version
557 <Ctrl-W> erase one word
558 <Ctrl-X> force text mode
559 <Tab> list matching labels
560 <F1>..<F12> help screens (if configured)
561 <Ctrl-F><digit> equivalent to F1..F10
562 <Ctrl-C> interrupt boot in progress
563 <Esc> interrupt boot in progress
564 <Ctrl-N> display network information (PXELINUX only)
567 ++++ COMBOOT IMAGES AND OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS ++++
569 This version of Syslinux supports chain loading of other operating
570 systems (such as MS-DOS and its derivatives, including Windows 95/98),
571 as well as COMBOOT-style standalone executables (a subset of DOS .COM
572 files; see separate section below.)
574 Chain loading requires the boot sector of the foreign operating system
575 to be stored in a file in the root directory of the filesystem.
576 Because neither Linux kernels, boot sector images, nor COMBOOT files
577 have reliable magic numbers, Syslinux will look at the file extension.
578 The following extensions are recognized (case insensitive):
580 none or other Linux kernel image
581 .0 PXE bootstrap program (NBP) [PXELINUX only]
582 .bin "CD boot sector" [ISOLINUX only]
583 .bs Boot sector [SYSLINUX only]
584 .bss Boot sector, DOS superblock will be patched in [SYSLINUX only]
585 .c32 COM32 image (32-bit COMBOOT)
586 .cbt COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS)
587 .com COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS)
588 .img Disk image [ISOLINUX only]
590 For filenames given on the command line, Syslinux will search for the
591 file by adding extensions in the order listed above if the plain
592 filename is not found. Filenames in KERNEL statements must be fully
595 If this is specified with one of the keywords LINUX, BOOT, BSS,
596 FDIMAGE, COMBOOT, COM32, or CONFIG instead of KERNEL, the filetype is
597 considered to be the one specified regardless of the filename.
600 ++++ BOOTING DOS (OR OTHER SIMILAR OPERATING SYSTEMS) ++++
602 This section applies to SYSLINUX only, not to PXELINUX or ISOLINUX.
603 See isolinux.txt for an equivalent procedure for ISOLINUX.
605 This is the recommended procedure for creating a SYSLINUX disk that
606 can boot either DOS or Linux. This example assumes the drive is A: in
607 DOS and /dev/fd0 in Linux; for other drives, substitute the
608 appropriate drive designator.
610 ---- Linux procedure ----
612 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
613 the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
614 DOS command SYS (this can be done under DOSEMU if DOSEMU has
615 direct device access to the relevant drive):
621 2. Boot Linux. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file:
623 dd if=/dev/fd0 of=dos.bss bs=512 count=1
625 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
629 4. Mount the disk and copy the DOS boot sector file to it. The file
630 *must* have extension .bss:
632 mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
635 5. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
636 create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
641 6. Unmount the disk (if applicable.)
645 ---- DOS/Windows procedure ----
647 To make this installation in DOS only, you need the utility copybs.com
648 (included with Syslinux) as well as the syslinux.com installer. If
649 you are on an WinNT-based system (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP or later), use
650 syslinux.exe instead.
652 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
653 the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
660 2. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file. The file
661 *must* have extension .bss:
665 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
669 4. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
670 create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
676 ++++ COMBOOT EXECUTABLES ++++
678 Syslinux supports simple standalone programs, using a file format
679 similar to DOS ".com" files. A 32-bit version, called COM32, is also
680 provided. A simple API provides access to a limited set of filesystem
681 and console functions.
683 See the file comboot.txt for more information on COMBOOT and COM32
687 ++++ NOVICE PROTECTION ++++
689 Syslinux will attempt to detect booting on a machine with too little
690 memory, which means the Linux boot sequence cannot complete. If so, a
691 message is displayed and the boot sequence aborted. Holding down the
692 Ctrl key while booting disables this feature.
694 Any file that SYSLINUX uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly
695 if so is convenient; SYSLINUX ignores all file attributes. The
696 SYSLINUX installed automatically sets the readonly/hidden/system
697 attributes on LDLINUX.SYS.
700 ++++ NOTES ON BOOTABLE CD-ROMS ++++
702 SYSLINUX can be used to create bootdisk images for El
703 Torito-compatible bootable CD-ROMs. However, it appears that many
704 BIOSes are very buggy when it comes to booting CD-ROMs. Some users
705 have reported that the following steps are helpful in making a CD-ROM
706 that is bootable on the largest possible number of machines:
708 a) Use the -s (safe, slow and stupid) option to SYSLINUX;
709 b) Put the boot image as close to the beginning of the
710 ISO 9660 filesystem as possible.
712 A CD-ROM is so much faster than a floppy that the -s option shouldn't
713 matter from a speed perspective.
715 Of course, you probably want to use ISOLINUX instead. See isolinux.txt.
718 ++++ BOOTING FROM A FAT FILESYSTEM PARTITION ON A HARD DISK ++++
720 SYSLINUX can boot from a FAT filesystem partition on a hard disk
721 (including FAT32). The installation procedure is identical to the
722 procedure for installing it on a floppy, and should work under either
723 DOS or Linux. To boot from a partition, SYSLINUX needs to be launched
724 from a Master Boot Record or another boot loader, just like DOS itself
727 Under DOS, you can install a standard simple MBR on the primary hard
728 disk by running the command:
732 Then use the FDISK command to mark the appropriate partition active.
734 A simple MBR, roughly on par with the one installed by DOS (but
735 unencumbered), is included in the SYSLINUX distribution. To install
736 it under Linux, simply type:
738 cat mbr.bin > /dev/XXX
740 ... where /dev/XXX is the device you wish to install it on.
742 Under DOS or Win32, you can install the SYSLINUX MBR with the -m
743 option to the SYSLINUX installer, and use the -a option to mark the
744 current partition active:
748 Note that this will also install SYSLINUX on the specified partition.
751 ++++ HARDWARE INFORMATION +++
753 I have started to maintain a web page of hardware with known
754 problems. There are, unfortunately, lots of broken hardware out
755 there; especially early PXE stacks (for PXELINUX) have lots of
758 A list of problems, and workarounds (if known), is maintained at:
760 http://syslinux.zytor.com/hardware.php
763 ++++ BOOT LOADER IDS USED ++++
765 The Linux boot protocol supports a "boot loader ID", a single byte
766 where the upper nybble specifies a boot loader family (3 = Syslinux)
767 and the lower nybble is version or, in the case of Syslinux, media:
774 In recent versions of Linux, this ID is available as
775 /proc/sys/kernel/bootloader_type.
778 ++++ BUG REPORTS ++++
780 I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with Syslinux. I
781 would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used Syslinux,
782 *especially* if you are using it for a distribution.
784 If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information
785 about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems
786 reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much
787 information as possible in order to diagnose the problems.
789 There is a mailing list for discussion among Syslinux users and for
790 announcements of new and test versions. To join, or to browse the
793 http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
795 Please DO NOT send HTML messages or attachments to the mailing list
796 (including multipart/alternative or similar.) All such messages will