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733<div id="header">
734<h1>
735syslinux.cfg(5) Manual Page
736</h1>
737<h2>NAME</h2>
738<div class="sectionbody">
739<p>syslinux.cfg -
740   *Syslinux* configuration file
741</p>
742</div>
743</div>
744<div id="content">
745<div class="sect1">
746<h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
747<div class="sectionbody">
748<div class="paragraph"><p>Configuration for the boot behavior and user experience of <strong>Syslinux</strong>
749boot loaders, the format of display files and the boot prompt behavior.</p></div>
750<div class="paragraph"><p>Blank lines are ignored.</p></div>
751<div class="paragraph"><p>Note that the configuration file is not completely decoded.  Syntax
752different from the one described above may still work correctly in this
753version of <strong>Syslinux</strong>, but may break in a future one.</p></div>
754</div>
755</div>
756<div class="sect1">
757<h2 id="_location_name">LOCATION/NAME</h2>
758<div class="sectionbody">
759<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>SYSLINUX</strong> (before 4.00) used the configuration filename of
760syslinux.cfg.  <strong>EXTLINUX</strong> (merged into <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> as of 4.00) used the
761filename extlinux.conf.  Both default to searching for the config file
762in the installed directory (containing ldlinux.sys/extlinux.sys).  As of
7634.00, <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> will search for extlinux.conf then syslinux.cfg in each
764directory before falling back to the next directory.</p></div>
765<div class="paragraph"><p>As of 3.35, <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> also searches /boot/syslinux, /syslinux and /.</p></div>
766<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>ISOLINUX</strong> (before 4.02) used the configuration filename of
767isolinux.cfg, searching  /boot/isolinux (starting 2.00), then /isolinux
768and /.  As of 4.02, <strong>ISOLINUX</strong> will search for isolinux.cfg then
769syslinux.cfg in /boot/isolinux before searching for the same files in
770/isolinux, /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, and /.</p></div>
771</div>
772</div>
773<div class="sect1">
774<h2 id="_global_directives_main">GLOBAL DIRECTIVES - MAIN</h2>
775<div class="sectionbody">
776<div class="dlist"><dl>
777<dt class="hdlist1">
778<strong>#</strong> comment
779</dt>
780<dd>
781<p>
782A line comment.  As of version 3.10, the space between the <strong>#</strong> and the
783comment is no longer required.
784</p>
785</dd>
786<dt class="hdlist1">
787<strong>MENU</strong> any string
788</dt>
789<dd>
790<p>
791(3.00+) A directive for the simple menu system, treated as a comment
792outside the menu.  See menu.txt.
793</p>
794</dd>
795<dt class="hdlist1">
796<strong>INCLUDE</strong> <em>filename</em>
797</dt>
798<dd>
799<p>
800Inserts the contents of another file at this point in the configuration
801file. Files can currently be nested up to 16 levels deep, but it is not
802guaranteed that more than 8 levels will be supported in the future.
803</p>
804</dd>
805<dt class="hdlist1">
806<strong>DEFAULT</strong> <em>kernel</em> <em>options&#8230;</em>
807</dt>
808<dd>
809<p>
810Sets the default command line (which often references a LABEL).  If
811<strong>Syslinux</strong> boots automatically, it will act just as if the entries after
812<strong>DEFAULT</strong> had been typed in at the <em>boot:</em> prompt.  Multiple uses will
813result in an override.
814</p>
815<div class="paragraph"><p>If no configuration file is present, or no <strong>DEFAULT</strong> or <strong>UI</strong> entry is
816present in the config file, an error message is displayed and the
817<em>boot:</em> prompt is shown (3.85+).</p></div>
818</dd>
819<dt class="hdlist1">
820<strong>UI</strong> <em>module</em> <em>options&#8230;</em>
821</dt>
822<dd>
823<p>
824Selects a specific user interface <em>module</em> (typically menu.c32 or
825vesamenu.c32).  The command-line interface treats this as a directive
826that overrides the <strong>DEFAULT</strong> directive to load this module instead at
827startup, for an empty command line and at timeout and <strong>PROMPT</strong> directive
828to not prompt (but these directives may have effects on other
829configuration parsers).  Multiple uses will result in an override.
830</p>
831</dd>
832<dt class="hdlist1">
833<strong>LABEL</strong> <em>mylabel</em>
834</dt>
835<dd>
836<p>
837Begin a new <strong>LABEL</strong> clause.  If <em>mylabel</em> is entered as the kernel to
838boot, <strong>Syslinux</strong> should instead boot "image" (specified by a directive
839from <strong>KERNEL-LIKE DIRECTIVES</strong>) with any specified <strong>DUAL-PURPOSE
840DIRECTIVES</strong> being used instead of the global instance.
841</p>
842<div class="paragraph"><p><em>mylabel</em> must be unique.  Currently the first instance is used but may
843result in an error or undesired behavior.  <em>mylabel</em> ends at the first
844character that is not a non-white-space printable character and should
845be restricted to non-white-space typeable characters.  Prior to version
8463.32, this would transformed to a DOS compatible format of 8.3 with a
847restricted character set.  A <strong>LABEL</strong> clause must contain exactly 1 of
848the <strong>KERNEL-LIKE DIRECTIVES</strong> and may contain 1 each of the <strong>LABEL-ONLY
849DIRECTIVES</strong> or <strong>DUAL-PURPOSE DIRECTIVES</strong>.</p></div>
850<div class="paragraph"><p>Within a <strong>LABEL</strong>, using multiple <strong>KERNEL-LIKE DIRECTIVES</strong> or reuse of
851<strong>LABEL-ONLY DIRECTIVES</strong> or <strong>DUAL-PURPOSE DIRECTIVES</strong> will result in an
852override.  Otherwise, multiple instances of the same directive will
853result in the last being effective.</p></div>
854</dd>
855</dl></div>
856</div>
857</div>
858<div class="sect1">
859<h2 id="_dual_purpose_directives">DUAL-PURPOSE DIRECTIVES</h2>
860<div class="sectionbody">
861<div class="paragraph"><p>Use of any of the <strong>DUAL-PURPOSE DIRECTIVES</strong> as <strong>GLOBAL DIRECTIVES</strong> is
862discouraged if there will be any non-Linux images loaded as <strong>ALL</strong> images
863will get these, including those manually entered at the <em>boot:</em> prompt.</p></div>
864<div class="dlist"><dl>
865<dt class="hdlist1">
866<strong>APPEND</strong> <em>options&#8230;</em>
867</dt>
868<dd>
869<p>
870Add one or more options to the kernel command line.  These are added
871both for automatic and manual boots.  The options are added at the very
872beginning of the kernel command line, usually permitting explicitly
873entered kernel options to override them.  This is the equivalent of the
874LILO "append" option.
875</p>
876<div class="paragraph"><p>Use of the parameter <em>initrd=</em> supports multiple filenames separated by
877commas (ie <em>initrd=initrd_file1,initrd_file2</em>) within a single instance.
878This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can be composed of multiple
879separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.</p></div>
880<div class="paragraph"><p>Note: all initrd files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K page
881boundary.  This should not affect initramfs.</p></div>
882<div class="paragraph"><p>Note: Only the last effective <em>initrd=</em> parameter is used for loading
883initrd files.</p></div>
884</dd>
885<dt class="hdlist1">
886<strong>APPEND</strong> -
887</dt>
888<dd>
889<p>
890Append nothing.  <strong>APPEND</strong> with a single hyphen as argument in a <strong>LABEL</strong>
891section can be used to override a global <strong>APPEND</strong>.
892</p>
893</dd>
894</dl></div>
895<div class="dlist"><dl>
896<dt class="hdlist1">
897<strong>SYSAPPEND</strong> <em>bitmask</em>
898</dt>
899<dt class="hdlist1">
900<strong>IPAPPEND</strong> <em>bitmask</em>
901</dt>
902<dd>
903<p>
904(<strong>SYSAPPEND</strong>: 5.10+; <strong>IPAPPEND</strong>: <strong>PXELINUX</strong> only)
905The <strong>SYSAPPEND</strong> option was introduced in <strong>Syslinux</strong> 5.10; it is an
906enhancement of a previous option <strong>IPAPPEND</strong> which was only available on
907<strong>PXELINUX</strong>.  <em>bitmask</em> is interpreted as decimal format unless prefixed
908with "0x" for hexadecimal or "0" (zero) for octal.  The <em>bitmask</em> is an
909OR (sum) of the following integer options:
910</p>
911<div class="dlist"><dl>
912<dt class="hdlist1">
913<strong>1</strong>
914</dt>
915<dd>
916<p>
917An option of the following format should be generated, based on
918the input from the DHCP/BOOTP or PXE boot server and added to the kernel
919command line(see note below; empty for non-PXELINUX variants):
920</p>
921<div class="listingblock">
922<div class="content">
923<pre><code>ip=&lt;client-ip&gt;:&lt;boot-server-ip&gt;:&lt;gw-ip&gt;:&lt;netmask&gt;</code></pre>
924</div></div>
925<div class="admonitionblock">
926<table><tr>
927<td class="icon">
928<div class="title">Note</div>
929</td>
930<td class="content">The use of option 1 is no substitute for running a DHCP client in
931the booted system and should instead only be used to seed the client for
932a request.  Without regular renewals, the lease acquired by the PXE BIOS
933will expire, making the IP address available for reuse by the DHCP
934server.</td>
935</tr></table>
936</div>
937</dd>
938<dt class="hdlist1">
939<strong>2</strong>
940</dt>
941<dd>
942<p>
943An option of the following format should be generated, in
944dash-separated hexadecimal with leading hardware type (same as for the
945configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.) and added to the kernel command
946line, allowing an initrd program to determine from which interface the
947system booted(empty for non-PXELINUX variants):
948</p>
949<div class="listingblock">
950<div class="content">
951<pre><code>BOOTIF=&lt;hardware-address-of-boot-interface&gt;</code></pre>
952</div></div>
953</dd>
954<dt class="hdlist1">
955<strong>4</strong>
956</dt>
957<dd>
958<p>
959An option of the following format should be generated, in lower
960case hexadecimal in the format normally used for UUIDs (same as for the
961configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.) and added to the kernel command
962line:
963</p>
964<div class="listingblock">
965<div class="content">
966<pre><code>SYSUUID=&lt;system uuid&gt;</code></pre>
967</div></div>
968</dd>
969<dt class="hdlist1">
970<strong>8</strong>
971</dt>
972<dd>
973<p>
974(5.10+) indicate the CPU family and certain particularly
975significant CPU feature bits:
976</p>
977<div class="listingblock">
978<div class="content">
979<pre><code>CPU=&lt;family&gt;&lt;features&gt;</code></pre>
980</div></div>
981<div class="paragraph"><p>The &lt;family&gt; is a single digit from 3 (i386) to 6 (i686 or higher.)  The
982following CPU features are currently reported; additional flags may be
983added in the future:</p></div>
984<div class="literalblock">
985<div class="content">
986<pre><code>P       Physical Address Extension (PAE)
987V       Intel Virtualization Technology (VT/VMX)
988T       Intel Trusted Exection Technology (TXT/SMX)
989X       Execution Disable (XD/NX)
990L       Long Mode (x86-64)
991S       AMD SMX virtualization</code></pre>
992</div></div>
993</dd>
994<dt class="hdlist1">
995<strong>DMI</strong>
996</dt>
997<dd>
998<p>
999(5.10+) The following strings are derived from DMI/SMBIOS
1000information if available:
1001</p>
1002<div class="literalblock">
1003<div class="content">
1004<pre><code>Bit     String          Significance
1005-------------------------------------------------------------
10060x00010 SYSVENDOR=      System vendor name
10070x00020 SYSPRODUCT=     System product name
10080x00040 SYSVERSION=     System version
10090x00080 SYSSERIAL=      System serial number
10100x00100 SYSSKU=         System SKU
10110x00200 SYSFAMILY=      System family
10120x00400 MBVENDOR=       Motherboard vendor name
10130x00800 MBVERSION=      Motherboard version
10140x01000 MBSERIAL=       Motherboard serial number
10150x02000 MBASSET=        Motherboard asset tag
10160x04000 BIOSVENDOR=     BIOS vendor name
10170x08000 BIOSVERSION=    BIOS version
10180x10000 SYSFF=          System form factor</code></pre>
1019</div></div>
1020<div class="paragraph"><p>If these strings contain white-space characters, they are replaced with
1021underscores (_).</p></div>
1022<div class="paragraph"><p>The system form factor value is a number defined in the SMBIOS
1023specification, available at <a href="http://www.dmtf.org/">http://www.dmtf.org/</a>.  As of version 2.7.1
1024of the specification, the following values are defined:</p></div>
1025<div class="literalblock">
1026<div class="content">
1027<pre><code> 1     Other
1028 2     Unknown
1029 3     Desktop
1030 4     Low profile desktop
1031 5     Pizza box
1032 6     Mini tower
1033 7     Tower
1034 8     Portble
1035 9     Laptop
103610     Notebook
103711     Handheld
103812     Docking station
103913     All-in-one
104014     Subnotebook
104115     Space-saving
104216     Lunch box
104317     Main server chassis
104418     Expansion chassis
104519     Subchassis
104620     Bus expansion chassis
104721     Peripheral chassis
104822     RAID chassis
104923     Rack mount chasss
105024     Sealed-case PC
105125     Multi-system chassis
105226     Compact PCI
105327     Advanced TCI
105428     Blade
105529     Blade enclosure</code></pre>
1056</div></div>
1057</dd>
1058</dl></div>
1059</dd>
1060</dl></div>
1061</div>
1062</div>
1063<div class="sect1">
1064<h2 id="_kernel_like_directives">KERNEL-LIKE DIRECTIVES</h2>
1065<div class="sectionbody">
1066<div class="dlist"><dl>
1067<dt class="hdlist1">
1068<strong>KERNEL</strong> <em>image</em>
1069</dt>
1070<dd>
1071<p>
1072Load a kernel-like file <em>image</em> with automatic filetype detection based
1073on file extension, listed under the non-auto-detecting directives,
1074defaulting to <strong>LINUX</strong>.
1075</p>
1076</dd>
1077</dl></div>
1078<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>LINUX</strong> is used as an example]
1079<strong>LINUX</strong> <em>image</em>::
1080Load <em>image</em> as a Linux-like kernel. MEMDISK is an example of a
1081non-Linux kernel loaded in a Linux-like fashion.</p></div>
1082<div class="dlist"><dl>
1083<dt class="hdlist1">
1084<strong>BOOT</strong> <em>image</em>
1085</dt>
1086<dd>
1087<p>
1088(<strong>ISOLINUX</strong> only: .bin; <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> only: .bs) Load a boot sector.  .bin
1089is a "CD boot sector" and .bs is a regular disk boot sector.
1090</p>
1091</dd>
1092<dt class="hdlist1">
1093<strong>BSS</strong> <em>image</em>
1094</dt>
1095<dd>
1096<p>
1097(<strong>SYSLINUX</strong> only: .bss) Load a BSS image, a .bs image with the DOS
1098superblock patched in.
1099</p>
1100</dd>
1101<dt class="hdlist1">
1102<strong>COMBOOT</strong> <em>image</em>
1103</dt>
1104<dd>
1105<p>
1106(.com, .cbt; Removed as of 5.00) Load a <strong>Syslinux</strong> COMBOOT image.  .com
1107images may also be runnable from DOS while .cbt images are not.  See
1108also <strong>comboot.txt</strong>
1109</p>
1110</dd>
1111<dt class="hdlist1">
1112<strong>COM32</strong> <em>image</em>
1113</dt>
1114<dd>
1115<p>
1116(.c32) Load a <strong>Syslinux</strong> COM32 (32-bit <strong>COMBOOT</strong>) image.  See also
1117<strong>comboot.txt</strong>
1118</p>
1119</dd>
1120<dt class="hdlist1">
1121<strong>CONFIG</strong> <em>image</em>
1122</dt>
1123<dd>
1124<p>
1125Load a new configuration file.  The configuration file is read, the
1126working directory is changed (if specified via an <strong>APPEND</strong>), then the
1127configuration file is parsed.
1128</p>
1129</dd>
1130<dt class="hdlist1">
1131<strong>FDIMAGE</strong> <em>image</em>
1132</dt>
1133<dd>
1134<p>
1135(Removed as of 4.05, added 1.65; <strong>ISOLINUX</strong> only: .img) Load a disk
1136image.
1137</p>
1138</dd>
1139<dt class="hdlist1">
1140<strong>LOCALBOOT</strong> <em>type</em>
1141</dt>
1142<dd>
1143<p>
1144(<strong>PXELINUX</strong> 1.53+; <strong>ISOLINUX</strong> ??3.10+; <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> 3.70+)Attempt a
1145different local boot method.  The special value -1 causes the boot
1146loader to report failure to the BIOS, which, on recent BIOSes, should
1147mean that the next boot device in the boot sequence should be activated.
1148 Values other than those documented may produce undesired results.
1149</p>
1150<div class="paragraph"><p>On <strong>PXELINUX</strong>, <em>type</em> 0 means perform a normal boot.  <em>type</em> 4 will
1151perform a local boot with the Universal Network Driver Interface (UNDI)
1152driver still resident in memory.  Finally, <em>type</em> 5 will perform a local
1153boot with the entire PXE stack, including the UNDI driver, still
1154resident in memory. All other values are undefined.  If you don&#8217;t know
1155what the UNDI or PXE stacks are, don&#8217;t worry&#8201;&#8212;&#8201;you don&#8217;t want them,
1156just specify 0.</p></div>
1157<div class="paragraph"><p>On <strong>ISOLINUX</strong>/<strong>SYSLINUX</strong>, the <em>type</em> specifies the local drive number to
1158boot from; 0x00 is the primary floppy drive and 0x80 is the primary hard
1159drive.</p></div>
1160</dd>
1161<dt class="hdlist1">
1162<strong>PXE</strong> <em>image</em>
1163</dt>
1164<dd>
1165<p>
1166(<strong>PXELINUX</strong> only: .0) Load a PXE NBP (Network Boot Program) image.  The
1167PXE protocol does not provide any means for specifiying or using a
1168command line or initrd.
1169</p>
1170</dd>
1171</dl></div>
1172</div>
1173</div>
1174<div class="sect1">
1175<h2 id="_label_only_directives">LABEL-ONLY DIRECTIVES</h2>
1176<div class="sectionbody">
1177<div class="dlist"><dl>
1178<dt class="hdlist1">
1179<strong>INITRD</strong> <em>initrd_file</em>
1180</dt>
1181<dd>
1182<p>
1183(3.71+) An initrd can be specified in a separate statement (INITRD)
1184instead of as part of the <strong>APPEND</strong> statement; this functionally appends
1185"initrd=initrd_file" to the kernel command line.  Like <em>initrd=</em>, this
1186also supports multiple comma separated file names (see <strong>APPEND</strong>).
1187</p>
1188</dd>
1189</dl></div>
1190</div>
1191</div>
1192<div class="sect1">
1193<h2 id="_global_directives_secondary">GLOBAL DIRECTIVES - SECONDARY</h2>
1194<div class="sectionbody">
1195<div class="paragraph"><p>These are global directives that are of lesser importance, often
1196affecting the user experience and not the boot process.</p></div>
1197<div class="dlist"><dl>
1198<dt class="hdlist1">
1199<strong>ALLOWOPTIONS</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1200</dt>
1201<dd>
1202<p>
1203If <em>flag_val</em> is 0, the user is not allowed to specify any arguments on
1204the kernel command line.  The only options recognized are those
1205specified in an <strong>APPEND</strong>) statement.  The default is 1.
1206</p>
1207</dd>
1208<dt class="hdlist1">
1209<strong>IMPLICIT</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1210</dt>
1211<dd>
1212<p>
1213If <em>flag_val</em> is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been
1214explicitly named in a <strong>LABEL</strong> statement.  The default is 1.
1215</p>
1216</dd>
1217<dt class="hdlist1">
1218<strong>TIMEOUT</strong> <em>timeout</em>
1219</dt>
1220<dd>
1221<p>
1222Indicates how long to wait at the <em>boot:</em> prompt until booting
1223automatically, in units of 1/10 s.  The timeout is cancelled as soon as
1224the user types anything on the keyboard, the assumption being that the
1225user will complete the command line already begun.  The timer is reset
1226to 0 upon return from an unsuccessful attempt to boot or from a module.
1227A timeout of zero (the default) will disable the timeout completely.
1228</p>
1229</dd>
1230<dt class="hdlist1">
1231<strong>TOTALTIMEOUT</strong> <em>timeout</em>
1232</dt>
1233<dd>
1234<p>
1235Indicates how long to wait until booting automatically, in units of
12361/10 s.  This timeout is <strong>not</strong> cancelled by user input, and can thus be
1237used to deal with serial port glitches or "the user walked away" type
1238situations.  A timeout of zero (the default) will disable the timeout
1239completely.
1240</p>
1241<div class="paragraph"><p>Both <strong>TIMEOUT</strong> and <strong>TOTALTIMEOUT</strong> can be used together, for example:</p></div>
1242<div class="listingblock">
1243<div class="content">
1244<pre><code># Wait 5 seconds unless the user types something, but
1245# always boot after 15 minutes.
1246TIMEOUT 50
1247TOTALTIMEOUT 9000</code></pre>
1248</div></div>
1249</dd>
1250</dl></div>
1251<div class="dlist"><dl>
1252<dt class="hdlist1">
1253<strong>ONTIMEOUT</strong> <em>kernel options&#8230;</em>
1254</dt>
1255<dd>
1256<p>
1257Sets the command line invoked on a timeout (which often references a
1258LABEL).  If not specified, <em>UI</em> (if used) or 'DEFAULT is used.
1259</p>
1260</dd>
1261<dt class="hdlist1">
1262<strong>ONERROR</strong> <em>kernel options&#8230;</em>
1263</dt>
1264<dd>
1265<p>
1266If a kernel image is not found (either due to it not existing, or
1267because <strong>IMPLICIT</strong> is set), run the specified command.  The faulty
1268command line is appended to the specified options, so if the <strong>ONERROR</strong>
1269directive reads as:
1270</p>
1271<div class="listingblock">
1272<div class="content">
1273<pre><code>ONERROR xyzzy plugh</code></pre>
1274</div></div>
1275<div class="paragraph"><p>and the command line as entered by the user is:</p></div>
1276<div class="listingblock">
1277<div class="content">
1278<pre><code>foo bar baz</code></pre>
1279</div></div>
1280<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Syslinux</strong> will execute the following as if entered by the user:</p></div>
1281<div class="listingblock">
1282<div class="content">
1283<pre><code>xyzzy plugh foo bar baz</code></pre>
1284</div></div>
1285</dd>
1286<dt class="hdlist1">
1287<strong>SERIAL</strong> <em>port [baudrate [flowcontrol]]</em>
1288</dt>
1289<dd>
1290<p>
1291Enables a serial port to act as the console.  <em>port</em> is a number (0 =
1292/dev/ttyS0 = COM1, etc.) or an I/O port address (e.g. 0x3F8); if
1293<em>baudrate</em> is omitted, the baud rate defaults to 9600 bps.  The serial
1294parameters are hardcoded to be 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
1295</p>
1296<div class="paragraph"><p><em>flowcontrol</em> is a combination of the following bits:</p></div>
1297<div class="literalblock">
1298<div class="content">
1299<pre><code>0x001 - Assert DTR
13000x002 - Assert RTS
13010x008 - Enable interrupts
13020x010 - Wait for CTS assertion
13030x020 - Wait for DSR assertion
13040x040 - Wait for RI assertion
13050x080 - Wait for DCD assertion
13060x100 - Ignore input unless CTS asserted
13070x200 - Ignore input unless DSR asserted
13080x400 - Ignore input unless RI asserted
13090x800 - Ignore input unless DCD asserted</code></pre>
1310</div></div>
1311<div class="paragraph"><p>All other bits are reserved.</p></div>
1312<div class="paragraph"><p>Typical values are:</p></div>
1313<div class="literalblock">
1314<div class="content">
1315<pre><code>    0 - No flow control (default)
13160x303 - Null modem cable detect
13170x013 - RTS/CTS flow control
13180x813 - RTS/CTS flow control, modem input
13190x023 - DTR/DSR flow control
13200x083 - DTR/DCD flow control</code></pre>
1321</div></div>
1322<div class="paragraph"><p>For the <strong>SERIAL</strong> directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it should
1323be the first directive in the configuration file.</p></div>
1324<div class="admonitionblock">
1325<table><tr>
1326<td class="icon">
1327<div class="title">Note</div>
1328</td>
1329<td class="content"><em>port</em> values from 0 to 3 means the first four serial ports
1330detected by the BIOS.  They may or may not correspond to the legacy port
1331values 0x3F8, 0x2F8, 0x3E8, 0x2E8.</td>
1332</tr></table>
1333</div>
1334<div class="paragraph"><p>Enabling interrupts (setting the 0x008 bit) may give better
1335responsiveness without setting the <strong>NOHALT</strong> option, but could
1336potentially cause problems with buggy BIOSes.</p></div>
1337<div class="paragraph"><p>This option is "sticky" and is not automatically reset when loading a
1338new configuration file with the CONFIG command.</p></div>
1339</dd>
1340<dt class="hdlist1">
1341<strong>NOHALT</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1342</dt>
1343<dd>
1344<p>
1345If <em>flag_val</em> is 1, don&#8217;t halt the processor while idle. Halting the
1346processor while idle significantly reduces the power consumption, but
1347can cause poor responsiveness to the serial console, especially when
1348using scripts to drive the serial console, as opposed to human
1349interaction.
1350</p>
1351</dd>
1352<dt class="hdlist1">
1353<strong>CONSOLE</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1354</dt>
1355<dd>
1356<p>
1357If <em>flag_val</em> is 0, disable output to the normal video console. If
1358<em>flag_val</em> is 1, enable output to the video console (this is the
1359default.)
1360</p>
1361<div class="paragraph"><p>Some BIOSes try to forward this to the serial console and sometimes make
1362a total mess thereof, so this option lets you disable the video console
1363on these systems.</p></div>
1364</dd>
1365<dt class="hdlist1">
1366<strong>FONT</strong> <em>filename</em>
1367</dt>
1368<dd>
1369<p>
1370Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output (except the
1371copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys itself is loaded.)
1372<strong>Syslinux</strong> only loads the font onto the video card; if the .psf file
1373contains a Unicode table it is ignored.  This only works on EGA and VGA
1374cards; hopefully it should do nothing on others.
1375</p>
1376</dd>
1377<dt class="hdlist1">
1378<strong>KBDMAP</strong> <em>keymap</em>
1379</dt>
1380<dd>
1381<p>
1382Install a simple keyboard map.  The keyboard remapper used is <strong>very</strong>
1383simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from the BIOS, which
1384means that only the key combinations relevant in the default layout&#8201;&#8212;&#8201;usually U.S. English&#8201;&#8212;&#8201;can be mapped) but should at least help people
1385with AZERTY keyboard layout and the locations of = and , (two special
1386characters used heavily on the Linux kernel command line.)
1387</p>
1388<div class="paragraph"><p>The included program keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution can be
1389used to create such keymaps.  The file keytab-lilo.txt contains the
1390documentation for this program.</p></div>
1391</dd>
1392<dt class="hdlist1">
1393<strong>DISPLAY</strong> <em>filename</em>
1394</dt>
1395<dd>
1396<p>
1397Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before the boot:
1398prompt, if displayed).  Please see the section below on <strong>DISPLAY</strong> files.
1399</p>
1400<div class="admonitionblock">
1401<table><tr>
1402<td class="icon">
1403<div class="title">Note</div>
1404</td>
1405<td class="content">If the file is missing, this option is simply ignored.</td>
1406</tr></table>
1407</div>
1408</dd>
1409<dt class="hdlist1">
1410<strong>SAY</strong> <em>message</em>
1411</dt>
1412<dd>
1413<p>
1414Prints the message on the screen.
1415</p>
1416</dd>
1417<dt class="hdlist1">
1418<strong>PROMPT</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1419</dt>
1420<dd>
1421<p>
1422If <em>flag_val</em> is 0, display the boot: prompt only if the Shift or Alt
1423key is pressed, or Caps Lock or Scroll lock is set (this is the
1424default).  If <em>flag_val</em> is 1, always display the boot: prompt.
1425</p>
1426</dd>
1427<dt class="hdlist1">
1428<strong>NOESCAPE</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1429</dt>
1430<dd>
1431<p>
1432If <em>flag_val</em> is set to 1, ignore the Shift/Alt/Caps Lock/Scroll Lock
1433escapes.  Use this (together with PROMPT 0) to force the default boot
1434alternative.
1435</p>
1436</dd>
1437<dt class="hdlist1">
1438<strong>NOCOMPLETE</strong> <em>flag_val</em>
1439</dt>
1440<dd>
1441<p>
1442If <em>flag_val</em> is set to 1, the Tab key does not display labels at the
1443boot: prompt.
1444</p>
1445</dd>
1446</dl></div>
1447<div class="dlist"><dl>
1448<dt class="hdlist1">
1449<strong>F1</strong> <em>filename</em>
1450</dt>
1451<dt class="hdlist1">
1452<strong>F2</strong> <em>filename</em>
1453</dt>
1454<dt class="hdlist1">
1455<strong>F3</strong> <em>filename</em>
1456</dt>
1457<dt class="hdlist1">
1458<strong>F4</strong> <em>filename</em>
1459</dt>
1460<dt class="hdlist1">
1461<strong>F5</strong> <em>filename</em>
1462</dt>
1463<dt class="hdlist1">
1464<strong>F6</strong> <em>filename</em>
1465</dt>
1466<dt class="hdlist1">
1467<strong>F7</strong> <em>filename</em>
1468</dt>
1469<dt class="hdlist1">
1470<strong>F8</strong> <em>filename</em>
1471</dt>
1472<dt class="hdlist1">
1473<strong>F9</strong> <em>filename</em>
1474</dt>
1475<dt class="hdlist1">
1476<strong>F10</strong> <em>filename</em>
1477</dt>
1478<dt class="hdlist1">
1479<strong>F11</strong> <em>filename</em>
1480</dt>
1481<dt class="hdlist1">
1482<strong>F12</strong> <em>filename</em>
1483</dt>
1484<dd>
1485<p>
1486Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is pressed
1487at the boot: prompt.  This can be used to implement pre-boot online help
1488(presumably for the kernel command line options.)  Please see the
1489section below on DISPLAY files.
1490</p>
1491<div class="paragraph"><p>When using the serial console, press &lt;Ctrl-F&gt;&lt;digit&gt; to get to the help
1492screens, e.g. &lt;Ctrl-F&gt;&lt;2&gt; to get to the F2 screen. For F10-F12, hit
1493&lt;Ctrl-F&gt;&lt;A&gt;, &lt;Ctrl-F&gt;B, &lt;Ctrl-F&gt;C.  For compatibility with earlier
1494versions, F10 can also be entered as &lt;Ctrl-F&gt;0.</p></div>
1495</dd>
1496<dt class="hdlist1">
1497<strong>PATH</strong> <em>path</em>
1498</dt>
1499<dd>
1500<p>
1501(5.00+) Specify a space-separated (' <em>; 5.00-5.10 was a colon ':</em>) list
1502of directories to search when attempting to load modules. This directive
1503is useful for specifying the directories containing the lib*.c32 library
1504files as other modules may be dependent on these files, but may not
1505reside in the same directory.  Multiple instances will append additional
1506paths.
1507</p>
1508</dd>
1509<dt class="hdlist1">
1510<strong>SENDCOOKIES</strong> <em>bitmask</em>
1511</dt>
1512<dd>
1513<p>
1514(<strong>PXELINUX</strong> 5.10+) When downloading files over http, the SYSAPPEND
1515strings are prepended with <em>Syslinux</em> and sent to the server as cookies.
1516The cookies are URL-encoded; whitespace is <strong>not</strong> replaced with
1517underscores.
1518</p>
1519<div class="paragraph"><p>This command limits the cookies send; 0 means no cookies.  The default
1520is -1, meaning send all cookies.</p></div>
1521<div class="paragraph"><p>This option is "sticky" and is not automatically reset when loading a
1522new configuration file with the CONFIG command.</p></div>
1523</dd>
1524</dl></div>
1525</div>
1526</div>
1527<div class="sect1">
1528<h2 id="_display_file_format">DISPLAY FILE FORMAT</h2>
1529<div class="sectionbody">
1530<div class="paragraph"><p>DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX
1531format (with or without &lt;CR&gt;).  In addition, the following special codes
1532are interpreted:</p></div>
1533<div class="paragraph"><p>identical to #3</p></div>
1534<div class="dlist"><dl>
1535<dt class="hdlist1">
1536<strong>&lt;FF&gt;</strong>
1537</dt>
1538<dd>
1539<p>
1540&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;                               = &lt;Ctrl-L&gt; = ASCII 12<br />
1541Clear the screen, home the cursor.  Note that the screen is filled with
1542the current display color.
1543</p>
1544</dd>
1545<dt class="hdlist1">
1546<strong>&lt;FF&gt;</strong>
1547</dt>
1548<dd>
1549<p>
1550= &lt;Ctrl-L&gt; = ASCII 12; Clear the screen, home the cursor.  Note that the
1551screen is filled with the current display color.
1552</p>
1553</dd>
1554<dt class="hdlist1">
1555<strong>&lt;FF&gt;</strong>
1556</dt>
1557<dd>
1558<p>
1559&lt;FF&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-L&gt; = ASCII 12
1560</p>
1561<div class="paragraph"><p>Clear the screen, home the cursor.  Note that the screen is filled with
1562the current display color.</p></div>
1563</dd>
1564<dt class="hdlist1">
1565<strong>&lt;FF&gt;</strong>
1566</dt>
1567<dd>
1568<p>
1569&lt;FF&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-L&gt; = ASCII 12<br />
1570Clear the screen, home the cursor.  Note that the screen is filled with
1571the current display color.
1572</p>
1573</dd>
1574<dt class="hdlist1">
1575<strong>&lt;SI&gt;</strong><em>&lt;bg&gt;&lt;fg&gt;</em>
1576</dt>
1577<dd>
1578<p>
1579&lt;SI&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-O&gt; = ASCII 15
1580</p>
1581<div class="paragraph"><p>Set the display colors to the specified background and foreground
1582colors, where &lt;bg&gt; and &lt;fg&gt; are the 2 hex digits representing 1 byte,
1583corresponding to the standard PC display attributes:</p></div>
1584<div class="literalblock">
1585<div class="content">
1586<pre><code>0 = black               8 = dark grey
15871 = dark blue           9 = bright blue
15882 = dark green          a = bright green
15893 = dark cyan           b = bright cyan
15904 = dark red            c = bright red
15915 = dark purple         d = bright purple
15926 = brown               e = yellow
15937 = light grey          f = white</code></pre>
1594</div></div>
1595<div class="paragraph"><p>Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the
1596corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing.</p></div>
1597<div class="paragraph"><p>Colors are not visible over the serial console.</p></div>
1598</dd>
1599<dt class="hdlist1">
1600<strong>&lt;CAN&gt;</strong><em>filename&lt;newline&gt;</em>
1601</dt>
1602<dd>
1603<p>
1604&lt;CAN&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-X&gt; = ASCII 24
1605</p>
1606<div class="paragraph"><p>If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display the graphic
1607included in the specified file.  The file format is an ad hoc format
1608called LSS16; the included Perl program "ppmtolss16" can be used to
1609produce these images.  This Perl program also includes the file format
1610specification.</p></div>
1611<div class="paragraph"><p>The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode.  Once in graphics mode,
1612the display attributes (set by &lt;SI&gt; code sequences) work slightly
1613differently: the background color is ignored, and the foreground colors
1614are the 16 colors specified in the image file.  For that reason,
1615ppmtolss16 allows you to specify that certain colors should be assigned
1616to specific color indicies.</p></div>
1617<div class="paragraph"><p>Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with care: 0 is
1618the background color, and 7 is the color used for the text printed by
1619<strong>Syslinux</strong> itself.</p></div>
1620</dd>
1621<dt class="hdlist1">
1622<strong>&lt;EM&gt;</strong>
1623</dt>
1624<dd>
1625<p>
1626&lt;EM&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-Y&gt; = ASCII 25<br />
1627If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode.
1628</p>
1629</dd>
1630<dt class="hdlist1">
1631<strong>&lt;DLE&gt;</strong>..<strong>&lt;ETB&gt;</strong>
1632</dt>
1633<dd>
1634<p>
1635&lt;Ctrl-P&gt;..&lt;Ctrl-W&gt; = ASCII 16-23
1636</p>
1637<div class="paragraph"><p>These codes can be used to select which modes to print a certain part of
1638the message file in.  Each of these control characters select a specific
1639set of modes (text screen, graphics screen, serial port) for which the
1640output is actually displayed:</p></div>
1641<div class="literalblock">
1642<div class="content">
1643<pre><code>Character                       Text    Graph   Serial
1644------------------------------------------------------
1645&lt;DLE&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-P&gt; = ASCII 16     No      No      No
1646&lt;DC1&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-Q&gt; = ASCII 17     Yes     No      No
1647&lt;DC2&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-R&gt; = ASCII 18     No      Yes     No
1648&lt;DC3&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-S&gt; = ASCII 19     Yes     Yes     No
1649&lt;DC4&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-T&gt; = ASCII 20     No      No      Yes
1650&lt;NAK&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-U&gt; = ASCII 21     Yes     No      Yes
1651&lt;SYN&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-V&gt; = ASCII 22     No      Yes     Yes
1652&lt;ETB&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-W&gt; = ASCII 23     Yes     Yes     Yes</code></pre>
1653</div></div>
1654<div class="paragraph"><p>For example, the following will actually print out which mode the
1655console is in:</p></div>
1656<div class="literalblock">
1657<div class="content">
1658<pre><code>&lt;DC1&gt;Text mode&lt;DC2&gt;Graphics mode&lt;DC4&gt;Serial port&lt;ETB&gt;</code></pre>
1659</div></div>
1660</dd>
1661<dt class="hdlist1">
1662<strong>&lt;SUB&gt;</strong>
1663</dt>
1664<dd>
1665<p>
1666&lt;SUB&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-Z&gt; = ASCII 26
1667</p>
1668<div class="paragraph"><p>End of file (DOS convention).</p></div>
1669</dd>
1670<dt class="hdlist1">
1671<strong>&lt;BEL&gt;</strong>
1672</dt>
1673<dd>
1674<p>
1675&lt;BEL&gt; = &lt;Ctrl-G&gt; = ASCII 7<br />
1676Beep the speaker.
1677</p>
1678</dd>
1679</dl></div>
1680</div>
1681</div>
1682<div class="sect1">
1683<h2 id="_boot_loader_ids_used">BOOT LOADER IDS USED</h2>
1684<div class="sectionbody">
1685<div class="paragraph"><p>The Linux boot protocol supports a "boot loader ID", a single byte where
1686the upper nybble specifies a boot loader family (3 = <strong>Syslinux</strong>) and the
1687lower nybble is version or, in the case of <strong>Syslinux</strong>, media:</p></div>
1688<div class="literalblock">
1689<div class="content">
1690<pre><code>0x31 (49) = SYSLINUX
16910x32 (50) = PXELINUX
16920x33 (51) = ISOLINUX
16930x34 (52) = EXTLINUX</code></pre>
1694</div></div>
1695<div class="paragraph"><p>In recent versions of Linux, this ID is available as
1696/proc/sys/kernel/bootloader_type.</p></div>
1697</div>
1698</div>
1699<div class="sect1">
1700<h2 id="_novice_protection">NOVICE PROTECTION</h2>
1701<div class="sectionbody">
1702<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Syslinux</strong> will attempt to detect booting on a machine with too little
1703memory, which means the Linux boot sequence cannot complete.  If so, a
1704message is displayed and the boot sequence aborted.  Holding down the
1705Ctrl key while booting disables this feature.</p></div>
1706<div class="paragraph"><p>Any file that <strong>Syslinux</strong> uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly
1707if so is convenient; <strong>Syslinux</strong> ignores all file attributes.  The
1708<strong>SYSLINUX</strong> installer automatically sets the readonly/hidden/system
1709attributes on LDLINUX.SYS.</p></div>
1710</div>
1711</div>
1712<div class="sect1">
1713<h2 id="_example">EXAMPLE</h2>
1714<div class="sectionbody">
1715<div class="paragraph"><p>Here are some sample config files:</p></div>
1716<div class="listingblock">
1717<div class="content">
1718<pre><code># SERIAL 0 115200
1719DEFAULT linux
1720PROMPT 1
1721TIMEOUT 600
1722
1723LABEL linux
1724  LINUX vmlinuz
1725  APPEND initrd=initrd1.gz,initrd2.gz
1726
1727LABEL m
1728  COM32 menu.c32</code></pre>
1729</div></div>
1730<div class="paragraph"><p>In this example, serial port use is disabled but can be enabled by
1731uncommenting the first line and utilize serial port 0 at 115200 bps.  If
1732<em>linux</em> is typed on the command line, the kernel-like file <em>vmlinuz</em> is
1733executed as a Linux kernel, initrd files initrd1.gz and initrd2.gz are
1734loaded as initial ramdisk files (like cpio.gz files for initramfs).  If
1735<em>m</em> is typed on the command line, the COM32 module <em>menu.c32</em> is
1736executed to launch a menu system.</p></div>
1737</div>
1738</div>
1739<div class="sect1">
1740<h2 id="_known_bugs">KNOWN BUGS</h2>
1741<div class="sectionbody">
1742<div class="paragraph"><p>Several known bugs/common problems are listed at
1743<a href="http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Common_Problems">http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Common_Problems</a> and known
1744hardware compatibility issues are listed at
1745<a href="http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility">http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility</a> with
1746filename translation difficulty and early PXE stacks being some of the
1747most common.  Reporting of other encountered issues is welcome and
1748appreciated.</p></div>
1749</div>
1750</div>
1751<div class="sect1">
1752<h2 id="_bug_reports">BUG REPORTS</h2>
1753<div class="sectionbody">
1754<div class="paragraph"><p>I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with Syslinux.  I
1755would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used Syslinux,
1756<strong>especially</strong> if you are using it for a distribution.</p></div>
1757<div class="paragraph"><p>If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information
1758about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems
1759reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much
1760information as possible in order to diagnose the problems.</p></div>
1761<div class="paragraph"><p>There is a mailing list for discussion among Syslinux users and for
1762announcements of new and test versions.  To join, or to browse the
1763archive, go to:</p></div>
1764<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux">http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux</a></p></div>
1765<div class="paragraph"><p>Please DO NOT send HTML messages or attachments to the mailing list
1766(including multipart/alternative or similar.)  All such messages will be
1767bounced.</p></div>
1768</div>
1769</div>
1770<div class="sect1">
1771<h2 id="_author">AUTHOR</h2>
1772<div class="sectionbody">
1773<div class="paragraph"><p>This AsciiDoc derived document is a modified version of the original
1774<strong>SYSLINUX</strong> documentation by H. Peter Anvin &lt;<a href="mailto:hpa@zytor.com">hpa@zytor.com</a>&gt;.  The conversion
1775to an AsciiDoc was made by Gene Cumm &lt;<a href="mailto:gene.cumm@gmail.com">gene.cumm@gmail.com</a>&gt;</p></div>
1776</div>
1777</div>
1778</div>
1779<div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
1780<div id="footer">
1781<div id="footer-text">
1782Last updated 2014-01-17 16:09:56 PST
1783</div>
1784</div>
1785</body>
1786</html>
1787