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732<body class="manpage">
733<div id="header">
734<h1>
735syslinux(1) Manual Page
736</h1>
737<h2>NAME</h2>
738<div class="sectionbody">
739<p>syslinux -
740   Install SYSLINUX to a file system
741</p>
742</div>
743</div>
744<div id="content">
745<div class="sect1">
746<h2 id="_synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2>
747<div class="sectionbody">
748<div class="verseblock">
749<pre class="content"><strong>syslinux</strong> [<em>OPTIONS</em>] <em>DEVICE</em>
750<strong>extlinux</strong> [<em>OPTIONS</em>] <em>PATH</em>
751<strong>syslinux</strong> [-h | --help | -v | --version]
752<strong>extlinux</strong> [-h | --help | -v | --version]</pre>
753<div class="attribution">
754</div></div>
755</div>
756</div>
757<div class="sect1">
758<h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
759<div class="sectionbody">
760<div class="paragraph"><p>Install <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> to the <em>DEVICE</em>/<em>PATH</em>, altering the boot sector and
761installing the <em>ldlinux.sys</em> boot loader file.  For the Linux installer
762extlinux, <em>PATH</em> is the desired path for the control files on a mounted,
763supported file system and sets the install-time working directory.  For
764all others, <em>DEVICE</em> must specify a FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 file system.  For
765the Linux installers syslinux and syslinux-mtools, <em>DEVICE</em> should be an
766unmounted file system.  For the DOS/Win32/Win64 installers, <em>DEVICE</em>
767should be a drive like <em>a:</em> (case insensitive).</p></div>
768<div class="paragraph"><p>For versions ~4.00 and later, either -i/--install or -U/--update must be
769specified unless modifying the ADV of an existing install (options
770tagged with <em>ADV</em>) or requesting the help/usage or version info, .</p></div>
771<div class="paragraph"><p>If, during boot, the Shift or Alt keys are held down, or the Caps or
772Scroll locks are set, <strong>Syslinux</strong> will display a <strong>lilo</strong>(8) -style "boot:"
773prompt. The user can then type a kernel file name followed by any kernel
774parameters. The <strong>Syslinux</strong> bootloader does not need to know about the
775kernel or config files in advance.</p></div>
776<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Syslinux</strong> supports the loading of initial ramdisks (initrd) and the
777bzImage kernel format.</p></div>
778<div class="paragraph"><p>Please note, the ldlinux.sys boot loader file is flagged as immutable
779(where applicable) and is modified after copying in to help ensure
780boot-time integrity.  File systems with a sufficiently large boot loader
781reserved area, like btrfs, will have ldlinux.sys installed there rather
782than as a normal file.  Prior to version 4.00, extlinux would install a
783file extlinux.sys which versions 4.00 and later installers will replace with ldlinux.sys.</p></div>
784</div>
785</div>
786<div class="sect1">
787<h2 id="_options">OPTIONS</h2>
788<div class="sectionbody">
789<div class="sect2">
790<h3 id="_standalone_options">Standalone options</h3>
791<div class="dlist"><dl>
792<dt class="hdlist1">
793<strong>-i</strong>, <strong>--install</strong>
794</dt>
795<dd>
796<p>
797(~4.00+) Install SYSLINUX, regardless of an existing install.
798</p>
799</dd>
800<dt class="hdlist1">
801<strong>-U</strong>, <strong>--update</strong>
802</dt>
803<dd>
804<p>
805(~4.00+) Update an existing SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX install.  If no Syslinux
806boot loader is present, return an error.
807</p>
808</dd>
809<dt class="hdlist1">
810<strong>-h</strong>, <strong>--help</strong>
811</dt>
812<dd>
813<p>
814Display help/usage information.
815</p>
816</dd>
817<dt class="hdlist1">
818<strong>-v</strong>, <strong>--version</strong>
819</dt>
820<dd>
821<p>
822Display version information and exit immediately.
823</p>
824</dd>
825</dl></div>
826</div>
827<div class="sect2">
828<h3 id="_regular_options">Regular Options</h3>
829<div class="dlist"><dl>
830<dt class="hdlist1">
831<strong>-a</strong>, <strong>--active</strong>
832</dt>
833<dd>
834<p>
835(DOS/Win32/Win64 ONLY) Mark the install target file system&#8217;s partition
836active.
837</p>
838</dd>
839<dt class="hdlist1">
840<strong>-d</strong>, <strong>--directory</strong> <em>subdirectory</em>
841</dt>
842<dd>
843<p>
844(Not necessary for extlinux as it is implied by <em>PATH</em>) Install the
845<strong>SYSLINUX</strong> control files in a subdirectory with the specified name
846(relative to the root directory on the device).
847</p>
848</dd>
849<dt class="hdlist1">
850<strong>--device</strong> <em>DEVICE</em>
851</dt>
852<dd>
853<p>
854(extlinux ONLY; 4.06+) Force use of a specific block device (experts
855only).
856</p>
857</dd>
858<dt class="hdlist1">
859<strong>-f</strong>, <strong>--force</strong>
860</dt>
861<dd>
862<p>
863Force install even if it appears unsafe.  Before 4.00, -f was used for
864--offset in the Linux installers.
865</p>
866</dd>
867<dt class="hdlist1">
868<strong>-H</strong>, <strong>--heads</strong> <em>head-count</em>
869</dt>
870<dd>
871<p>
872Override the detected number of heads for the geometry.  See also
873<strong>--sector</strong>.
874</p>
875</dd>
876</dl></div>
877<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>-m</strong>, <strong>--mbr</strong>:
878(DOS/Win32/Win64 ONLY) Install the regular Syslinux MBR code to the MBR.</p></div>
879<div class="dlist"><dl>
880<dt class="hdlist1">
881<strong>-M</strong>, <strong>--menu-save</strong>
882</dt>
883<dd>
884<p>
885(4.00+; ADV) Set the label to select as default on the next boot.
886</p>
887</dd>
888<dt class="hdlist1">
889<strong>-o</strong>, <strong>--once</strong> <em>command</em>
890</dt>
891<dd>
892<p>
893(ADV) Declare a boot command to be tried on the first boot only.  The
894use of <strong>-o</strong> for the Linux installers syslinux or syslinux-mtools has
895been deprecated as of ~4.00 and is no longer valid as of ~4.02.
896</p>
897</dd>
898<dt class="hdlist1">
899<strong>-O</strong>, <strong>--clear-once</strong>
900</dt>
901<dd>
902<p>
903Clear the boot-once command.  See also <strong>--once</strong>.
904</p>
905</dd>
906<dt class="hdlist1">
907<strong>-r</strong>, <strong>--raid</strong>
908</dt>
909<dd>
910<p>
911(ADV) RAID mode.  If boot fails, tell the BIOS to boot the next device
912in the boot sequence (usually the next hard disk) instead of stopping
913with an error message.  This is useful for RAID-1 booting.
914</p>
915</dd>
916<dt class="hdlist1">
917<strong>--reset-adv</strong>
918</dt>
919<dd>
920<p>
921(ADV) Reset auxilliary data vector.
922</p>
923</dd>
924<dt class="hdlist1">
925<strong>-S</strong>, <strong>--sectors</strong> <em>sector-count</em>
926</dt>
927<dd>
928<p>
929Override the detected number of sectors for the geometry.  See also
930<strong>--head</strong>.
931</p>
932</dd>
933<dt class="hdlist1">
934<strong>-s</strong>, <strong>--stupid</strong>
935</dt>
936<dd>
937<p>
938Install a "safe, slow and stupid" version of <strong>SYSLINUX</strong>. This version
939may work on some very buggy BIOSes on which <strong>SYSLINUX</strong> would otherwise
940fail. If you find a machine on which the -s option is required to make
941it boot reliably, please send as much info about your machine as you
942can, and include the failure mode.
943</p>
944</dd>
945<dt class="hdlist1">
946<strong>-t</strong>, <strong>--offset</strong> <em>offset</em>
947</dt>
948<dd>
949<p>
950(Linux syslinux/syslinux-mtools ONLY) Indicates that the filesystem is
951at an offset from the base of the device or file.
952</p>
953</dd>
954</dl></div>
955<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>-z</strong>, <strong>--zipdrive</strong>
956Assume zipdrive geometry (<em>--heads 64 --sectors 32</em>).  See also <strong>--head</strong>
957and <strong>--sector</strong>.</p></div>
958</div>
959</div>
960</div>
961<div class="sect1">
962<h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
963<div class="sectionbody">
964<div class="sect2">
965<h3 id="_booting_dos">Booting DOS</h3>
966<div class="paragraph"><p>For booting DOS and other similar operating systems, there is an easy
967and generally reliable solution to substitute in SYSLINUX as the primary
968boot loader.</p></div>
969<div class="ulist"><ul>
970<li>
971<p>
972Make a DOS-bootable disk;  The following are possible commands:
973</p>
974<div class="literalblock">
975<div class="content">
976<pre><code>format a: /s
977sys a:</code></pre>
978</div></div>
979</li>
980<li>
981<p>
982Copy the DOS boot sector off using Linux or copybs.com:
983</p>
984<div class="literalblock">
985<div class="content">
986<pre><code>dd if=/dev/fd0 of=dos.bss bs=512 count=1
987copybs a: a:dos.bss</code></pre>
988</div></div>
989</li>
990<li>
991<p>
992Install SYSLINUX using one of:
993</p>
994<div class="literalblock">
995<div class="content">
996<pre><code>syslinux a:
997syslinux /dev/fd0               (before 4.00)
998syslinux -i /dev/fd0            (4.00+)</code></pre>
999</div></div>
1000</li>
1001<li>
1002<p>
1003For Linux, mount the disk and copy the dos.bss to the disk:
1004</p>
1005<div class="literalblock">
1006<div class="content">
1007<pre><code>mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
1008cp dos.bss /mnt</code></pre>
1009</div></div>
1010</li>
1011<li>
1012<p>
1013Copy a Linux kernel image and initrd payload files:
1014</p>
1015<div class="dlist"><dl>
1016<dt class="hdlist1">
1017<strong>Linux:</strong>
1018</dt>
1019<dd>
1020<p>
1021        cp vmlinux /mnt
1022        cp initrd.gz /mnt
1023</p>
1024</dd>
1025<dt class="hdlist1">
1026<strong>DOS/Windows:</strong>
1027</dt>
1028<dd>
1029<p>
1030        copy vmlinux a:
1031        copy initrd.gz a:
1032</p>
1033</dd>
1034</dl></div>
1035</li>
1036<li>
1037<p>
1038For Linux, umount the disk (if applicable):
1039</p>
1040<div class="literalblock">
1041<div class="content">
1042<pre><code>umount /mnt</code></pre>
1043</div></div>
1044</li>
1045</ul></div>
1046</div>
1047<div class="sect2">
1048<h3 id="_mbr">MBR</h3>
1049<div class="paragraph"><p>In order to boot from a hard disk (or hard disk-like device) in BIOS
1050mode, an appropriate MBR boot block must also be installed in the MBR
1051(first sector or 512 bytes of the disk), occupying at most 440 bytes.</p></div>
1052<div class="dlist"><dl>
1053<dt class="hdlist1">
1054<strong>DOS/Windows:</strong>
1055</dt>
1056<dd>
1057<p>
1058If using FDISK, FDISK or a similar application must also be used to mark
1059the partition as active.
1060</p>
1061<div class="literalblock">
1062<div class="content">
1063<pre><code>    fdisk /mbr
1064OR
1065    syslinux -ma c:</code></pre>
1066</div></div>
1067</dd>
1068<dt class="hdlist1">
1069<strong>Linux:</strong>
1070</dt>
1071<dd>
1072<div class="literalblock">
1073<div class="content">
1074<pre><code>dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=mbr/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda</code></pre>
1075</div></div>
1076<div class="paragraph"><p>For altmbr.bin, an easy way to overwrite the MBR boot block and specify
1077the partion number is:</p></div>
1078<div class="literalblock">
1079<div class="content">
1080<pre><code>printf '\1' | cat altmbr.bin - | dd bs=440 count=1 \
1081  iflag=fullblock conv=notrunc of=/dev/sda</code></pre>
1082</div></div>
1083<div class="paragraph"><p>Note: using <em>cat</em> for writing the MBR can under some circumstances cause
1084data loss or overwritting.  For this reason, using <em>dd</em> is recommended
1085for all situations.</p></div>
1086</dd>
1087</dl></div>
1088</div>
1089</div>
1090</div>
1091<div class="sect1">
1092<h2 id="_see_also">SEE ALSO</h2>
1093<div class="sectionbody">
1094<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>syslinux.cfg</strong>(5), <strong>syslinux-cli</strong>(1), <strong>lilo</strong>(8), <strong>keytab-lilo.pl</strong>(8),
1095<strong>fdisk</strong>(8), <strong>mkfs</strong>(8), <strong>superformat</strong>(1).</p></div>
1096</div>
1097</div>
1098<div class="sect1">
1099<h2 id="_author">AUTHOR</h2>
1100<div class="sectionbody">
1101<div class="paragraph"><p>This AsciiDoc derived document is a modified version of the original
1102<strong>SYSLINUX</strong> documentation by H. Peter Anvin &lt;<a href="mailto:hpa@zytor.com">hpa@zytor.com</a>&gt;. The conversion to
1103a manpage was made by Arthur Korn &lt;<a href="mailto:arthur@korn.ch">arthur@korn.ch</a>&gt;.  The conversion to
1104an AsciiDoc was made by Gene Cumm &lt;<a href="mailto:gene.cumm@gmail.com">gene.cumm@gmail.com</a>&gt;</p></div>
1105</div>
1106</div>
1107<div class="sect1">
1108<h2 id="_copyright">COPYRIGHT</h2>
1109<div class="sectionbody">
1110<div class="paragraph"><p>Copyright (C) 1994-2012 H. Peter Anvin. Free use of this software is granted
1111under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2
1112(GPLv2) (or, at your option, any later version).</p></div>
1113</div>
1114</div>
1115</div>
1116<div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
1117<div id="footer">
1118<div id="footer-text">
1119Last updated 2014-01-17 16:09:56 PST
1120</div>
1121</div>
1122</body>
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1124