XPost: uk.comp.os.linux, alt.windows7.general   
   From: java@evij.com.invalid   
      
   A reminder, this is a Linux/Windows ngs cross-post, because it has   
   relevance to both.  If you don't like that, please just stay out of the   
   thread rather than carping about it.   
      
   For those of you who remember the original thread begun in these same   
   ngs in June last year, I've now solved everything that most urgently   
   needed to be solved, except one newly discovered problem ...   
      
   For some strange reason, when booting directly from the USB the Grub   
   menu sometimes doesn't display, however the Grub menu on the hard disk   
   of the same PC always displays.  Accordingly I copied the modules from   
   the subdirectories of /boot/grub on the hard disk onto the USB, and did   
   a diff between both grub.cfg files, and there are no significant   
   differences between their preambles.  So officially I'm now baffled   
   about this.   
      
   In case it is helpful to others, here in full detail is what I have done   
   and some notes on how I did it ...   
      
   I created a 256GB USB with partitions as follows:   
      
   1     8GB    FAT32    Win PE + Ghost + Product Key Scanner   
   2     8GB    FAT32    Clonezilla   
   3    32GB    Ext4     XUbuntu 22   
   4    Rest    NTFS     Ghost Image & Installation ISO Files.   
      
   Grub is installed, with its code in the XUbuntu partition, and the   
   options, which all boot successfully, are as follows (the Linux ones are   
   abbreviated because, apart from some display string tidying up, they are   
   pretty much as installed by Grub, but for the rest the detail is   
   important, so they are given mostly in full:   
      
   menuentry 'XUbuntu 22' ... {   
   	...   
   }   
   submenu 'Advanced options for XUbuntu 22' ... {   
   	menuentry ... {   
   		...   
   	}   
   	...   
   }   
      
   ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###   
   menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+.elf)' {   
   	...   
   }   
   menuentry 'Memory test (memtest86+.bin, serial console)' {   
   	...   
   }   
   ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###   
      
   # See Note 1   
   menuentry 'Windows 32-Bit PE Environment With Ghost' --class windows   
   --class os {   
   	savedefault   
   	insmod part_msdos   
   	insmod fat   
   	set root='hd0,msdos1'   
   	chainloader +1   
   }   
      
   # See Note 2   
   menuentry 'Clonezilla 64-Bit' {   
   	savedefault   
   	set root=(hd0,msdos2)   
   	chainloader +1   
   }   
      
   # See Note 3   
   menuentry "Windows 98 Emergency Console" --unrestricted --class Windows {   
   	savedefault   
   	linux16 (hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/memdisk   
   	initrd16 (hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/W98_Emergency_Boot_Disk.img   
   }   
      
   # See also Note 3   
   menuentry "Windows 98 Emergency Console With Dell Diagnostics & Ghost   
   v2003" --unrestricted --class Windows {   
   	savedefault   
   	linux16 (hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/memdisk   
   	initrd16 (hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/W98_Emergency_Dell_Ghost.img   
   }   
      
   # See Note 4   
   menuentry "Ubuntu 18 64-Bit Desktop Installation" --unrestricted --class   
   Windows {   
   	savedefault   
   	insmod ext2   
   	insmod ntfs   
   	set iso_path="/ISOs/ubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso"   
   	loopback loop (hd0,msdos4)$iso_path   
   	linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$iso_path   
   quiet noeject noprompt splash   
   	initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz   
   }   
      
   # Similarly for Ubuntu 22 & 24, see also Note 4   
   menuentry "Ubuntu 20 64-Bit Desktop Installation" --unrestricted --class   
   Windows {   
   	savedefault   
   	insmod ext2   
   	insmod ntfs   
   	set iso_path="/ISOs/ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso"   
   	loopback loop (hd0,msdos4)$iso_path   
   	linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$iso_path   
   quiet noeject noprompt splash   
   	initrd (loop)/casper/initrd   
   }   
      
   menuentry "Ubuntu 22 64-Bit Desktop Installation" --unrestricted --class   
   Windows {   
   	...   
   }   
      
   menuentry "Ubuntu 24 64-Bit Desktop Installation" --unrestricted --class   
   Windows {   
   	...   
   }   
      
   # Similarly for Windows 8 through 11, see Note 5   
   menuentry "Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Install" --unrestricted --class   
   Windows {   
   	savedefault   
   	set   
   iso_path="(hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/Windows_07_Professional_64Bit_x17-59186.iso"   
   	loopback loop $iso_path   
   	linux16 (hd0,msdos4)/ISOs/wimboot   
   	initrd16 \   
   		newc:bootmgr:(loop)/bootmgr \   
   		newc:BCD:(loop)/boot/bcd \   
   		newc:boot.sdi:(loop)/boot/boot.sdi \   
   		newc:boot.wim:(loop)/sources/boot.wim   
   }   
      
   menuentry "Windows 8.1 Professional 64-Bit Install" --unrestricted   
   --class Windows {   
   	...   
   }   
      
   menuentry "Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit Install" --unrestricted   
   --class Windows {   
   	...   
   }   
      
   menuentry "Windows 11 Professional 64-Bit Install" --unrestricted   
   --class Windows {   
   	...   
   }   
   ### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###   
      
      
   Note 1   
   ======   
      
   A customised Win Pre-execution Environment (WinPE) may be made by   
   installing the Microsoft Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) and   
   its associated PE environment (= 2 installations).  Once the software   
   has been installed, you need to mount an architecture-dependent version   
   of the supplied image and apply updates to it, then create a working set   
   from the result, then apply customisations to the working set.   
   Instructions for this are beyond the scope of these notes, but may be   
   found here:   
      
   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/d   
   sktop/winpe-create-usb-bootable-drive   
      
   My customised WinPE works very well for running Ghost, etc, but suffers   
   from one fault, in that its timezone is wrong, and the Ghost image files   
   created have datetime stamps that are 8 hours ahead of UK time; I think   
   I know more or less how to fix this, but have yet to get around to doing so.   
      
   Curiously, a customised WinPE made as above is installed on a FAT32   
   partition, but those on the original Windows installation media are on   
   NTFS partitions.   
      
      
   Note 2   
   ======   
      
   Readers of the original thread will remember that there was a subthread   
   about trying to get Clonezilla to boot off a hard disk or USB partition   
   in exactly the same way as it does when a USB is made directly from the   
   ISO, and that eventually I found a solution.  Here's what I wrote   
   before, slightly updated:   
      
   WRT Clonezilla 3.1.2-22 and getting it to boot from a HD exactly as it   
   does from a USB, Clonezilla themselves don't actually tell you how to do   
   this ...   
        https://clonezilla.org/livehd.php   
   ... the method they give boots not into the initial menu, but straight   
   into the first choice from that menu.  However, Clonezilla is a syslinux   
   system, and there are other sources of information about syslinux that   
   are more helpful, for example this, the relevance of which will become   
   apparent:   
        https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/syslinux   
      
   WARNING:  The following overwrites both the MBR of the entire disk and   
   the PBR of Clonezilla's partition, so if you have other bootable   
   partitions &/or grub installed to choose between them, all this will be   
   lost, so make any backups necessary for restoration before running the   
   following command!   
      
   As long as you don't mind wrecking your multi-boot system and rebuilding   
   it afterwards, which may be why Clonezilla don't tell you about this   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)