Re: How do I boot a live OS from its .iso file?

  This message is in MIME format.  The first part should be readable text,
  while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

---2121900931-912960025-1785464388=:60813
Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT
Content-ID: <[email protected]>

On Thu, 30 Jul 2026, Samuel Sieb wrote:

> On 7/30/26 5:39 PM, Michael Hennebry wrote:
>> On Thu, 30 Jul 2026, Samuel Sieb wrote:
>> 
>>> On 7/30/26 5:04 PM, Michael Hennebry wrote:
>>>> I've been trying to boot Fedora-Workstation-Live-44-1.7.x86_64.iso
>>>> without success.
>>>> In grub2, I've gotten as far as making loopback work.
>>>> I think that linux and initrd commands come next,
>>>> but what parameters to give them, I am at a loss.

>>> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB/Chainloading
>> 
>> Yup.  linux and initrd,
>> but what parameters to use?
>
> You might be able to just chainload the grub on the iso.

With ye olde grubbe,
I could make the .iso file into its own partition and chainload into that.
Possibly it was auto-detected, not sure any more.
In any case, I've read that making the .iso file into a partition no longer works,
no matter how many hoops one goes through.
I'm not sure chainloading to a file ever worked.

There seems to be agreement that what I am trying to do can usually be done.

> Otherwise, it's "linux" and "initrd" in /boot/x86_64/loader/

My latest effort looks like this (from /boot/grub2/grub.cfg):

menuentry "F44 Live ISO" {
   echo _10_
   set F44ISO="/hennebry/Fedora-Workstation-Live-44-1.7.x86_64.iso"
   echo _20_
   loopback -d basket
   echo _30_
   loopback basket (hd0,msdos7)$F44ISO
   echo _40_
   linux (basket)/boot/x86_64/loader/linux quiet rhgb  root=live:CDLABEL=Fedora-WS-Live-44 rd.live.image
   #linux (basket)/OSlive/vmlinuz boot=live components config findiso=$F44ISO ip=frommedia toram=filesystem.squashfs union=overlay username=user
   echo _50_
#  initrd (basket)/live/initrd.img
   initrd (basket)/boot/x86_64/loader/initrd
   echo _60_
}

I got the usual warning from loopback -d .
All my echos echoed.

After my echos, I got a warning that /dev/disk-by-label does not exist
and a warning that /dev/root does not exist.
It then went into a mode that I could only leave with the power button.
IIRC it gave me the option of control-D or enter,
both of which took me back to where I was.

-- 
Michael   [email protected]
"SCSI is NOT magic. There are *fundamental technical
reasons* why it is necessary to sacrifice a young
goat to your SCSI chain now and then."   --   John Woods
---2121900931-912960025-1785464388=:60813
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline
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==

---2121900931-912960025-1785464388=:60813--