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How to Boot Linux ISO Images Directly From Your DID YOU KNOW
Hard Drive The most distant cities (with a population of over
by Chris Hoffman on September 26th, 2014 100,000 people) on Earth are Rosario, Argentina and
Xinghua, China, which are separated by 12,425 miles
(19,996 kilometers).

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Linux’s GRUB2 boot loader can boot Linux ISO files directly from your hard drive. Boot
How to Find and Remove Duplicate
Linux live CDs or even install Linux on another hard drive partition without burning it to
Files on Windows
disc or booting from a USB drive.

What Kind of Ethernet (Cat5, Cat5e,

We performed this process on Ubuntu 14.04 — Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based Linux Cat6, Cat6a) Cable Should I Use?
distributions have good support for this. Other Linux distributions should work
similarly. How to the Monitor the Bandwidth
and Data Usage of Individual Devices
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RELATED: How to Configure the GRUB2 Boot Loader’s Settings
Windows or Mac

This trick requires you have a Linux system installed on your hard drive. Your computer Should You Change Your Passwords
must be using the GRUB2 boot loader, which is a standard boot loader on most Linux Regularly?
systems. Sorry, you can’t boot a Linux ISO file directly from a Windows system using the
Windows boot loader. 10 Quick Ways to Speed Up a Slow
Mac
Download the ISO files you want to use and store them on your Linux partition. GRUB2
should support most Linux systems. if you want to use them in a live environment How to Fax a Document From Your
without installing them to your hard drive, be sure to download the “live CD” versions of Smartphone

each Linux ISO. Many Linux-based bootable utility discs should also work.
Do You Realize How Much You Share
Your Location?
Check the Contents of the ISO File
What’s the Best Way to Back Up My
You may need to look inside the ISO file to determine exactly where specific files are. For Computer?
example, you can do this by opening the ISO file with the Archive Manager/File Roller
graphical application that comes with Ubuntu and other GNOME-based desktop The Best Apps For College
environments. In the Nautilus file manager, right-click the ISO file and select Open with Roommates
Archive Manager.

Locate the kernel file and the initrd image. If you’re using a Ubuntu ISO file, you’ll find GET THE HTG NEWSLETTER
these files inside the casper folder — the vmlinuz file is the Linux kernel and the initrd Join 100,000 other subscribers
file is the initrd image. You’ll need to know their location inside the ISO file later.
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Determine the Hard Drive Partition’s Path

GRUB uses a different “device name” scheme than Linux does. On a Linux system,
/dev/sda1 is the first partition on the first hard disk — a means the first hard disk and
1 means its first partition. In GRUB, (hd0,1) is equivalent to /dev/sda0. The 0 means the
first hard disk, while the 1 means the first partition on it. In other words, in a GRUB
device name, the disk numbers start counting at 0 and the partition num6ers start
counting at 1 — yes, it’s unnecessarily confusing. For example, (hd3,6) refers to the sixth
partition on the fourth hard disk.

You can use the fdisk -l command to view this information. On Ubuntu, open a Terminal
and run the following command:

sudo fdisk -l

You’ll see a list of Linux device paths, which you can convert to GRUB device names on
your own. For example, below we can see the system partition is /dev/sda1 — so that’s
(hd0,1) for GRUB.
Create the GRUB2 Boot Entry

The easiest way to add a custom boot entry is to edit the /etc/grub.d/40_custom script.
This file is designed for user-added custom boot entries. After editing the file, the
contents of your /etc/defaults/grub file and the /etc/grub.d/ scripts will be combined to
create a /boot/grub/grub.cfg file — you shouldn’t edit this file by hand. It’s designed to
be automatically generated from settings you specify in other files.

You’ll need to open the /etc/grub.d/40_custom file for editing with root privileges. On
Ubuntu, you can do this by opening a Terminal window and running the following
command:

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom

Feel free to open the file in your favorite text editor. For example, you could replace
“gedit” with “nano” in the command to open the file in the Nano text editor.

Unless you’ve added other custom boot entries, you should see a mostly empty file.
You’ll need to add one or more ISO-booting sections to the file below the commented
lines.
Here’s how you can boot an Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based distribution from an ISO file. We
tested this with Ubuntu 14.04:

menuentry “Ubuntu 14.04 ISO” {

set isofile=”/home/name/Downloads/ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso”
loopback loop ( h d 0 , 1 )$isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=${isofile}
quiet splash
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

Customize the boot entry to contain your desiredmenu entry name, the correct path to
the ISO file on your computer, and the device name of the hard disk and partition
containing the ISO file. If the vmlinuz and initrd files have different names or paths, be
sure to specify the correct path to those files, too.

(If you have a separate /home/ partition, omit the /home bit, like so: set
isofile=”/name/Downloads/${isoname}”).

Important Note: Different Linux distributions require different boot entries with
different boot options. The GRUB Live ISO Multiboot project offers a variety of menu
entries for different Linux distributions. You should be able to adapt these example
menu entries for the ISO file you want to boot. You can also just perform a web search
for the name and release number of the Linux distribution you want to boot along with
“boot from ISO in GRUB” to find more information.

If you want to add more ISO boot options, add additional sections to the file.

Save the file when you’re done. Return to a Terminal window and run the following
command:

sudo update-grub
 The next time you boot your computer, you’ll see the ISO boot entry and you can choose
it to boot the ISO file. You may have to hold Shift while booting to see the GRUB menu.

If you see an error message or a black screen when you attempt to boot the ISO file, you
misconfigured the boot entry somehow. Even if you got the ISO file path and device
name right, the paths to the vmlinuz and intird files on the ISO file may not be correct or
the Linux system you’re booting may require different options.

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Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around computer geek. He's as at

home using the Linux terminal as he is digging into the Windows registry.
Connect with him on Twitter.

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