How to create multi-boot flash drive

[LanguidLegend]

Does anyone know of a way to take several different ISO's (multiple Windows ISO's, Ubuntu, Hiren's Boot CD, etc.) and put them onto a flash drive from which I can boot and select one?
I've tried several different utilities thus far - unetbootin, YUMI, XBoot - but none have allowed me to successfully add all my images.

Any input would be appreciated!

 

[gregrocker]

To do it with Win7 and Vista either 32- or 64-bit or mixed, write the Win7 ISO to stick using UltraISO trial version: on File tab open ISO, on Bootable tab Write Disk Image, Format, Write. This extracts the files to stick. Sweep them into a folder for storage when not booting - they must be out in root to boot.

Now you can extract the other Win7 and Vista ISO's into their own folders to use the same way to boot the stick which is already bootsected with /nt60.

As for the other tools you mention, if they use nt60 to boot then you can try to get them to boot the same way placing extracted files into the root with no other bootable ISO's extracted in root at time (keep in folders). If not you may need to install GRUB or another boot manager to stick to boot them - more trouble than I'm willing to do on the 16gb tools stick I carry in my pocket which has everything I need stored alongside the ISO's.

 

[kado897]

you could use YUMI multiboot creator. It allows one "native" win 7 install disk plus the others you mention.YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux

 

[LanguidLegend]

you could use YUMI multiboot creator. It allows one "native" win 7 install disk plus the others you mention.YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux

So I can install XP, Vista, and 7 using YUMI? I haven't had much luck with that in the past..

 

[kado897]

Perhaps not XP and Vista unless these will work as an "Unlisted ISO". Why don't you try it? It only takes a few minutes to create the USB.

 

[Ageeb]

I set out on a similar task about a year ago. Take a look at my thread.

If memory serves, I ended up using a utility called SARDU to complete it.

 

[kado897]

Yes. I have tried SARDU. I never got it to work with windows install disks but I must admit I didn't really try too hard as I only had the one install disk and YUMI worked with that,

 

[Ageeb]

Yes. I have tried SARDU. I never got it to work with windows install disks but I must admit I didn't really try too hard as I only had the one install disk and YUMI worked with that,

Just throwing out options was all. I used YUMI for another pen-drive project and, it too, worked fairly well. Personally, I found SARDU pretty painless and who doesn't like options?

 

[kado897]

True.

 

[gregrocker]

Sardu looks really good. Can you add all of those you want just by ticking multiple boxes? Do they conflict at all?

 

[Ageeb]

I didn't have any conflicts.
Have the ISO's on hand for each of the packages you want to install.
When you mouseover a package inside SARDU it will show the path and expected name of the ISO (allows you to install newer versions using wildcard's I believe?... been a while Greg)
That's pretty much it. Click, boom, bang.

Some FAQ's here and vid toots.

Ageeb

edit:
I ended up putting these on:

AntiVirus Rescue's
- Gdata
- Kaspersky
- F-Secure
- Panda

Utilities
- Macrium Rescue
- Parted Magic
- Clonezilla

Windows
- Windows 7 SP1 x86/x64 AIO installer
- Vista 32b recovery
- Vista 64b recovery
- 7 32b recovery
- 7 64b recovery

 

[kado897]

Just a note. The Macrium Rescue supported by SARDU is the Linux version. That is one of the reasons I went with YUMI the PE disk works fine as an unlisted ISO.

 

[alan10]

Just a note. The Macrium Rescue supported by SARDU is the Linux version. That is one of the reasons I went with YUMI the PE disk works fine as an unlisted ISO.

Please tell me more about YUMI - it failed for me last night.

I used
Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux
That used a Linux ISO from OCZ to give me a functional Boot Flash Drive that performs a Secure ATA Erase on my OCZ SSD.
I wish to include on a single Boot Flash Drive the same Linux ISO from OCZ
plus a 64 bit Macrium Reflect WinPE Rescue ISO.
Unfortunately the universal-usb-installer appears to be restricted to a single ISO.

I tried both YUMI-0.0.8.3.exe and YUMI-0.0.8.4.exe from
YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux
That produced a Bootable Flash Drive that included both ISO's.

UNFORTUNATELY
After launching the Linux ISO to check that it was viable I tried to close,
and it insisted upon me logging in with user name and password,
neither of which I know and neither of which I have encountered before when using that Linux ISO.
The only way I could terminate the Linux nonsense and reboot was via Ctrl-Alt-Del.
This problem did not appear when I used the universal-usb-installer.

UNFORTUNATELY
When I tried the WinPE ISO it loaded all its files but one,
and then gave a fatal error that it was missing
\Windows\System32\Drivers\Lsi-fc.sys
with a status of 0xc0000098.
I was unable to terminate by anything other than holding in the Power switch for 5 Seconds.

QUESTION
Is YUMI only suitable for 32 bit Windows XP installations,
and unsuitable for 64 bit WinPE Boot Rescue ISO's ?

UNFORTUNATELY
As a result of Linux misadventures and or my shutdown techniques
( which I have previous used without any consequences )
I no longer have a spare Flash Drive.
Windows Explorer wants to format it and then says it is write protected,
Both Windows Disc Management and Minitool Partition Wizard say that it is Active,
and both are unable to make it inactive and both are unable to format it.

REGRETABLY
That was my only spare Flash Drive.

SUPPLEMENTARY.
If possible I prefer a Multi-Boot that will allow me to transition from the Linux ISO to the WinPE ISO,
but WITHOUT going through any reboot/restart because my SSD became unbootable.
I spent an hour fighting my BIOS to make it recognise that the SSD was actually eligible for Boot Priority,
After which it booted.
I suspect that either
Linux calamities had damaged the CMOS settings,
or the fact that the BIOS saw an absolutely empty SSD during the Linux to WinPE transition caused it to cancel all Boot Priority settings,
even though a Boot Restart never caused this grief previously when the SSD was empty.

A petty irritation was that as a result of yesterday,
I now no longer saw the Boot Progress Screen,
and I had to work through all the BIOS settings before I found the option to again disable the OEM LOGO during Boot.

 

[kado897]

I'm not familiar with the Linux ISO from OCZ so I can't comment on that. YUMI is quite happy loading a Macrium 64bit WinPE disk. That is what I use.

 

[gregrocker]

Yumi will not boot multiple ISO's on my Kingston Data Traveler USB 3.0 flash stick. I've tried everything but it will only boot one Win7 ISO at a time I write with UltraISO.

Should I try Sardu?

 

[Golden]

I'm really confused by the trouble people have been having with YUMI - it has always worked for me. It doesn't touch any BIOS settings, so I think thats a red herring.

   Tip

The trick with the "Unlisted ISO" option of YUMI is that they must NOT have spaces in the ISO name

This is the Macrium Linux Rescue ISO written using YUMI - works perfectly every time on several systems, as does the more flexible WinPE:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/218920-macrium-reflect-create-bootable-rescue-usb-drive.html

 

[kado897]

You can only use one if installed as a Windows installation disk but you can use multiple WinPE ISO's if you load them as Unsupported ISOs. Some work and some don't. A Win7 recovery iso works as does the Macrium recovery disk. Windows defender offline however does not.

 

[kado897]

I'm really confused by the trouble people have been having with YUMI - it has always worked for me. It doesn't touch any BIOS settings, so I think thats a red herring.

   Tip

The trick with the "Unlisted ISO" is that they must NOT have spaces in the ISO name

This is the Macrium Linux Rescue ISO written using YUMI - works perfectly every time on several systems, as does the more flexible WinPE:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/218920-macrium-reflect-create-bootable-rescue-usb-drive.html

Good point. I came across that on my first attempt

 

[alan10]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will try again later when I have another Flash Drive to spare,
and probably after the next YUMI update.

My WinPE ISO is less than 200 MB with a normal (no space) 10 character name + 3 character ISO extension.
and the Linux ISO is about 50 MB with the name ocz-tools-320.iso.
Should I try changing that to a normal alphabet name without the '-' characters ?

QUESTION
After all the "approved" ISO's there are at the bottom

Try an Unlisted ISO
Try an Unlisted ISO (Run from RAM)

Please advise what are the pros and cons of (Run from RAM) ?

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

I don't know about the hyphens none of mine have them but I do have underscores so it is not limited to alpanumeric. The reason a blank is not allowed is the menu search function doesn't support blanks.

I don't use "Run from RAM". It may slow down the boot as I think it reads the entire ISO into memory before the boot.