I'm trying to install Slackware15 on a new computer. I've downloaded the .iso and wrote it to a USB stick. The system will not boot from it.
Things I've done: used Rufus and BalenaEtcher to write the USB in DD and HybridISO mode. Neither are bootable.
I've wrote usbimg.sys to a different usb drive and that at least loads elilo but pressing enter only displays loading kernel huge.s.....done , loading intitrd img .....done and then it hangs there, forever.
I downloaded a ubuntu iso to a third usb flash drive and it boots just fine. What am I missing? How do I make the slackeware 15 usb stick bootable?

Note I don't have a working slackware system right now so I can't follow alienbob's instructions either.

-Brian

Hello dalgrim and welcome to Slackware. I wonder is your PC new enough to support UEFI boot or Legacy MBR only? With that in mind are you using an F-Key to display boot order menu? ... and are you selecting UEFI USB if you have UEFI support or is this MBR-only?

IIRC Balenca, maybe Rufus too and certainly "isomaster" (both Windows and Linux versions) will check iso files and display if a boot sector is properly included.

Hi,
Don't know if it will help, but I always use this command without any issue:

I'm sorry, I completely forgot to give hardware info:
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
MSI B550 Pro-VDH (latest bios ver)
32GB GSKILL RAM 3200
1TB m.2 Samsung nvme 980 pro

Marav The usb drive is being created per the .iso. It's just that the ISO doesn't show as bootable. All the files are there.

enorbet, how what I check the boot sector of that usb?

And your USB stick ?

From what describes the OP, the Slackware flash drive does boot, then the discussing regarding bootsectors is probably meaningless.

The issues are on the next stage: the bootloader starts, loads the kernel and initrd, then the system hangs up.

I suggest to OP to prepare and try to boot a SlakLive, which is the live variant of latest Slackware-current:

https://docs.slackware.com/slackware:liveslak

Could happen that Slackware 15.0 to be already too old for the modern hardware of OP.

Additionally, the SlakLive has an unique support for booting under SecureBoot. Slackware itself hasn't.

Regarding OP's problem, I would note that I have 3 motherboards Asrock B75M-DASH which cannot boot in the CMS/legacy BIOS mode the Slackware, be it installation kit, liveSlak or my USB hard drives with full installs of Slackware.

The thing is that they behaves just like OP happens to see - the bootloader loading the kernel and initrd, then hangs.

BUT, they work well in the EFI boot mode. That's WHY I suggest to OP to ensure that he uses the EFI boot, not the CSM/legacy BIOS mode. This way there are better chances to boot.

1 members found this post helpful.

It's hard to tell exactly what started to boot since the only mention is that usbimg.sys was written to a different USB drive. We can guess that initrd and kernel were there but we don't yet know. Also, only an MBR boot worked at all and we don't know if OP's PC supports UEFI or if his PC autoboots removable drives first, if OP used Booty Order Menu, or if Secure Boot, etc are enabled or not. It would be good to know such details.

@Dalgrim - AFAIK The boot sector of the USB is created along with the partition type and file system. The boot device I was referring to that can be checked by IsoMaster and possibly Balenca and Rufus, is that encoded on the iso.

First thing I would do is access Boot Order Menu to see if BOTH UEFI and MBR entries exist for the USB drive.

Are you using 64bit or 32bit iso? Secure boot, fast boot disabled in bios/firmware settings?

Good question!

Because the Slackware 32bit will NOT boot in the EFI mode, and IF happens the motherboard to have also CSM/legacy BIOS boot issues, the OP has no solutions to boot properly the Slackware installation kit.

Unless he borrows the Ubuntu bootloader and do some Boot-Fu, by booting Ubuntu stick and manually loading the kernel (with its parameters) and initrd from Slackware installation driver.

The slackware15 x64 iso flash drive does NOT boot. It isn't even a boot option. It does not boot when written with DD or with hybridISO (Rufus).
I manually wrote a different usb drive with usbimg.sys. That one boots, but hangs.
Secureboot is off, fast boot disabled, UEFI mode is on. Legacy off.

USB sicks I've tried 16GB USB3 PNY, 64GB usb3 PNY, 8GB Sansdisk. All same problem, the system does not even detect them as a boot device. The systems DOES detect a ubuntu iso burned to that same flash drive, or a windows10 ISO on a usb flash drive.
I've tried multiple usb ports no change.

I'll try the live Slack version and see if that changes anything.

Hi,

I just read on Eric's blog;You can look here; https://us.liveslak.org/latest/ Be sure to read the banner.

EDIT: You might find helpful information here; https://docs.slackware.com/slackware...ters_explained

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy Slackware!

BTW, there is a guy who hit the same issue of OP - system hangs after loading the kernel and initrd, and looks like he even found a workaround:

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...re-4175671086/

Well it was a roundabout thing but here is what I did:
1) redownloaded the .iso, just in case.
2) booted to slackware live
3) DD the iso to a usb flash drive
4) rebooted and this time it worked.

I'm not sure why but my guess is the ISO wasn't writing correctly from windows I think it was in MBR instead of GPT/UEFI, This would prevent UEFI from booting it but would allow the files to be seen once mounted. (in a nutshell: This is what was happening)

Thank you to everyone for all the help and suggestions.

-Brian

2 members found this post helpful.

Congratz Dalgrim!