SYSLINUX(1) General Commands Manual SYSLINUX(1)
NAME
syslinux - install the SYSLINUX bootloader on a FAT filesystem
SYNOPSISsyslinux [OPTIONS] deviceDESCRIPTIONSyslinux is a boot loader for the Linux operating system which operates
off an MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem. It is intended to simplify first-
time installation of Linux, and for creation of rescue and other special-
purpose boot disks.
In order to create a bootable Linux floppy using Syslinux, prepare a
normal MS-DOS formatted floppy. Copy one or more Linux kernel files to
it, then execute the command:
syslinux --install /dev/fd0
This will alter the boot sector on the disk and copy a file named
ldlinux.sys into its root directory.
On boot time, by default, the kernel will be loaded from the image named
LINUX on the boot floppy. This default can be changed, see the section
on the syslinux configuration file.
If the Shift or Alt keys are held down during boot, or the Caps or Scroll
locks are set, syslinux will display a lilo(8) -style "boot:" prompt. The
user can then type a kernel file name followed by any kernel parameters.
The SYSLINUX bootloader does not need to know about the kernel file in
advance; all that is required is that it is a file located in the root
directory on the disk.
Syslinux supports the loading of initial ramdisks (initrd) and the
bzImage kernel format.
OPTIONS-i, --install
Install SYSLINUX on a new medium, overwriting any previously
installed bootloader.
-U, --update
Install SYSLINUX on a new medium if and only if a version of
SYSLINUX is already installed.
-s, --stupid
Install a "safe, slow and stupid" version of SYSLINUX. This
version may work on some very buggy BIOSes on which SYSLINUX would
otherwise fail. If you find a machine on which the -s option is
required to make it boot reliably, please send as much info about
your machine as you can, and include the failure mode.
-f, --force
Force install even if it appears unsafe.
-r, --raid
RAID mode. If boot fails, tell the BIOS to boot the next device
in the boot sequence (usually the next hard disk) instead of
stopping with an error message. This is useful for RAID-1
booting.
-d, --directory subdirectory
Install the SYSLINUX control files in a subdirectory with the
specified name (relative to the root directory on the device).
-t, --offset offset
Indicates that the filesystem is at an offset from the base of the
device or file.
--once command
Declare a boot command to be tried on the first boot only.
-O, --clear-once
Clear the boot-once command.
-H, --heads head-count
Override the detected number of heads for the geometry.
-S, --sectors sector-count
Override the detected number of sectors for the geometry.
-z, --zipdrive
Assume zipdrive geometry (--heads 64 --sectors 32).FILESConfiguration file
All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
file called syslinux.cfg in the install directory of the boot disk. This
is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format, containing one or more of
the following items (case is insensitive for keywords).
This list is out of date.
In the configuration file blank lines and comment lines beginning with a
hash mark (#) are ignored.
default kernel [ options ... ]
Sets the default command line. If syslinux boots automatically, it
will act just as if the entries after "default" had been typed in
at the "boot:" prompt.
If no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the configuration file
is missing entirely, SYSLINUX drops to the boot: prompt with an
error message (if NOESCAPE is set, it stops with a "boot failed"
message; this is also the case for PXELINUX if the configuration
file is not found.)
NOTE: Until SYSLINUX 3.85, if no configuration file is present, or no
"default" entry is present in the configuration file, the default
is "linux auto".
Even earlier versions of SYSLINUX used to automatically
append the string "auto" to whatever the user specified using the
DEFAULT command. As of version 1.54, this is no longer true, as
it caused problems when using a shell as a substitute for "init."
You may want to include this option manually.
append options ...
Add one or more options to the kernel command line. These are
added both for automatic and manual boots. The options are added
at the very beginning of the kernel command line, usually
permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override them.
This is the equivalent of the lilo(8)
"append" option.
label labelkernel imageappend options ...
Indicates that if label is entered as the kernel to boot, syslinux
should instead boot image, and the specified "append" options
should be used instead of the ones specified in the global section
of the file (before the first "label" command.) The default for
image is the same as label, and if no "append" is given the
default is to use the global entry (if any). Use "append -" to
use no options at all. Up to 128 "label" entries are permitted.
The "image" doesn't have to be a Linux kernel; it can be a
boot sector (see below.)
implicit flag_val
If flag_val is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been
explicitly named in a "label" statement. The default is 1.
timeout timeout
Indicates how long to wait at the "boot:" prompt until booting
automatically, in units of 1/10 s. The timeout is cancelled as
soon as the user types anything on the keyboard, the assumption
being that the user will complete the command line already begun.
A timeout of zero will disable the timeout completely, this is
also the default. The maximum possible timeout value is 35996;
corresponding to just below one hour.
serial port [ baudrate ]
Enables a serial port to act as the console. "port" is a number (0
= /dev/ttyS0 = COM1, etc.); if "baudrate" is omitted, the baud
rate defaults to 9600 bps. The serial parameters are hardcoded to
be 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
For this directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it should be
the first directive in the configuration file.
font filename
Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output (except
the copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys itself is
loaded.) syslinux only loads the font onto the video card; if the
.psf file contains a Unicode table it is ignored. This only works
on EGA and VGA cards; hopefully it should do nothing on others.
kbdmap keymap
Install a simple keyboard map. The keyboard remapper used is very
simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from the BIOS,
which means that only the key combinations relevant in the default
layout - usually U.S. English - can be mapped) but should at
least help people with AZERTY keyboard layout and the locations of
= and , (two special characters used heavily on the Linux kernel
command line.)
The included program keytab-lilo.pl(8) from the lilo(8)
distribution can be used to create such keymaps.
display filename
Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before the
boot: prompt, if displayed). Please see the section below on
DISPLAY files. If the file is missing, this option is simply
ignored.
prompt flag_val
If flag_val is 0, display the "boot:" prompt only if the Shift or
Alt key is pressed, or Caps Lock or Scroll lock is set (this is
the default). If flag_val is 1, always display the "boot:"
prompt.
f1 filenamef2 filename...f9 filenamef10 filenamef11 filenamef12 filename
Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is
pressed at the "boot:" prompt. This can be used to implement pre-
boot online help (presumably for the kernel command line options.)
When using the serial console, press <Ctrl-F><digit> to get to the
help screens, e.g. <Ctrl-F>2 to get to the f2 screen. For
f10-f12, hit <Ctrl-F>A, <Ctrl-F>B, <Ctrl-F>C. For compatiblity
with earlier versions, f10 can also be entered as <Ctrl-F>0.
Display file format
DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX
format (with or without <CR>). In addition, the following special codes
are interpreted:
<FF> = <Ctrl-L> = ASCII 12
Clear the screen, home the cursor. Note that the screen is filled
with the current display color.
<SI><bg><fg>, <SI> = <Ctrl-O> = ASCII 15
Set the display colors to the specified background and foreground
colors, where <bg> and <fg> are hex digits, corresponding to the
standard PC display attributes:
0 = black 8 = dark grey
1 = dark blue 9 = bright blue
2 = dark green a = bright green
3 = dark cyan b = bright cyan
4 = dark red c = bright red
5 = dark purple d = bright purple
6 = brown e = yellow
7 = light grey f = white
Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the
corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing.
colors are not visible over the serial console.
<CAN>filename<newline>, <CAN> = <Ctrl-X> = ASCII 24
If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display the
graphic included in the specified file. The file format is an ad
hoc format called LSS16; the included Perl program "ppmtolss16"
can be used to produce these images. This Perl program also
includes the file format specification.
The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode. Once in graphics
mode, the display attributes (set by <SI> code sequences) work
slightly differently: the background color is ignored, and the
foreground colors are the 16 colors specified in the image file.
For that reason, ppmtolss16 allows you to specify that certain
colors should be assigned to specific color indicies.
Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with care:
0 is the background color, and 7 is the color used for the text
printed by SYSLINUX itself.
<EM>, <EM> = <Ctrl-U> = ASCII 25
If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode.
<DLE>..<ETB>, <Ctrl-P>..<Ctrl-W> = ASCII 16-23
These codes can be used to select which modes to print a certain
part of the message file in. Each of these control characters
select a specific set of modes (text screen, graphics screen,
serial port) for which the output is actually displayed:
Character Text Graph Serial
------------------------------------------------------
<DLE> = <Ctrl-P> = ASCII 16 No No No
<DC1> = <Ctrl-Q> = ASCII 17 Yes No No
<DC2> = <Ctrl-R> = ASCII 18 No Yes No
<DC3> = <Ctrl-S> = ASCII 19 Yes Yes No
<DC4> = <Ctrl-T> = ASCII 20 No No Yes
<NAK> = <Ctrl-U> = ASCII 21 Yes No Yes
<SYN> = <Ctrl-V> = ASCII 22 No Yes Yes
<ETB> = <Ctrl-W> = ASCII 23 Yes Yes Yes
For example:
<DC1>Text mode<DC2>Graphics mode<DC4>Serial port<ETB>
... will actually print out which mode the console is in!
<SUB> = <Ctrl-Z> = ASCII 26
End of file (DOS convention).
Other operating systems
This version of syslinux supports chain loading of other operating
systems (such as MS-DOS and its derivatives, including Windows 95/98).
Chain loading requires the boot sector of the foreign operating system to
be stored in a file in the root directory of the filesystem. Because
neither Linux kernels, nor boot sector images have reliable magic
numbers, syslinux will look at the file extension. The following
extensions are recognised:
none or other Linux kernel image
BSS Boot sector (DOS superblock will be patched in)
BS Boot sector
For filenames given on the command line, syslinux will search for the
file by adding extensions in the order listed above if the plain filename
is not found. Filenames in KERNEL statements must be fully qualified.
Novice protectionSyslinux will attempt to detect if the user is trying to boot on a 286 or
lower class machine, or a machine with less than 608K of low ("DOS") RAM
(which means the Linux boot sequence cannot complete). If so, a message
is displayed and the boot sequence aborted. Holding down the Ctrl key
while booting disables this feature.
The compile time and date of a specific syslinux version can be obtained
by the DOS command "type ldlinux.sys". This is also used as the signature
for the LDLINUX.SYS file, which must match the boot sector
Any file that syslinux uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly if
so is convenient; syslinux ignores all file attributes. The SYSLINUX
installed automatically sets the readonly attribute on LDLINUX.SYS.
Bootable CD-ROMs
SYSLINUX can be used to create bootdisk images for El Torito-compatible
bootable CD-ROMs. However, it appears that many BIOSes are very buggy
when it comes to booting CD-ROMs. Some users have reported that the
following steps are helpful in making a CD-ROM that is bootable on the
largest possible number of machines:
• Use the -s (safe, slow and stupid) option to SYSLINUX
• Put the boot image as close to the beginning of the ISO 9660
filesystem as possible.
A CD-ROM is so much faster than a floppy that the -s option shouldn't
matter from a speed perspective.
Of course, you probably want to use ISOLINUX instead. See the
documentation file isolinux.doc.
Booting from a FAT partition on a hard disk
SYSLINUX can boot from a FAT filesystem partition on a hard disk
(including FAT32). The installation procedure is identical to the
procedure for installing it on a floppy, and should work under either DOS
or Linux. To boot from a partition, SYSLINUX needs to be launched from a
Master Boot Record or another boot loader, just like DOS itself would. A
sample master boot sector (mbr.bin) is included with SYSLINUX.
BUGS
I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with SYSLINUX. I
would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used SYSLINUX,
especially if you are using it for a distribution.
If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information
about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems
reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much
information as possible in order to diagnose the problems.
There is a mailing list for discussion among SYSLINUX users and for
announcements of new and test versions. To join, send a message to
majordomo@linux.kernel.org with the line:
subscribe syslinux
in the body of the message. The submission address is
syslinux@linux.kernel.org.
SEE ALSOlilo(8), keytab-lilo.pl(8), fdisk(8), mkfs(8), superformat(1).
AUTHOR
This manual page is a modified version of the original syslinux
documentation by H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>. The conversion to a
manpage was made by Arthur Korn <arthur@korn.ch>.
SYSLINUX 19 July 2010 SYSLINUX(1)