Makebootfat Bootable FAT Disk Creation(1)		      General Commands Manual			 Makebootfat Bootable FAT Disk Creation(1)

NAME

       makebootfat - Makebootfat Bootable FAT Disk Creation

SYNOPSIS

       makebootfat [options] IMAGE
DESCRIPTION

       This utility creates a bootable FAT filesystem and populates it with files and boot tools.

       It is mainly designed to create bootable USB and Fixed disk for the AdvanceCD project.

       The official site of AdvanceCD and makebootfat is:

	   http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/
OPTIONS

       -o, --output DEVICE
	      Specify  the  output  device.  It must be the device where you want to setup the filesystem.  You can use the special "usb" value to
	      automatically select the USB Mass Storage device connected at the system.  This option is always required.

       -b, --boot FILE

       -1, --boot-fat12 FILE

       -2, --boot-fat16 FILE

       -3, --boot-fat32 FILE
	      Specify the FAT boot sector images to use. The -b option uses the same sector for all the FAT types. The other options can  be  used
	      to  specify  a  different sector for different FAT types. The FAT types for which a boot sector is not specified are not used.  This
	      option is always required.

       -m, --mbr FILE
	      Specify the MBR sector image to use.  If this option is specified a partition table is created on the disk. Otherwise  the  disk	is
	      filled without a partition table like a floppy disk.

       -F, --mbrfat
	      Change the MBR image specified with the -m option to pretend to be a FAT filesystem starting from the first sector of the disk. This
	      allows booting from USB-FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) also using a partition table generally required by USB-HDD (Hard Disk  Drive).   The
	      MBR  image  specified with the -m option must have executable code positioned like a FAT boot sector. You can use the included 'mbr-
	      fat.bin' file.

       -c, --copy FILE
	      Copy the specified file in the root directory of the disk.  The file is copied using the readonly attribute.

       -x, --exclude FILE
	      Exclude the specified files and subdirectories in the IMAGE directory to copy. The path must be specified using the same format used
	      in the IMAGE directory specification.

       -X, --syslinux2
	      Enforce the syslinux 2.xx FAT limitations. Syslinux 2.xx doesn't support FAT32 at all, and FAT16 with 64 and 128 sectors per cluster
	      formats.	This option excludes all the FAT formats not supported by syslinux. Please  note  that	it  limits  the  maximum  size	of
	      filesystem to 1 GB.

       -Y, --syslinux3
	      Enforce the syslinux 3.xx FAT support. Syslinux 3.00 supports all the FAT types and sizes but it requires a special customisation of
	      the boot sector and of the file 'ldlinux.sys'.  This option does this customisation without the need to use the  syslinux  installer
	      if the 'ldlinux.sys' file is copied on disk with the -c option.

       -Z, --zip
	      If  possible  force the ZIP-Disk compatibility. It sets a geometry of 32 sectors and 64 heads. It also uses the 4'th partition entry
	      in the partition table.  It's required to boot also in USB-ZIP mode.

       -P, --partition
	      Ensure to operate on a partition and not on a disk.

       -D, --disk
	      Ensure to operate on a disk and not on a partition.

       -L, --label LABEL
	      Set the FAT label. The label is a string of 11 chars.

       -O, --oem OEM
	      Set the FAT OEM name. The OEM name is a string of 11 chars.

       -S, --serial SERIAL
	      Set the FAT serial number. The serial number is a 32 bit unsigned integer.

       -E, --drive DRIVE
	      Set the BIOS drive to setup in the FAT boot sector.  Generally this value is ignored by boot sectors,  with  the	exception  of  the
	      FAT12 and FAT16 FreeDOS boot sectors that require the correct value or the value 255 to force auto detection.

       -v, --verbose
	      Print some information on the device and on the filesystem created.

       -i, --interactive
	      Show the errors in a message box. Only for Windows.

       -h, --help
	      Print a short help.

       -V, --version
	      Print the version number.

       IMAGE  Directory image to copy on the disk. All the files and subdirectories present in this directory are copied on the disk.

DISKS AND PARTITIONS NAMES

       In  Linux  disk devices are named /dev/hdX or /dev/sdX where X is a letter. Partition devices are named /dev/hdXN or /dev/sdXN where X is a
       letter and N a digit.

       In Windows disk devices are named \.PhysicalDriveN where N is a digit. Partition devices are named \.X: where X is a letter, but  some-
       times \.X: is a disk and not a partition, for example on floppies and on all the USB Mass Storage devices without a partition table.

SYSLINUX

       To  make a bootable FAT using syslinux you must use the -X option for syslinux version 2.xx or the -Y option for syslinux version 3.xx. You
       must also copy in the root directory of the disk the files:
       ldlinux.sys The syslinux loader.
       syslinux.cfg The syslinux configuration file.
       linux The Linux kernel image  (the file name may be different).
       initrd.img The initrd filesystem (the file name may be different or missing).

       You must also specify the 'ldlinux.bss' boot sector with the -b option and possibily the 'mbr.bin' MBR sector with the -m option.  Both the
       sector images are present in the syslinux package.

       For example:

	   makebootfat -o usb 
		-Y 
		-b ldlinux.bss -m mbr.bin 
		-c ldlinux.sys -c syslinux.cfg 
		-c linux -c initrd.img 
		image
LOADLIN AND FREEDOS

       To make a bootable FAT using loadlin and FreeDOS you must copy in the root directory of the disk the files:
       kernel.sys The FreeDOS kernel. Remember to use the "32" kernel version to support FAT32.
       command.com The FreeDOS shell.
       autoexec.bat Used to start loadlin.
       loadlin.exe The loadlin executable.
       linux The Linux kernel image  (the file name may be different).
       initrd.img The initrd filesystem (the file name may be different or missing).

       You  must  also specify the FreeDOS boot sectors available on the FreeDOS 'sys' source package with the -1, -2, -3 option.  For the MBR you
       can use the sectors image available on the FreeDOS 'fdisk' source package.

       For example:

	   makebootfat -o /dev/hda1 
		-E 255 
		-1 fat12com.bin -2 fat16com.bin -3 fat32lba.bin 
		-c kernel.sys -c command.com 
		-c autoexec.bat -c loadlin.exe 
		-c linux -c initrd.img 
		image
MULTI STANDARD USB BOOTING

       The BIOS USB boot support is generally differentiated in three categories: USB-HDD, USB-FDD and USB-ZIP.

       The USB-HDD (Hard Disk Drive) standard is the preferred choice and it requires the presence of a partition table in the first sector of the
       disk. You can create this type of disk using the -m option.

       The  USB-FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) standard requires the presence of a filesystem starting from the first sector of the disk without a parti-
       tion table.  You can create this type of disk without using the -m option.

       The USB-ZIP (ZIP Drive) standard requires the presence of a device with a very specific geometry. Specifically, it requires a geometry with
       32  sectors  and  64  heads. It also requires the presence of a partition table with only a bootable partition in the fourth entry. You can
       create this type of disk using the -m and -Z option.

       Generally these standards are incompatible, but using the -m, -F and -Z options you can create a disk compatible with all of them.

       To use the -F option, the MBR image specified must follow the constrains:
       o      It must start with a standard FAT 3 bytes jump instruction.
       o      It must have the bytes from address 3 to 89 (included) unused.

       And example of such image is in the 'mbrfat.bin' file.

       For example to create a syslinux image:

	   makebootfat -o usb 
		-Y 
		-Z 
		-b ldlinux.bss -m mbrfat.bin -F 
		-c ldlinux.sys -c syslinux.cfg 
		-c linux -c initrd.img 
		image
       and for a FreeDOS and loadlin image:

	   makebootfat -o usb 
		-E 255 
		-Z 
		-1 fat12com.bin -2 fat16com.bin -3 fat32chs.bin 
		-m mbrfat.bin -F 
		-c kernel.sys -c command.com 
		-c autoexec.bat -c loadlin.exe 
		-c linux -c initrd.img 
		image
       Please note that FreeDos has some problems booting from USB. It works only on very few conditions.

EXCLUSION

       To exclude some files or directories in the image copy, you can use the -x option using the same path specification which are you using for
       the image directory.

       For example, if you need to exclude the 'isolinux' and 'syslinux' subdirectories from the 'image' directory you can use the command:

	   makebootfat ... 
		-x image/isolinux 
		-x image/syslinux 
		image
COPYRIGHT

       This file is Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Andrea Mazzoleni

SEE ALSO

       syslinux(1), mkdosfs(1), dosfsck(1)

													 Makebootfat Bootable FAT Disk Creation(1)