I was trying to create a bootable USB flash disk following this guide : 4.3.3.2. Preparing Files For USB Memory Stick Booting > the flexible way > adding installer image https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.html.en#usb-copy-flexible <https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.html.en>
Booting the USB installer gives me a 'kernel panic - vfs unable to mount root fs' booting the USB installer This is strange, because several months ago i did successfully create a debian installer, using the same cd-image, following this same guide, and installed this Debian (i'm currently using to write this mail) into this machine. After struggling almost an hour, i got it working. I found that the content of the syslinux.cfg is the culprit since I cant boot without the syslinux.cfg file and manually provide the boot parameter at boottime boot: vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz I learned that this machine i was using to create the USB installer is on debian jessie having *syslinux version 6.03*. Then this is what I got from the syslinux site: http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Directives/append Take the following simple configuration: > > DEFAULT mykernel > APPEND root=/dev/sda2 > > Note that the APPEND line here is a *global* directive, as it is not part > of any LABEL entry. > > For Syslinux 4.xx and older, the above simple configuration works as (it > used to be) expected. > > *Since version 5.00,* the result for the above sample configuration is > that the *root=/dev/sda2* argument is not parsed, which will lead to > unexpected results, most probably with some kind of failure to boot the OS. > In other words, the *global* APPEND is ignored by the DEFAULT directive. > > For the above example, the configuration could be re-written as: > > DEFAULT mykernel root=/dev/sda2 > > or even better as: > > DEFAULT mylabel > LABEL mylabel > KERNEL mykernel > APPEND root=/dev/sda2 > > which "moves" the *global* APPEND line into the new LABEL entry. > > Generally speaking, it is recommended to have at least one LABEL entry. > Well, i struggled almost an hour reformating the USB, and copying several times :( for this simple fix.. this means i'm still a newbie. But from my point of view, i think... the installation guide might need a bit changes. Am I right? This is content of the syslinux.cfg the from installation guide : > default vmlinuz > append initrd=initrd.gz > > Shouldn't it be something like this? > default debi > > label debi > kernel vmlinuz > append initrd=initrd.gz > >
