Hi, billwill onggo: > 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 can't follow you here. If you really follow the installation guide ch04s03.html.en#usb-copy-flexible, you have to create a syslinux.cfg yourself, there is no existing syslinux.cfg (content), as you seem to be telling us. Be aware that within 4.3. there are several ways: syslinux.cfg does exist as a file using 4.3.2 as part of the hd-media/boot.img.gz. Did you select that? If not, there is no existing syslinux.cfg file. [...] Doing it the flexible way, the content of the syslinux.cfg to be created should be (it's from the stick I used for a real installation, so priority=medium is optional) : default vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz priority=medium If you want to have the installer boot with that, but additionally want to add some parameters at boot time, add a prompt 1 line to the syslinux.cfg. Please check that you haven't done steps that actually do not belong to "the flexible way". > > This is content of the syslinux.cfg the from installation guide : Yes, you're talking about a not so flexible way. > >> default vmlinuz >> append initrd=initrd.gz >> >> Shouldn't it be something like this? > >> default debi >> >> label debi >> kernel vmlinuz >> append initrd=initrd.gz >> Can't tell you anything about whether your observation here is right or wrong. Cheers Stephan