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I have many CD ISOs downloaded from the Internet. They are each about 100 MB in size and consist of repair/diagnostic programs and other tools. Some of them are Linux-based; others are based on DOS clones, like FreeDOS.

I want to put all of the ISOs onto one bootable DVD, so that when I use the DVD, I will get a menu prompting me to select the ISO I want to boot. How can I do this?

I've seen some rescue CDs that are combinations of other people's ISOs, but I have no idea how they were made.

Regarding bounty:

I, a different person than the OP, have placed a bounty on this question for a solution that meets ALL of these criteria:

  • Is for DVDs (not flash drives!!!)
  • Is free
  • Works with any ISO file, regardless of original OS
Community
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rsk82
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8 Answers8

8

I did some research and found this tool called SARDU. This tool is free for non-commercial use. I read the website, and I think it can do what you're looking for. You may also want to look at the "Extra's" page to learn how to install ISOs that aren't officially supported by the software.

EDIT: Found you something else, although this has a specific list of supported .iso's that you need to use; you can't use anything other than these. It's called MultiCD, and it's a shell script. Here's the list of supported distros. Most stuff I've looked at has a specific list of stuff you can intall. SARDU is the only one I've seen so far that lets you use whatever ISOs you want.

But seriously, what's wrong with using flash drives? This is certainly a very interesting question, but flash drives are more practical in my opinion. You can get flash drives in MUCH larger sizes than even the highest capacity DVDs.

LiveWireBT
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ephilip
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    The tool seems interesting, but for some reason all of its checkboxes are disabled when I run it. Any idea what might be causing that? [ **Edit:** I think I figured out why, never mind.] (As for why I don't want flash drives: the *very fact* that they are rewritable is the reason. Same reason why you shouldn't store backups on flash drives: they can be accidentally messed up.) – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 00:38
  • That's a very good point, but you could just keep a backup image of the drive. – ephilip Sep 05 '11 at 01:08
  • Where do I keep the backup? On *another* rewritable drive? The entire point is to keep the ultimate backup on something read-only. ;) – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 01:23
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    It seems like SARDU "*works*", but it's quite limited (at least without going through a lot of pain). +1 it's a great option, but I'd really rather something easier (or at least more extensible). – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 01:24
  • @Mehrdad On a DVD. xD – ephilip Sep 05 '11 at 01:53
7

Customize the UBCD template

Using the template that is provided with the UBCD, you can easily sub in your own ISO images and have a nice menu for a user to select from:

To add your own ISO images to UBCD, copy them to c:\ubcd-extracted\ubcd\custom. You can optionally compress each image using gzip (via a tool such as 7-Zip) to make them smaller. Then edit c:\ubcd-extracted\ubcd\custom\custom.cfg and add each ISO image to the menu.

For example:

LABEL -
MENU LABEL Windows 98
TEXT HELP
 Windows 98 boot disk
ENDTEXT
LINUX /boot/syslinux/memdisk
INITRD /ubcd/custom/win98.iso.gz
APPEND iso raw

I have done this on numerous occasions to build customized UBCDs or just alternative boot CDs with other utilities or options (such as multiple live operating systems)

rsk82
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MaQleod
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    Wait, what!! Is it really that easy?? I really hope I get a chance to test this, and that the `Note that not all ISO images can be successfully booted this way.` warning doesn't apply in my case... let's see how this goes. – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 08:52
  • This sometimes seems to work. However, it needs exactly as much RAM as the ISO size (or more??)... is there a way to avoid that? Otherwise I'd be reading 700 MB of data into memory, just to boot... and I even got "not enough memory" on a 2-GB virtual machine, when my ISO file is 700 MB. Any fix? – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 19:03
  • Ah, OK, it seems like it works fine on VirtualBox, if I have enough memory. 700 MB is still a lot, though... – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 19:12
  • It seems like I get error `0x0000007B` if I try to use the XP installation ISO this way (`INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE`) on VirtualBox. I'm not sure if I'll try it on my actual computer, but I'm guessing this method might not always work. – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 20:10
  • hmm, I've never tried to use the XP installation ISO, just BartPE with XP live. – MaQleod Sep 08 '11 at 20:10
5

Consider switching to USB flash drive. I carry 6 isos around on a USB drive, some Linux, some utility and rescue disks. The USB experience is so much faster, and it is incredibly easy to create using this tool:

Pen Drive Linux

How to Create a MultiBoot USB Flash Drive

  1. Run YUMI-0.0.2.8.exe following the onscreen instructions
  2. Run the tool again to Add More ISOs/Distributions to your Drive
  3. Restart your PC setting it to boot from the USB device
  4. Select a distribution to Boot from the Menu and enjoy!

Once you have a drive created it is easy to add and remove manually from the list if you come across a distro that isn't automatically supported by the software. (or at least it was with the previous version which I use)

James Mertz
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Dennis
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2

You can easily make a multiboot DVD with EasyBoot.

enter image description here

Gaff
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kaykay
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2

Have a look at this article : Super-Disc: Multi-Boot Project CD/DVD Using ISOLINUX.
The method uses ISOLINUX to assemble the DVD.

The article is oriented Linux, but contains also at its end directions for including XP, which should work for all versions of Windows.

You must understand that before making a Multi-Boot DVD, you should already be able to make a working, bootable CD of each of the OS's you intend to include.

harrymc
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  • Hmmmmm doesn't look trivial but seems like it's worth a shot, I'll look into it. Thanks! – user541686 Sep 03 '11 at 03:05
  • I tried getting it to work, but it's hard to follow -- I can't find binaries for syslinux, for instance. :( – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 01:40
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    The article lists at the beginning all the required tools and their websites. The [Syslinux download](http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/) contains ISOLINUX. – harrymc Sep 05 '11 at 05:49
  • Yes, I found the website and the download, but the problem is that it seems to be source code. I can't figure out which files I need and which ones I don't. – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 06:03
  • I found the binaries in the "core" subfolder in both the Windows and Linux releases. The HowTo details exactly which files to copy where, so just follow the steps. If you don't see a file, just search for it in the directory you unpacked the release into. – harrymc Sep 05 '11 at 06:17
  • Are you sure the HowTo explains exactly which files I need? I see `Next, extract the SYSLINUX kit into \syslinux (be sure to keep the original directory structure)` but I have no idea which files they need. (Obviously they're not referring to the entire ZIP file, but are they referring to the `core` folder or something else? not sure...) – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 08:17
  • I think "SYSLINUX kit" refers (rather confusingly) to the downloaded SYSLINUX archive. The directory `\syslinux` is just specified in order to give it some name. – harrymc Sep 05 '11 at 08:48
  • Oh wow, that's confusing. I'll give it a try when I get another chance, thanks. – user541686 Sep 05 '11 at 09:09
  • The terminology used is a bit inconsistent, but clear when one understands what the author meant, which is basically : Unpack the archive, get the files listed from the "core" subfolder and copy them to their respective new directories. – harrymc Sep 05 '11 at 09:51
  • I tried following it but I ran across so many inconsistencies between the directory hierarchy and the instructions (probably because they had gotten out of date) that I couldn't get anything done. :( +1 anyway; I have a feeling it would work pretty well if I get the chance to spend more time and find the right files on the internet. – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 08:48
  • From the comments, I would say that it works, but perhaps the instructions are somewhat unclear. I am sorry, but I don't have the time to rewrite them in a clearer way. If you have a geeky friend ... – harrymc Sep 08 '11 at 10:52
2

Have a look at XBoot

https://sites.google.com/site/shamurxboot/tipsntrick

or YUMI

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

Moab
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    @paranoid, Moab: Are you sure `XBoot` works for arbitrary ISOs? It seems to be [very limited](https://sites.google.com/site/shamurxboot/tips-tricks)... – user541686 Sep 08 '11 at 20:13
  • from the xboot site page I posted, " Some ISO files which are not supported can be added using Grub4dos ISO Emulation Go to page Tips & Tricks for further details." – Moab Sep 09 '11 at 02:23
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This page has a lot of information: http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootablecd mostly about how they created the Hiren's Boot CD menu but could be adapted for other uses.

You may also want to take a look at Bart PE to create bootable windows environments as well. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Regards

yoydigg3r
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-1

Try Easy2Boot (E2B)

Free, works great with USB drives.

Though I haven't tested the tool with DVD, it should work this way as well according to the guide Make and burn an E2B DVD or CD.

AntonK
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