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Makebootfat Bootable FAT Disk Creation

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1 SYNOPSIS
==========
makebootfat [options] IMAGE

2 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/

3 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 like a harddisk. 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 `mbrfat.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 exclude 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 customization of the boot sector and of
the file `ldlinux.sys'.
This option do this customization without the need
to use the syslinux installer.
-Z, --zip
If possibile force the ZIP-Disk compatibility setting
a geometry of 32 sectors and 64 heads. It also uses the
4'th partition entry in the partition table.
It allows 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.

4 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 sometimes \\.\X: is a disk and not a partition, for example on
floppies and on all the USB Mass Storage devices without a
partition table.

5 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 eventually 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

6 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
For harddisk you can safely use the fat32lba.bin FAT32 boot
sector. For usb device, it's better to use the fat32chs.bin
FAT32 boot sector.

7 MULTI STANDARD USB BOOTING

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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 partition 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 -Z option.
Generally these standard are incompatible, but using the -m, -F
and -Z options you can create a disk compatible with all of these.
To use the -F option, the MBR image specified must follow
the constrains:
* It must start with a standard FAT 3 bytes jump instruction.
* 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

8 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

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

10 SEE ALSO
===========
syslinux(1), mkdosfs(1), dosfsck(1)