[Howto] Running BT4beta on the same usb key as BT3

[thunderwing]

Its a very simple task, thought there should be a post in case people starting asking. This howto is for people who already have BT3 installed on their usb key and want to try the beta without getting rid of the stable.

There are mixed reviews as to the reliability of this tutorial, so you can do it manually with the following instructions, or just download and use my boot folder and complete step1 and step2(you will have to run the bootinst.bat again for that to work)

Step1
Once you've downloaded the BT4 beta iso, extract it to a folder.

Step2a Step2b
Copy the 'BT4' folder to the root of your usb key

Step3a Step3b
Rename vmlinuz (found in the 'boot' folder of the extracted ISO) to beta.vmlinuz
Rename initrd.gz (found in the 'boot' folder of the extracted ISO) to beta.initrd.gz

Step4a Step4b
Copy beta.initrd.gz and beta.vmlinuz to the 'boot' folder of your usb key

Step5a Step5b
Add the following to the end of boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg on your usb key

LABEL BT4
MENU LABEL BT4 Beta - Console
KERNEL /boot/beta.vmlinuz
APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/beta.initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw quiet

LABEL BT4
MENU LABEL BT4 Beta - Console no FB
KERNEL /boot/beta.vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=/boot/beta.initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw quiet

Thats it.

edit: Added pictures to explain steps more in dept

[omarara]

Thanks i am going to check this

[sneeky]

Hi i have bt3 running on usb fine.
I followed your tutorial exactly as you say but when i get to the menu and select BT4beta it does not load anything.

It just highlights bt3 and start auto boot countdown i try selecting BT4beta again and same thing happens over and over.
Any ideas what im doing wrong?

[omarara]

Thanks i am going to check this

It didnt work when i press on it it do nothing !!
are you sure !

[thunderwing]

Just to be clear, the boot folder on your usb key should contain beta.initrd.gz, initrd.gz, beta.vmlinuz and vmlinuz. The beta.* ones should be taken from the boot folder (you renamed them before copying them over) of your extracted iso and the others should have been there from the beginning (from the BT3 install). This worked fine on my end.

Maybe you could post me your syslinux.cfg and a directory listing from your boot folder.

edit: i'm going to have a friend follow my instructions and see if they can make it work, maybe i forgot to post a step, but I'm too close to the problem to see it.
edit2: I had someone follow the steps literally without any improvisation, they are precise. The only thing i can think you guy's may have done is rename the initrd.gz and vmlinuz that where already on your key instead of the ones that came on the beta ISO. Please posts more specifics, I would love to help.

[d3vnu11]

Hi i have bt3 running on usb fine.
I followed your tutorial exactly as you say but when i get to the menu and select BT4beta it does not load anything.

It just highlights bt3 and start auto boot countdown i try selecting BT4beta again and same thing happens over and over.
Any ideas what im doing wrong?

Same here I went as far as copying the entire boot dir over knowing I had a backup then copying the bt3 sysconfig.cfg file over then adding the re-named kernels to the menu. Think we're missing something silly just can't think of what that is.
Regards

[thunderwing]

Same here I went as far as copying the entire boot dir over knowing I had a backup then copying the bt3 sysconfig.cfg file over then adding the re-named kernels to the menu. Think we're missing something silly just can't think of what that is.
Regards

I can't see that being the problem, i've just had friends reproduce the process just following the instructions in this post. But then taking into account that three of you haven't been successful I'm slightly thrown through a loop...

[kenl92]

I was literaly logging in to post a thread about this. But I decided to look at the new posts to see what was new and saw this! LOL

I'll go try this now and let you know my results.

Thanks
Kenny

[omarara]

i am very sorry Do i look so noob to you that i could over Write the original files with yours !!! sure i renamed it before i copy it and i opened bootinst.bat after i finished i don't believe that you include this in your HowTo.
anyway it doesn't work i followed you literally

[thunderwing]

i am very sorry Do i look so noob to you that i could over Write the original files with yours !!! sure i renamed it before i copy it and i opened bootinst.bat after i finished i don't believe that you include this in your HowTo.
anyway it doesn't work i followed you literally

I'm about to upgrade the post with picture by picture steps. I completed the steps as i made the screenshots so its guaranteed to work (thus fully tested). Will be posted once I get home

P.S. you don't have to use the bootinst.bat if BT3 was already installed on the key in question.