[SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

grebulos · 2026-02-07 22:06:56

Solution: Rufus 4.12 (a windows tool to create bootable usb sticks) had problems with syslinux 6.04/20250415 and was unable to produce a stick that booted on my machine; using a linux live system to copy the iso with dd onto the stick worked.

------------

Hello everybody,

I have

1. downloaded the devuan_excalibur_6.1.0_amd64_netinstall.iso,
2. verified the SHA256SUM
3. Used rufus to create a bootable usb stick
4. Chose the stick in the boot menu
5. Screen shows "syslinux uefi bootloader booting devuan" and nothing else would ever happen

Same with devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso.

Same if I try to boot from the stick on my HP ENVY x360 13-ay0654ng

But booting does work just fine with (put with rufus on the same stick and no changes in bios whatsoever):

- devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_netinstall.iso
- CachyOS
- gparted

All attempts were made with MBR
Only difference I could see between working / non working was the syslinux versions (that rufus downloaded for the various iso)
Changing to GPT (in rufus) makes no difference

Hardware in question is a noname firewall MiniPC
Celeron J6413 Processor
RAM 1 x DDR4L 2400MHz SO-DIMM, 8GB
Storage 2 x M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (128GB, 1TB)
GPU UHD Graphics
Display 2HD + Type-C 4K 3 Output
Ports 4 x i226-V 2.5GbE LAN, 1 x Type-C port, 1 x USB 3.2 port, 4 x USB 2.0 port, 2 x HD port, 1 x TF Card Slot

Bios is AMI

It has no option for Legacy/UEFI
Secure boot is off
TPM is off

I have looked through the posts here, seen some slightly similiar issues, but not exactly the same and no solution.

I'd be grateful if anybody has any idea what's going wrong here.

Last edited by grebulos (Yesterday 13:56:04)

ralph.ronnquist · 2026-02-07 23:00:41

It sounds like you are using a legacy bios boot on a disk image file. That boot equipment variant does require that the boot partition is marked as bootable, which appears no to be the case for you.

grebulos · Yesterday 10:37:22

Thanks for the hint!

The boot partion on the usb stick has the boot (and lba) flag set. I checked with gparted.
No luck.

***

As I mentioned, I am using Rufus 4.12.2314 (a windows tool) to create the usb boot stick from the ISOs
and it works just fine with every distro I tried but Devuan Excalibur install ISOs (see list below, boot
flag was alwas set). I'd be happy to create the stick some other way that somebody here could recommended.

But based on my test (see the list below), my guess would be "syslinux 6.04" being the culprit:
- all devuan_excalibur_6.1.1 live (using syslinux 6.03) boot fine from the stick
- all devuan_excalibur_6.1.0 installer (using syslinux 6.04) fail
- obviously the Devuan team downgraded syslinux to 6.03 with Devuan 6.1.1

I really want Devuan on the machine.

I cannot start from Chimaera as that does not recognize the ethernet ports (Intel i226 2.5G).

I have a 12-day frame in which I can return the hardware with no questions asked, so I need to setup and test
thoroughly now ... are the installer ISOs to be updated to 6.1.1 (and syslinux 6.03) in the next few days?

Well, installing a minimal Trixie and then migrate that to Excalibur?

Any better ideas are welcome.

***

Devuan Excalibur (devuan_excalibur_6.1.1_amd64_minimal-live.iso)
syslinux 6.03/20150819
OK

Devuan Excalibur (devuan_excalibur_6.1.1_amd64_desktop-live.iso)
syslinux 6.03/20150819
OK

gparted 1.7.0
Grub 2.14
syslinux 6.03/20171018
OK

Antix 23.3 core
Grub 2.06
syslinux 6.03
OK

MX Linux 25.1
Grub 2.12-9
syslinux 6.03
OK

Debian 13
Grub 2.12-9
syslinux 6.04/20250413
OK

*** Fails ***

Devuan Ecxalibur (devuan_excalibur_6.1.0_amd64_netinstall.iso)
syslinux 6.04/20250415
FAIL: Freeze with "syslinux uefi bootloader booting devuan" directly after Bios logo (or Bios boot menu)

Devuan Excalibur (devuan_excalibur_6.1.0_amd64_server.iso)
syslinux 6.04/20250415
FAIL: Freeze with "syslinux uefi bootloader booting devuan" directly after Bios logo (or Bios boot menu)

Devuan Daedalus (devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso)
Syslinux 6.04/20200816
FAIL: Instant freeze after Bios logo (or Bios boot menu)

Last edited by grebulos (Yesterday 11:21:29)

ralph.ronnquist · Yesterday 11:30:34

I have no idea what Rufus is or does. But I know that the ISO is made for being copied verbatim onto the disk media from block 0 and up. Perhaps you could find and try with using "DD for Windows" instead?

grebulos · Yesterday 11:41:58

Thanks, is this what I should do?

1. download the install.iso onto a linux system
2. insert the usb stick
3. assuming that usb stick is /dev/sdc:

$> dd if=/path/to/install.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress

ralph.ronnquist · Yesterday 11:50:46

Yes that should be fine.

As far as I know, the only possible caveat in that would be if the USB stick was of a kind that doesn't allow block 0 to be updated. But it's very unusual to run into those nowadays. To be really sure about that you would need to copy back the USB content to the size of the ISO into another file, and then compare that with the ISO (e.g. by using shasums).

grebulos · Yesterday 13:50:24

Ok, that worked ... booted sucessfully from devuan_excalibur_6.1.0_amd64_netinstall.iso ... Thank you

So it is in fact Rufus in conjunction with (at least) two syslinux 6.04 versions (20250415 and 20200816). I simply hate these misleading empirics ... a long trusted tool was not readily suspcious in this case. Well, one learns.

greenjeans · Yesterday 16:13:19

@grebulos, if you'd like a reliable GUI method for writing to USB sticks, try Mintstick, it's in the repo and has been flawless for me over hundreds of uses.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2026-02-07 22:06:56

[SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#2 2026-02-07 23:00:41

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#3 Yesterday 10:37:22

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#4 Yesterday 11:30:34

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#5 Yesterday 11:41:58

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#6 Yesterday 11:50:46

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#7 Yesterday 13:50:24

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

#8 Yesterday 16:13:19

Re: [SOLVED] excalibur netinstall iso does not boot from USB stick

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