Cannot boot from live usb OS 12.3

I have a desktop from which I have installed several opensuse releases in the past from a live usb disk. But with 12.3 I can’t boot the live usb key after a restart…

I’ve tried the usb zip on my laptop, and there it boots ok, so the zip itself is fine (installed it with imagewriter). On the desktop, with opensuse 12.1 and 12.2, the live usb zip was always recognized by my bios as a hard drive. I needed to open the boot sequence at startup and just select the usb zip as a hard drive. Then my installation could start.

But on 12.3, my usb zip is not recognized as a hard drive, so I can’t select it to boot from… I also tried selecting usb-zip from the boot menu, but that doesn’t boot anything neither…

So what has changed on the live iso images that cripples a live usb boot? I noticed an EFI directory on the usb, which seems new to me.

Any help please. I need this to install 12.3.

Update: I was trying 64 bit image and now as a test I also tried the 32 bit image. Guess what: the 32 bit image boots just fine. Unfortunately I really need the 64 bit image…

One difference I see between the two is that the 64 bit image has an extra patition when written on the usb disk. Could that be the cause of the problem? Then, what can I do to boot this disk?

32 bit:


fdisk /dev/sdc
Welkom bij fdisk (util-linux 2.21.2).

Wijzigingen worden alleen in het computergeheugen gemaakt,
tot het moment dat u besluit ze naar schijf te schrijven.
Wees voorzichtig vóór het gebruik van de schrijfopdracht.


Opdracht (m voor hulp): p

Schijf /dev/sdc: 2041 MB, 2041577472 bytes
64 koppen, 32 sectoren/spoor, 1947 cilinders, totaal 3987456 sectoren
Eenheid = sectoren van 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sectorgrootte (logischl/fysiek): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
in-/uitvoergrootte (minimaal/optimaal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Schijf-ID: 0x21e53f60

** Apparaat Opstart   Begin       Einde     Blokken   ID  Systeem
/dev/sdc1   *          64     1900543      950240   83  Linux**


64 bit version:


fdisk /dev/sdc
Welkom bij fdisk (util-linux 2.21.2).

Wijzigingen worden alleen in het computergeheugen gemaakt,
tot het moment dat u besluit ze naar schijf te schrijven.
Wees voorzichtig vóór het gebruik van de schrijfopdracht.


Opdracht (m voor hulp): p

Schijf /dev/sdc: 2041 MB, 2041577472 bytes
64 koppen, 32 sectoren/spoor, 1947 cilinders, totaal 3987456 sectoren
Eenheid = sectoren van 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sectorgrootte (logischl/fysiek): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
in-/uitvoergrootte (minimaal/optimaal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Schijf-ID: 0xcee0ec63

** Apparaat Opstart   Begin       Einde     Blokken   ID  Systeem
/dev/sdc1             404        8595        4096   ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sdc2   *        8596     1951743      971574   83  Linux**

I installed openSUSE 12.3 using Live USB. Was the downloaded image hash checked ?

The live image format has changed for compatibility with UEFI systems, and that seems to be what is confusing your BIOS. The live KDE image boots fine for me. Presumably it boots fine for other, or we would have heard many compaints.

The “iso” contains a hybrid structure that will work for both a CD/DVD and a USB.

I have no idea whether this will work, but you could try:

Copy the “iso” to another directory somewhere.
Run “isohybrid” on it. Install that "isohybrid"ized version on your USB. That will create a different hybrid structure, and wreck the UEFI support. But it might make it look more like previous live media, and perhaps your BIOS will be happier with that.

If you don’t have the “isohybrid” command, it is in the “syslinux” package.

Nevermind, fixed it by removing the EFI partition after writing the iso image to my usb disk. With this EFI partition removed, the drive was recognized and I have now installed OS 12.3 :-).

I do hope for future releases, the developers keep the live usb compatible with older bios (2007).

Remember that trick. You might need it again next time.

Yes, that would be great. Imagine advertising it as a system that won’t install on new hardware, only on hardware from 2007 or earlier.

It somehow seems a bad idea.

A lot of newer hardware use UEFI, and that requires the new installer format. My older systems (2007, 2009) had no problem with it at all. The format is supposed to be hyrbid, to work with both older and new systems. It seems to be a peculiarity of your BIOS that you had problems.

Here is what I get with UnetBootin :


Périphérique Amorce  Début        Fin      Blocs     Id  Système
/dev/sdb1p1   ?  3224498923  3657370039   216435558+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb1p2   ?  3272020941   930513678   976730017   16  FAT16 masquée
/dev/sdb1p3   ?           0           0           0   6f  Inconnu
/dev/sdb1p4        50200576   974536369   462167897    0  Vide

And I forgot to tell that I want to do an installation through the network ISO : openSUSE-12.3-NET-i586.iso