Thought I’d get some input on something I ran into this week. When I discovered Ventoy…I was elated to find a way to not have to buy multiple sticks for different live session downloads. And I guess I assumed that downloading any version of Linux had that capability.
I currently have on the Ventoy USB:
elementaryOS
linux mint
kubuntu
popOS
So I downloaded archlinux, vanillaOS & fedora workstation. But unlike all the others, I could not load them. Got different error messages like “failed”, “could not…” etc.
So how would you sample those without install? This is new territory for me, but I was curious how Fedora or Arch might run and how different it might be from all the others I have tried.
That’s what I meant, I assumed they had live session and they did try to start, but ran into issues where I had to grub: exit or grub: reboot to get out of it. I will try it again and copy the error messages as you would know what they meant, but I did not.
First tried Fedora Workstation and on grub it says Fedora Workstation Live:
dracut: FATAL: failed to find a root filesystem in /run/initram's
/live/LiveOS/squashfs.img
Refusing to continue
mount:/run/initram's/squashfs: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop8, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.
Then I tried openSUS-Tumbleweed DVD x86_64-Snapshot20230819-Media.iso
Presented with 2 options:
Boot in Normal Mode - took me to GNU GRUB v 2.06
Minimal bash line editing is supported.
grub prompt>
Boot in Grub2 Mode:
and that went right back to the Ventoy menu.
I was reading which one to choose and it automatically started the highlighted choice and followed with several screens of text output and ended with this:
So I went back (reboot) and chose Vanilla OS and the grub 2 boot with Try Vanilla OS:
BusyBox v.1.35 (Ubuntu 1:1.35-0-1ubuntu) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands
(intramfs) mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on /filesystem.squashfs failed: Invalid argument
So as you can see, I was unsuccessful in trying these out.
Having run into the same brick walls, I simply concluded that Neville is correct: some distros do not have a live form. When the Grub menu only mentions ‘install’ and not ‘live,’ I move on to another distro. Life is too short to fuss with a distro that won’t offer a live demo for VM or Boxes.
@Sheila_Flanagan
As @nevj has stated, not all distros will not boot with Ventoy, but most will still burn too a DVD or CD. Yeah I have a whole stack of them setting in a cubby-hole on my PC desk and some go way back a few years.
Hi @Sheila_Flanagan and @daniel.m.tripp ,
I’ve been testing the distros you weren’t able to run on Ventoy version 1.0.94. I tested the distros with Flash DIsk in BIOS and UEFI modes, and on Ventoy in normal and grub2 modes.
ISO files tested:
archlinux-2023.08.01-x86_64.iso
Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-38-1.6.iso
VanillaOS-22.10-all.20221229.iso
VanillaOS-22.10-all.20230226.iso
ubuntu-23.04-desktop-amd64.iso
These are the results I got:
Arch Linux : I only found the installation image, not a live distro, and I got the same result as Sheila, i.e., a terminal console to install Arch Linux. BIOS Mode - I tested it in both normal mode and grub2 mode and it ran successfully. UEFI Mode - It only ran in grub2 mode.
Fedora Workstation: BIOS Mode - I tested it in both normal mode and grub2 mode and it ran successfully. UEFI Mode - It only ran in grub2 mode.
Vanilla OS: UEFI and BIOS modes - It only ran in grub2 mode. I did several tests with this distro and to exit the distro, apart from removing the Flash Disk, I had to power off the PC and wait a few seconds before switching it back on, because I did several tests with Vanilla OS and if I didn’t do this, Ventoy would give me “Read Error”.
Ubuntu: UEFI and BIOS Modes: I tested it in both normal mode and grub2 mode and it ran successfully.
I found this list of tested image files on the Ventoy website and which contains the following information, and I quote "…However the bios firmware are different by vendor, even some has buggy in it. So the iso file listed here may not work on your machine. Please let me known if you run into problems, you can mail to me or report an issue in the forums. I will do my best to fix it… "
I hope this info is useful to you and that you can find out why you can’t run the distros you want on Ventoy.
Thanks so much @Tech_JA I thought I was crazy or did something wrong. You did get Fedora live working and I am going to try your link and see if I can get Fedora live working with my AMD hardware or the BIOS on my Ventoy, as I did want to see that.
One questions @Tech_JA --did you just download the .iso for Fedora and paste it onto the Ventoy disk? That is what I did. But on the download page it talked about Fedora Media Writer, which I assume is their app for getting the iso onto a flash drive?
Since I deleted it from Ventoy and my LM computer, am getting ready to download it again and want to ensure I just need:
For Intel and AMD x86_64 systems
Fedora Workstation 38 Live ISO
Then I will try again to boot from Ventoy.
I only used grub2 modes. Not sure how to use BIOS and UEFI mode to run the .iso but I always have to go into BIOS and move the Ventoy disk up to 1st boot option.
Hi Sheila,
Yes, I downloaded the ISO file to my PC and then copied it to the Ventoy Flash Disk. I didn’t use Fedora Media Writer. As you mentioned Fedora Workstation, I used Fedora Workstation 38 for For Intel and AMD x86_64 systems.
This is the Ventoy partition, where you can see the Fedora ISO:
Ok…
Normal or grub2 modes are selected in Ventoy after selecting the ISO you want to run.
I was only able to run Fedora Workstation in grub2 mode.
When I tested it in normal mode, the system froze with black display and I had to switch off the PC.
my motherboard, when booting up, if I press F11, a window pops up for me to choose which boot I want and I don’t need to go into the UEFI (“BIOS”) to put the Ventoy disk up to 1st boot option. the UEFI remains unchanged, but I choose which temporary boot I want from the boot menu.
it’s possible that the access to your boot menu is another key. If you know the model of your motherboard, I can read the instruction manual to find out which key accesses the boot menu.
In this menu I have two options for running the Flash Disc: in Legacy Bios mode or in UEFI mode.
I think you can ignore this part and move the Ventoy disk up to 1st boot option in UEFI.
@Tech_JA that is the exact location and file I downloaded last time and copied onto the Ventoy, same as you. Had same experience in grub vs. grub2 and so chose grub2. But from there it did not work, errored out as reported earlier. I wish I knew how to grab a screen shot when it errors, but since we are not in an OS yet, can’t do that. I will try to take a readable image with my phone, but am old and shaky so it’s difficult for it not to blur (plus the font is so small on my 13" screen).
However, as I mentioned earlier, there is a warning on the website: “However the bios firmware are different by vendor, even some has buggy in it. So the iso file listed here may not work on your machine. Please let me known if you run into problems, you can mail to me or report an issue in the forums. I will do my best to fix it.”
If you can take a picture of the errors, I can help you report them to Ventoy Support.
There’s a list of several open Ventoy issues on GitHub that might have something to do with your error:
I’m available to help you with this problem if you want to continue troubleshooting and/or reporting the fault to Ventoy Support.
hi Sheila,
That’s great news, congrats!
You are running an old version of Ventoy, 1.0.93. The last version is 1.0.94. It would be good if you updated Ventoy.
I haven’t tested OpenSuse, only Vanilla OS, which I believe is the distro you mentioned.
Arch Linux isn’t worth testing: I couldn’t find a Live version for Arch Linux, only the installation version like the one you tested and your test was correct.
