How to Boot from a Bootable ISO (From Flash Drive or Hard Drive)

The internet seems to be lacking on this subject, so here’s my guide that works for hard drives and flash drives.  It’s completely free to do.
WARNING: Follow at your own risk.  If you computer is unbootable I can assist, but I have no obligation.
  • Download my customized Grub4DOS package below.  It contains all the files you need except your .iso file.
  • Extract the files.grubinst_gui.exe

  • Right click grubinst_gui.exe and run as Administrator.
  • Select your flash drive or hard disk based on the size of the device.
    (1024 MB = 1 GB)
  • Click install.
  • Copy grldr and menu.lst to the drive.
  • Right click menu.lst and click edit or “Open With…” and select Notepad.
  • Customize the file by changing the title in all CAPS and change the 3 instances of YOURFILE to the name of your .iso file.
  • Copy the .iso file to the drive with grldr and menu.lst.
  • Boot from the device, it should work.

33 comments:

  1. EngenuineMay 15, 2012 at 11:17 PM

    Thank you so much! You are my hero!
    I've been looking for this all over the internet and was not able to find it !
    XD Trying it now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Patrick AlbaMay 21, 2012 at 1:29 AM

    How do you restore it?My bootable iso went blue screen and i couldnt boot my windows back but i luckily find a way. but now my hardrive where i installed the grub thing is gone. what will i do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayMay 25, 2012 at 9:33 AM

      You put Grub on your hard drive? That's not good because it likely makes Windows completely unbootable. Try using a Windows install or recovery disc to repair boot problems.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJune 1, 2012 at 6:26 AM

    bsod appear after setup the capacity of drive cant see

    ReplyDelete
  4. Arron ChristieOctober 7, 2012 at 12:55 PM

    I installed this on a flash drive to install ubuntu, but i get the error "unable to find a medium containing a live file system" any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 18, 2015 at 6:44 PM

      I also got the same error on my first try, but then I copied all contents of the .ISO file onto my drive, and presto it worked perfectly!

      Delete
  5. AnonymousDecember 31, 2012 at 4:02 AM

    Patrick Alba, I did the same mistake ( I installed on my hard drive mistakenly ) but, I have restored it to the previous state.
    I used hiren's boot cd to boot my hard disk, I have uninstalled with Grub4Dos installer ^^^^^^ ( I chose "Restore from PrevMBR" and my hard drive. ).

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2013 at 3:50 PM

    Super helpful - thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2013 at 2:52 PM

    I am getting a heads=0 error message 62. Any advice?

    Thanks,
    DCM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. vivliofagosJanuary 14, 2016 at 6:00 AM

      same problem.. i wanted to boot a linux iso :-(

      Delete
    2. Joel MayJanuary 14, 2016 at 8:58 AM

      I'd suggest Rufus for Linux isos: http://rufus.akeo.ie/

      Delete
    3. vivliofagosJanuary 14, 2016 at 9:54 PM

      i tried rufus..it only works with usb memory sticks.. cannot see my externad HDD..

      Delete
    4. vivliofagosJanuary 14, 2016 at 11:36 PM

      i read another syntax here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/gparted-and-pendrive-780675/

      BUT doesn't work on me either.. tried also some epxperiments with the syntax.. i face different errors on every experiment.. i think that the "problem" should be with the hardware. i have to finde the correct parameters for the exact HDD i use.

      Delete
  8. UnknownPKAugust 14, 2013 at 10:28 AM

    don't work at all....says bootmgr missing wow....formatted for nothing stupid...

    ReplyDelete
  9. drewOctober 1, 2013 at 4:30 AM

    i always went on blue screen, how to avoid this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayOctober 1, 2013 at 1:21 PM

      I think this method does not work with Windows, only other operating systems. The reason is that Windows tries to communicate with the DVD drive directly after loading the basics of the loader. Other operating systems will tell the BIOS to communicate with the virtual DVD drive which will send the requests to the flash drive.

      Delete
  10. AnonymousOctober 1, 2013 at 4:50 AM

    help, im getting blue screen

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousNovember 20, 2013 at 3:24 PM

    How can I add more than one iso image to the drive?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayNovember 20, 2013 at 4:08 PM

      Open the meun.lst file with a text editor such as Notepad. Copy the lines of text from "title NAME YOUR BOOT ENTRY" to "savedefault --wait=2" inclusive. Paste the copied text between the "savedefault --wait=2" and "title Turn off computer". Set the title and ISO file name to your other ISO.

      Delete
  12. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2014 at 1:46 AM

    How to uninstall this thing? :) Just delete the files? and iso?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayJanuary 6, 2014 at 3:28 PM

      That will work, but the flash drive will still have the boot sector on it. If you don't see any problems after doing that then you should be fine. But a computer may try to boot from it before or instead of the hard drive. If you want to remove the boot sector you can follow the instructions on cleaning a flash drive: http://blog.jmay.us/2014/01/how-to-clean-flash-drive-completely.html

      Delete
  13. AnonymousJuly 13, 2014 at 1:00 AM

    wheres the download link??

    ReplyDelete
  14. ivanAugust 15, 2014 at 10:22 AM

    Thank you for your nice tutorial,

    I'm trying to use it but it seems that your customized package of GRUB4DOS is not available.

    Could you update the link ?

    Regards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayAugust 25, 2014 at 2:42 PM

      Hello Ivan,

      I have updated the link. The old link became invalid because Microsoft changed from SkyDrive to OneDrive. Have a good day.

      Delete
  15. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2014 at 10:11 AM

    worked perfectly with HDD Regenerator booteable iso

    bye

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousMarch 18, 2016 at 7:10 AM

    i dont want my pc to go blue screen. so what i do with "NAME YOUR BOOT ENTRY"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayMarch 18, 2016 at 11:28 AM

      You can put anything you want in there. It's just a name to help you know the boot entry apart from others.

      Delete
  17. UnknownMay 30, 2016 at 1:13 AM

    i could not download your file

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joel MayMay 30, 2016 at 2:22 AM

      Do you receive an error or do you not see the link?

      Delete
    2. Joel MayMay 30, 2016 at 2:22 AM

      Do you receive an error or do you not see the link?

      Delete
  18. WilliamKingNovember 21, 2016 at 1:43 AM

    nice

    ReplyDelete
  19. CarbsR goodPossumApril 29, 2017 at 9:15 AM

    I get error, "Error occurred while savedefault"

    ReplyDelete
  20. CarbsR goodPossumApril 29, 2017 at 9:16 AM

    I get error, "Error while savedefault"

    ReplyDelete

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