2010-04-08

Quick and easy bootable DOS CD using Linux

I needed a DOS bootable CD to update the BIOS on a Dell server. The Dell executable was too large to fit on a 1.44MB floppy image, so many of the recipes I found wouldn't work. I ran across this page and adapted it to my needs. Here is a generic procedure:

0: Install mkisofs (and optionally qemu, if you want to test the image before burning).

1. mkdir freedos_livecd && cd freedos_livecd # or whatever name

2. wget -N http://www.mikerosoft.org/Utilities/FDOEMCD.builder.zip

3, unzip FDOEMCD.builder.zip && cd FDOEMCD/CDROOT

4. cp {files needed on CD} .

5. cd ..

6. mkisofs -o imagename.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \
-boot-info-table -N -J -r -c boot.catalog -hide boot.catalog -hide-joliet boot.catalog CDROOT

Done!

To test the image before burning:

qemu -localtime -boot d -cdrom imagename.iso # Ctrl-Alt to get your pointer back

Then burn it.