lideming / arch-ntfs-img-boot

Booting Arch Linux from an image file in NTFS

arch-ntfs-img-boot

This repo provides two initcpio hooks (mountntfs, loopfile) for booting Arch Linux from an image file in NTFS filesystem.

Usage

1. Prepare for a working Arch Linux OS root in an image file.

   1. It is mounted by losetup /dev/loop0 arch.img && mount /dev/loop0 /mnt
   2. /boot should be in a partition outside the image file. Otherwise, the GRUB bootloader may fail to find it. (TODO: use GRUB loopback to support /boot in file)

2. (Chroot to the OS in file)

3. Copy the files in initcpio into /etc/initcpio/.

4. Add initcpio hooks mountntfs loopfile.

   1. Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, in HOOKS, add mountntfs loopfile after block.
   2. Rebuild initcpio (mkinitcpio -P).

5. Add kernel cmdline parameters.

   1. (GRUB bootloader for example)
   2. Edit /etc/default/grub
   3. Add mountntfs=<NTFS_DEV>:/ntfs loopfile=/ntfs/arch.img in cmdline.
      (This mounts <NTFS_DEV> and maps the arch.img file as /dev/loop0.)
   4. Run grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg