DBAN Autonuke CD (or where is SYSLINUX.CFG on the ISO image)

geddeth

geddeth

New Member
I've burned the DBAN 1.0.4 ISO-image onto CD-RW with Nero in Windows 2000 SP4. I can then boot the CD on my machines and wipe them with the 'autonuke' command.

Now, I'd like to configure the image for a custom number of passes and make the whole thing autonuke without intervention (you just pop the CD in and wait). According to the README.txt, some configuration is available from the SYSLINUX.CFG file on the floppy. However, this file is not present on the ISO-image. How can I configure these things on the CD then?

Furthermore, when using install.bat to create a floppy drive from Windows 2000 SP4, I receive the following error:
Code: 
Number of sectors per track for this disk is 18
Writing image to drive A:.  Press ^C to abort.
Attempt to DMA across 64K boundary
Press any key or click the 'X' button to close this window.
What can be the cause of this? I really wish to use the CD image, I am just curious about the floppy thing.

Thanks,
G.
 
The SYSLINUX.CFG file is within the IMG file, which is within the ISO file.

Make a DBAN floppy disk with your customizations and take an image of it. Make an ISO that contains that floppy disk image and use your mastering software to boot the floppy disk image with drive emulation.
 
Thanks, Daj - but as I stated above, I'm having difficulty using the write-to-floppy function in DBAN.

However, I extracted the 1.0.4-ISO and opened the .IMG-file with MagicISO, which allowed me to read the SYSLINUX.CFG, edit it, store it back to the .IMG-file, and then save THAT back to the .ISO. I then burned it to CD-RW and booted from it.

But it doesn't seem like DBAN cares about the changes I made, because it keeps showing a boot prompt (though I changed PROMPT 0) and hitting enter goes to interactive mode (though I changed DEFAULT quick). What gives?

Another question: Using quick erase on a P4 2GHz with an 80GB IDE100 7200RPM harddrive, it takes about 60 minutes. On a 450MHz P3 laptop with a 6.4GB harddrive, this takes around 25 minutes. Is this a normal timespan?

BTW: In the dialog box that appears when you are asked if you want to overwrite files in your current image (Query for overwriting), it says 'xxx' has already been existed. Do you want to overwrite it? ... it should probably say something along the lines of 'xxx' already exists. Do you want to overwrite it? . ;)


Best regards,
G.
 
Thanks, Daj - but as I stated above, I'm having difficulty using the write-to-floppy function in DBAN.
Click to expand...
Use WinImage to create the floppy disk. Check the DBAN readme file for a link.

However, I extracted the 1.0.4-ISO and opened the .IMG-file with MagicISO, which allowed me to read the SYSLINUX.CFG, edit it, store it back to the .IMG-file, and then save THAT back to the .ISO. I then burned it to CD-RW and booted from it.
Click to expand...
My guess is that MagicISO appended the new IMG file to the image and just adjusted the directory entry without changing the boot loader. Thus, the media boots into the old IMG file.

Fully rebuild the ISO to get the desired behavior.
 
I'm having the same problem that geddeth is / was having. I took your suggestion and created the image from floppy, then created an ISO image from the boot IMA file, In floppy format it boots just fine and starts to wipe the drive without me having to do anything - perfect. In CD format it still comes up with a prompt, same image file.

I have tried this multiple ways, and have burned at least 10 cd's that while they boot just fine I get a prompt with each one. My last attempt was to use VI to edit the syslinux.cfg file, it still has the same results.

I need help with this as I have over 500 PC's that don't have floppies attached and I don't want to put on a head, keyboard, mouse just to wipe them.
 
Send me e-mail and I will quote a flat fee for doing this customization. If you are in a rush and can pay with PayPal, then I can get product to you tomorrow.

Past that, you could learn how to fully rebuild the DBAN iso file by reading the manual pages for mkisofs and cdrecord. These programs compile and work properly in Cygwin on Microsoft Windows.
 
It's really not hard to do at all. I just found dban within the last few days, and started customizing it today. All you need to do is what Darik wrote - get the floppy zip file and make a bootable floppy. Mount the floppy and edit syslinux.cfg, set PROMPT 0 and DEFAULT to the label corresponding to the method, passes etc you want.

Copy the floppy image to local disk:
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=dban-boot.img bs=10k count=144

Make an ISO file:
mkisofs -r -b dban-boot.img -c boot.catalog -o /tmp/dban-bootcd.iso .

Write a CD (assuming your CD writer is at 0,0,0):
cdrecord -v -eject dev=0,0,0 /tmp/dban-bootcd.iso
 
Thank you!

Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your information. The dd, mkisofs and cdrecord commands worked perfectly.

I have about 100 PCs to wipe before they are donated to charity. This will help me tremendusly. Muchas gracias!
 
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