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Editing ISO files.


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#1 shamurshamur

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 03:29 PM

i am not sure if this is the right group to post , so moderators please move this to appropriate group

I want to edit ISO files ie deleting or adding some files to it.

My general procedure is :
1) Extract ISO file in a folder and then delete/add files in it .
2) Use mkisofs.exe to recreate ISO file.

My aim is to recreate the ISO file with exact specification( joliet , rockridge etc.) as the original file.
How should i decide options for mkisofs.exe so that specification are same for original and recreated ISO file.

Also how should i find the parameter for -b option ( ie booti image file).

#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 04:34 PM

i am not sure if this is the right group to post , so moderators please move this to appropriate group

I want to edit ISO files ie deleting or adding some files to it.

My general procedure is :
1) Extract ISO file in a folder and then delete/add files in it .
2) Use mkisofs.exe to recreate ISO file.

My aim is to recreate the ISO file with exact specification( joliet , rockridge etc.) as the original file.
How should i decide options for mkisofs.exe so that specification are same for original and recreated ISO file.

Also how should i find the parameter for -b option ( ie booti image file).


Since this is ProjectForge "This section is dedicated to freeware or open source works where popular projects get their own section." the idea was/is that people posts here Releases of their projects.

I presume that we don't actually have a section suitable for your request :w00t:, unless it goes to the <whatever system you run> section. :w00t:

mkisofs (unlike most people tend to think) is NOT a "stand-alone" program, it is part of a suite of tools that goes under the name of CDRECORD/CDRTOOLS:
http://cdrecord.berl...e/cdrecord.html
isoinfo is another of the tools, and may give you part of what you need/want :cheers:
iat:
http://www.ohloh.net...0 Analyzer Tool
is another tool that gives some info.
Good old CDmage will also give some info:
http://www.softpedia...s/CD-Mage.shtml

But AFAIK none of them will give you all what you want/need. ;)

Maybe it would be time for such an utility, that does exactly what you describe, i.e. it could be a nice idea for anyone willing to write an useful program. :cheers:

I'll see if I can find anything else, but don't count too much on such an app being already developed and being not already "famous". :cheers:

Also how should i find the parameter for -b option ( ie booti image file).

I am not sure to undestand the question.

There are THREE bootable kinds of CD's:
  • floppy emulation
  • hard disk emulation
  • no-emulation
Opening the CD/image in any suitable tool, including CDmage:
  • will be either a 1.44 floppy size 1474560 bytes OR a 2.88 floppy size 2949120 bytes
  • will be a much bigger image
  • will be a very small file, typically 2048 or 4096 bytes long (but, as an example, grldr is bigger than this)


Also, check:
http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/

:cheers:
Wonko

#3 shamurshamur

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 05:35 PM

Thanks for giving your time. ;)


i will try softwares you mentioned.


I am not sure to undestand the question.


My question is how to find , which boot-image file was used to make the ISO file bootable.

Like in case of ISO files , where isolinux is used , isolinux.bin is used as boot-image file.
In case of grub4dos grldr is used.
In above two case i can guess the boot-image files(isolinux.bin & grldr) because i am already familiar with the grub4dos and isolinux.

But what if there is some obscure boot loader was used to create the ISO file. how can i find the boot-image file?

Basically if i am recreating a ISO file , first of all , i have to find out the boot-image file used to create that ISO file and then use that boot-image file as a option(-b boot-image file) for mkisofs.exe.

#4 ksanderash

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 06:59 PM

shamurshamur

But what if there is some obscure boot loader was used to create the ISO file. how can i find the boot-image file?

Posted Image

This quick trick works mainly on non-UDF ISO ;)
(Windows 7 distro -- won't show)

#5 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 07:16 PM

Basically if i am recreating a ISO file , first of all , i have to find out the boot-image file used to create that ISO file and then use that boot-image file as a option(-b boot-image file) for mkisofs.exe.


As said with CDMAGE, 7-ZIP (as suggested by voyajer) or many other applications.
Point is rather WHICH other parameter you will give to mkisofs.
Follow me, IF boot image:
  • is EITHER 1474560 OR 2949120 bytes it is a floppy emulation image (mostly used by DOS/Win9x thingies)
  • is BIGGER than 2949120 bytes it is a Hard disk emulation image (rare)
  • is 2048, 4096 it is a "common" no-emuation bootsector (like MS ones respectively for 2K/XP/2003 and for Vista :w00t:/2008/7) OR is anything BIGGER than 4096 BUT SMALLER than 1474560, it a a no-emulation bootsector as well, BUT using an "obscure loader" (which includes isolinux and grub4dos ;))

  • you need NOT any particular option (apart from -b <bootimage>)
  • you need -hard-disk-boot -b <bootimage>
  • you need -no-emul-boot -b <bootimage>

I hope now it is more clear. :cheers:

:cheers:
Wonko

#6 shamurshamur

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 10:39 PM

problem with 7-zip and other tools is that they extract only the first 4 sectors(2KB) of the boot-image file.

For example consider a ISO file created using isolinux.bin. Now size of isolinux.bin is about 14KB.
But when i extract the boot-image file from this ISO file , using 7-zip or bbie , I only get 2KB boot-image file. Same for a ISO file created with GRUB2.

when i recreated ISO files using these extracted 2KB boot-image files (for both isolinux & grub2) and tried to boot the CD , it hangs.

you need NOT any particular option (apart from -b <bootimage>)


there's another troublesome option -boot-info-table.
Like isolinux.bin will give checksum error if this option is not used , but it is not needed in grub4dos.
what happens if i use this option for grub4dos(or for any other obscure bootloader which do not requires this option)?will it break the bootloader?

#7 ksanderash

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Posted 01 September 2010 - 11:20 PM

shamurshamur
An hour of search for Freeware tools, and I found it! It's Linux version of ISO Master, available in beloved of all Parted Magic ;)
Check it, please. It can work with bootloader too, not only show.

Posted Image

#8 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 05:02 AM

Thanks voyajer.

Iso-master is extracting complete boot-image file ( 14 KB(isolinux.bin) in case of isolunux and 24 KB(grub_eltorito) in case of grub2).

i have tested the extracted boot-image files and they are working fine.

Is there any command-line alternative of ISO-MASTER for windows?

Also , It is to be noted here that i have to use -boot-info-table option for grub2 , otherwise bootloader just hangs.So this option has to be taken care of while recreating ISO files.

#9 wendy

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 07:55 AM

One can use bbie from bart's site http://www.nu2.nu/ to drag out the boot image (of whatever form).

#10 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 08:14 AM

problem with 7-zip and other tools is that they extract only the first 4 sectors(2KB) of the boot-image file.

Mind you I never said to use 7-zip to EXTRACT the image, what I said was that it can be used to view it's size. ;)

Is there any command-line alternative of ISO-MASTER for windows?


Also, check:
http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/



One can use bbie from bart's site http://www.nu2.nu/ to drag out the boot image (of whatever form).


:cheers:

:cheers:
Wonko

#11 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 09:08 AM

Also, check:
http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/

;)
Wonko



One can use bbie from bart's site http://www.nu2.nu/ to drag out the boot image (of whatever form).


But when i extract the boot-image file from this ISO file , using 7-zip or bbie , I only get 2KB boot-image file. Same for a ISO file created with GRUB2.


As i already said bbie just extracts only 2KB from boot-image file , unlike ISO-MASTER which extracts complete boot-image file(14 KB for isolinux.bin and 24 KB for grub2).

#12 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 09:16 AM

As i already said bbie just extracts only 2KB from boot-image file , unlike ISO-MASTER which extracts complete boot-image file(14 KB for isolinux.bin and 24 KB for grub2).


Strange, I seemed to remember that bbie worked :cheers:. Sorry for misleading you. ;)
There must be another utility then, as I am pretty sure I somehow did it on command line under 2K. :w00t:

I'll see if I can find it/remember what it was.

Maybe it was this one :cheers:
http://www.codeproje...ootExtract.aspx

:cheers:
Wonko

#13 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 10:49 AM

Maybe it was this one :cheers:
http://www.codeproje...ootExtract.aspx

:cheers:
Wonko

Nope !
This , too , belongs to 2KB squadron. ;)

#14 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 11:22 AM

Nope !
This , too , belongs to 2KB squadron. :cheers:

:cheers:
Can you post a link to a (possibly smallish) .ISO that contains such a bootsector? (and that doesn't work with the mentioned tools)

Maybe the problem is in the .iso file itself.

I am suspecting ;) that, (check this):
http://odin.himinbi....extraction.html
some data in the actual .iso "misleads" the extracting programs.

Maybe it could be related to the known :
-boot-load-size 4
vs.
-boot-load-seg 0x1000
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=20864
:cheers:

I never got around to actually understand what it is about exactly. :w00t:

:cheers:
Wonko

#15 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 01:04 PM

;)
Can you post a link to a (possibly smallish) .ISO that contains such a bootsector? (and that doesn't work with the metioned tools)


Heres the situation.


i am trying to recreate slitaz-3.0.iso(which uses isolinux.bin as boot loader).
By using BootExtract.exe , i get the boot-image file named slitaz-3.0.iso.NoEmulation__Segment-0000__SecCount-4.bin. Now this extracted boot-image file is of size 2KB and is exactly the same as the first 4 sectors of isolinux.bin.

Now i recreate the iso file by using mkisofs.exe:
mkisofs.exe -b slitaz-3.0.iso.NoEmulation__Segment-0000__SecCount-4.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -o slitaz.iso slitaz-3.0

when i boot this recreated ISO file it hangs with following written on screen:
ISOLINUX 3.82 2009-06-09 ETCD

Maybe the problem is in the .iso file itself.



Let me first clear a doubt . if my original boot-image file has size 14 KB(isolinux.bin).
And my extracted boot-image file has size 2 KB(which is basically just first 4 sectors of original boot-image file).
And then i recreate this ISO with this "extracted boot-image file" . would this recreated ISO will work?

#16 Icecube

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 01:26 PM

Now this extracted boot-image file is of size 2KB and is exactly the same as the first 4 sectors of isolinux.bin.

It is only the first sector of isolinux.bin ;). CD sectors are 2048 bytes and are not 512 bytes like the usual value for hard/floppy disk sectors (some hard disk alredy moved to 4096 bytes sectors internally).

Now i recreate the iso file by using mkisofs.exe:

mkisofs.exe -b slitaz-3.0.iso.NoEmulation__Segment-0000__SecCount-4.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -o slitaz.iso slitaz-3.0

Let me first clear a doubt . if my original boot-image file has size 14 KB(isolinux.bin).
And my extracted boot-image file has size 2 KB(which is basically just first 4 sectors of original boot-image file).
And then i recreate this ISO with this "extracted boot-image file" . would this recreated ISO will work?

No, your ISO won't work. You need the isolinux.bin file as filename for the -b parameter. mkisofs will put the first 2048 bytes of isolinux at the 'boot sector' of the CD (if you specify '-boot-load-size 4' (which uses 512 bytes blocks, not sure why) = 512*4).
The -boot-info-table option patches some bytes in this boot block: LBA address (offset in the iso9660 image) of the boot file (isolinux.bin), filesize of isolinux.bin, checksum of the boot file, ... So mkisofs NEEDS to know where the boot file (isolinux.bin) is located on the iso9660 filesystem.
When the -boot-info-table  option  is  given,  mkisofs  will

	 modify the boot file specified by the -b option by inserting

	 a 56-byte &#34;boot information table&#34; at offset 8 in the  file.

	 This  modification is done in the source filesystem, so make

	 sure you use a copy if this file is  not  easily  recreated!

	 This file contains pointers which may not be easily or reli-

	 ably obtained at boot time.



	 The format of this table is as follows; all integers are  in

	 section 7.3.1 &#40;&#34;little endian&#34;&#41; format.



	   Offset	Name		   Size	  Meaning

		8		bi_pvd		 4 bytes   LBA of primary volume descriptor

	   12		bi_file		4 bytes   LBA of boot file

	   16		bi_length	  4 bytes   Boot file length in bytes

	   20		bi_csum		4 bytes   32-bit checksum

	   24		bi_reserved	40 bytes  Reserved



	 The 32-bit checksum is the sum of all the  32-bit  words  in

	 the  boot file starting at byte offset 64.  All linear block

	 addresses &#40;LBAs&#41; are given  in  CD  sectors  &#40;normally  2048

	 bytes&#41;.


#17 cdob

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 02:03 PM

@shamurshamur

There is: "El Torito" Bootable CD-ROM Format Specification
http://en.wikipedia....D-ROM_standard)
http://web.archive.o.../specscdrom.pdf

Figure 4:
Sector Count. This is the number of virtual/emulated sectors the system
will store at Load Segment during the initial boot procedure.

According to "El Torito" there are 512 bytes per virtual/emulated sector.

A BIOS should load sectors count to RAM.
However there are BIOS limitatons : sector count may fail at some BIOS.
Loading 4 virtual sectors works always.

Isolinux support this broken BIOS too.
Set sctors count to 4, load 4 virtual sectors to RAM:
First loaded part search whole file at CD.

bbie extracts boot image according to boot catalog: 4 virtual sectors.

Some applications does detect isolinux nowadays.
IsoBuster does detect whole file. Free version read file system ISO9660 and Rock Ridge.

As for isolinux:
Read boot catalog, remember boot image LBA.
And search file with the same LBA: should be isolinux.bin.
Then copy file isolinux.bin at file system level.

#18 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 02:20 PM

Heres the situation.

But not the requested example link. :D

:)
Wonko

#19 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 02:39 PM

But not the requested example link. :)

:D
Wonko


http://mirror.slitaz.../slitaz-3.0.iso

just only 30MB. :)

#20 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 03:08 PM

http://mirror.slitaz.../slitaz-3.0.iso

just only 30MB. :D


Good. :)
This is exactly one of those "strange" images.

It's first sector (sector 0) contains a MBR allright. :)
This is not part of "normal" ISO. :)

The "88 00 00 00 00 00 04 00" is at offset 65568 dec. (32x2048+32)

If a programs checks this, I presume it will extract only 4 x 512 bytes sectors of the actual boot image. (EDIT: it does :) )

The actual isolinux seems like starting at offset 67584 (33x2048) and go on for 7 sectors, since at offset 81920 (40*2048) starts a slitax XHTML.

If you hex edit "88 00 00 00 00 00 04 00" to "88 00 00 00 00 00 1C 00" bootextract will extract the whole thing. (but cannot say if it will work as bootsector).

:)
Wonko

#21 cdob

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 03:49 PM

http://mirror.slitaz.../slitaz-3.0.iso

isoinfo -d -i \slitaz-3.0.iso

El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 32

NO Joliet present
Rock Ridge signatures version 1 found

Eltorito defaultboot header:
Bootid 88 (bootable)
Boot media 0 (No Emulation Boot)
Load segment 0
Sys type 0
Nsect 4
Bootoff 21 33

Sectors to load: 4
Bootimage is at LBA 33
The ISO use Rock Ridge extension and no Jolet file system.

isoinfo -l -i \slitaz-3.0.iso

Directory listing of /BOOT/ISOLINUX/
---------- 0 0 0 14336 Jun 9 2009 [ 33 00] ISOLINUX.BIN;1

There is a ISO9660 file name "ISOLINUX.BIN;1" at LBA 33.

;1 is the file version according to ISO9660. Purchable at http://www.iso.org/
Ecma 119 is also approved as ISO 9660. http://www.ecma-inte...ds/Ecma-119.htm

Extract file /BOOT/ISOLINUX/ISOLINUX.BIN;1 to a new file bootimage.bin
isoinfo -x /BOOT/ISOLINUX/ISOLINUX.BIN;1 -i \slitaz-3.0.iso > bootimage.bin

In addition: LBA 0 describe a hybrid hard disk mode.
http://syslinux.zyto...hp/Doc/isolinux

#22 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 03:54 PM

If you hex edit "88 00 00 00 00 00 04 00" to "88 00 00 00 00 00 1C 00" bootextract will extract the whole thing. (but cannot say if it will work as bootsector).

:D
Wonko


YES! :)
After Hex-editing the ISO file , BOOTEXTRACT is extracting complete boot-image file(14KB).
And i recreated the ISO using that extracted image file. its working fine!

#23 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 04:14 PM

YES! :D
After Hex-editing the ISO file , BOOTEXTRACT is extracting complete boot-image file(14KB).
And i recreated the ISO using that extracted image file. its working fine!


Good :).

Obviously the hex edit I suggested is a quick and dirty workaround, cdob :) gave you the "right" method.

Now check a parted magic .iso image, I checked an old version 4.0 I had around and latest 5.4.
Open them in a hex editor and search for string "MKI", you should be able to find easily:
pmagic 4.0:

MKI Sat Apr 4 07:16:05 2009
2.01.01a57 -R -b grldr -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o pmagic-svn.iso current

and in pmagic 5.4:

MKI Wed Aug 25 16:55:37 2010
2.01.01a78 -R -l -D -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -o pmagic-5.4.iso -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -V Parted Magic current

(there is no such info in slitaz)
This means that good developers/guys :) can also actually "embed" in the .iso the actual info about the EXACT command parameters they used :), too bad that this use is not very common :).




:)
Wonko

#24 shamurshamur

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 04:39 PM

Now check a parted magic .iso image, I checked an old version 4.0 I had around and latest 5.4.
Open them in a hex editor and search for string "MKI", you should be able to find easily:

:D
Wonko


yup!

parted magic-5.0
MKI Sun Jul 11 18&#58;22&#58;34 2010.2.01.01a78 -R -l -D -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -o pmagic-5.0.iso -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -V Parted Magic current


Good :).
Obviously the hex edit I suggested is a quick and dirty workaround, cdob :) gave you the "right" method.
:)
Wonko


I Agree. :) Method by cdob can be used as a sure shot method to get boot-image file.

Method by cdob in simple steps&#58;

1&#41; use ISOINFO.EXE to find LBA of boot-image file.

2&#41; find the path of boot-image file using LBA.

3&#41; extarct the boot image file.

May be we can write some script to do all above steps automatically. :)

Thanks a lot cdob! :)

#25 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 September 2010 - 05:44 PM

May be we can write some script to do all above steps automatically. :D


Sure, the only problem is that different versions/builds may have a different output.

If we use these:
http://www.student.t...t/thomas.plank/
cdrtools-3.00-win32-bin.zip
(which should be "latest")

It can be done.

Give me some time....

:)
Wonko




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