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searching for pmagic sqfs

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:00 am
by lasmagil
i've seen a lot of posts on here with this issue but without resolutions that i could find, but nothing very recent. i'm using 5.3.1 (also tried 5.2.1), i initially set up multiboot with current version of yumi but i cannot get pmagic to load from ubcd. i have also tried it on its own following the instructions on the website, and also tried using rufus, but no matter what i've tried it cannot find the sqfs file. i tried remastering the iso with the files moved as i found in another forum post but it either didn't work or i did it wrong. any help would be greatly appreciated as i have an obsessive personality with stuff like this and it is affecting my quality of life ;)

Re: searching for pmagic sqfs

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:15 pm
by The Piney
Not sure if you found this thread but it worked for me. Although I haven't checked to see if anything was different with the new versions of YUMI.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7057

Re: searching for pmagic sqfs

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:21 am
by lasmagil
yeah i tried moving the files like he did and remastering the iso but when anything tries to access pmagic it just reboots. i'm going to start the process over and see if maybe i just screwed something up along the way.

Re: searching for pmagic sqfs

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:49 am
by ady
The Piney wrote:Not sure if you found this thread but it worked for me. Although I haven't checked to see if anything was different with the new versions of YUMI.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7057
That topic is no longer relevant for current versions. The structure in UBCD has been changed so to minimize such problems.


The problem with “multiboot creators” is that they usually use their own version of Syslinux, and that the resulting directory tree structure changes. Some distros are capable of coping with those changes gracefully, and some others need a little more tweaking.

Additionally, UBCD is distributed with a specific version of PartedMagic, not the latest one. Once in a while, PartedMagic slightly changes its own directory structure and/or its own syslinux.cfg. This means that UBCD needs additional changes so to adapt to those from PartedMagic.

For PartedMagic, the trick that usually works is to add the “directory” parameter in its own syslinux.cfg:

Code: Select all

directory=      Directory containing the pmagic folder
But generally you also need to use the same Syslinux version for all included images. In some particular cases, it might work with a mix of Syslinux versions anyway, but this is not the general rule.

All this is relevant if you have PartedMagic expanded in your USB drive. If you are booting UBCD/PMagic by using GRUB2 and the entire ISO image (without expanding it), this won't work.

Re: searching for pmagic sqfs

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 6:45 pm
by Shmidtey
This might be a mighty necro, but as I came across this page while searching for the solution to the exact same problem as OP, I felt obligated to register and post my resolution/root cause.

I had a USB thumb drive with UBCD on it, and I was able to boot into parted magic several times before.
Then all of a sudden I kept getting an error saying something like cannot find Pmagic sqfs.

Before the problem occurred, I had removed the thumb drive to put in another to install windows, then put it back in immediately preceding the fault.

Well as it turns out, in my blind reach around plugging, i had put the USB thumb drive into a USB 3.0 port! Which apparently caused problems.
Putting the thumb drive back into a 2.0 port resolved the problem, and it didn't occur to me immediately because I couldn't see it, and I didn't even think my mobo would boot from a USB 3.0 port.

Hope that helps somebody!