Puppy Boot Parameters
This page lists some of the parameters/arguments you can set on Puppy's boot-up. (Note- these don't apply to early versions of Puppy, especially pre-Puppy2.)
Parameters are passed to Puppy in one of two ways: either by typing an option at the boot-up screen (if Puppy is in 'live' mode), or via one of the bootloader files.
Parameters are passed to Puppy in one of two ways: either by typing an option at the boot-up screen (if Puppy is in 'live' mode), or via one of the bootloader files.
For example, if grub is being used and the menu.1st kernel line needs modifying,
kernel /slacko531/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=slacko531
and if syslinux is used and syslinux.cfg needs modifying,
append initrd=/boot/initrd.gz acpi=off
Pfix
pfix allows various options to be selected:
- pfix=ram will run Puppy totally in RAM and ignore saved sessions/storage file(s)
- pfix=nox will boot Puppy to terminal/commandline (ie no X)
- pfix=<n> where <n> is the number of saved sessions to ignore for a multisession-CD
- pfix=rdsh will exit to initial ramdisk commandline (do not pivot_root)
- pfix=usbcard for booting from USB flash drive via USB 2.0 to PCMCIA adapter
- pfix=clean will force a simulated version upgrade (for Puppy 2.13 and later)
- pfix=purge will force an even more radical file cleanup (to fix broken system) (for Puppy 2.14 and later)
- pfix=#debug may help with debugging
- pfix=copy or nocopy controls if main sfs file is loaded (copied) to RAM
If using multiple pfix options, separate them with a comma, e.g. pfix=rdsh,usbcard
NOPCMCIA
Add nopcmcia if you don't want PCMCIA (PC card) drivers and card manager to be started during the boot process.
PKEYS
The keyboard layout for a country. Default is "us".
Choices include: be br cf de dk es fi fr gr hu it jp no pl ru se uk us
See Barry's recent blog post for more on this.
Choices include: be br cf de dk es fi fr gr hu it jp no pl ru se uk us
See Barry's recent blog post for more on this.
PupSfs
Controls which file is loaded as BaseSfs. Specify full path and filename.
Example- pupsfs=sdb1:/pwary/wary_511.sfs
Example- pupsfs=sdb1:/pwary/wary_511.sfs
PupSave files
Puppy's behavior on boot-up depends whether any savefiles are found:
- If none are found Puppy will load the BaseSFS without any modifications. In many versions the user will be prompted on startup to configure Puppy; also, on shutdown(/reboot) the user is asked whether to create a savefile.
- If only one savefile is found it will load automatically.
- If more than one is found the user is prompted to select one from a text menu.
Note: the boot files on a multi-session disk work differently from those used for live disk and frugal installs. They look for and make save files differently, see Save file multi-session for more information.
Psave
Psave allows a user to specify which PupSave files to use. This allows the pupsave selection menu to be skipped (shows if more than one savefile is found).
Boot File Search Parameters
First, Puppy tries to detect all interfaces, media and partitions. Then the search for boot files begins.
Pmedia
Specify boot device by interface and/or media-type. This is a search filter.
Omitting this parameter usually results in Puppy correctly locating boot files; however, it can be useful if you are having problems.
Manually specify the boot interface and/or media using one of the following:
Note: Use of this parameter can prevent some BIOS from finding Puppy, especially in the case of using USB flash drives - because they are identified inconsistently by various BIOS (as flash, hdd, zip ...). Therefore the user should find out in advance exactly how a particular pc works before adding this parameter.
(Applies to Puppy 2.x and later).
Omitting this parameter usually results in Puppy correctly locating boot files; however, it can be useful if you are having problems.
Manually specify the boot interface and/or media using one of the following:
usbflash usbhd usbcd ideflash idehd idecd idezip satahd satacd scsihd
Example- PMEDIA=idehd
Acceptable interfaces include USB, IDE, SATA, and SCSI
Acceptable mediatypes include flash, hard drive (hdd), CD/DVD, and ZIP
Acceptable mediatypes include flash, hard drive (hdd), CD/DVD, and ZIP
Note: Use of this parameter can prevent some BIOS from finding Puppy, especially in the case of using USB flash drives - because they are identified inconsistently by various BIOS (as flash, hdd, zip ...). Therefore the user should find out in advance exactly how a particular pc works before adding this parameter.
(Applies to Puppy 2.x and later).
Pdev1
Specifies boot device by partition. This is a search filter.
Example- Pdev1=sda1
Example- Pdev1=sda1
Psubdir
Specifies ({device}{type}/path) the location of boot files in the boot partition. If not specified init will look in / and /boot, order-unknown. As of puppy 3.00 this parameter also restricts the boot search for pup_save files: only those in a matching directory will used. This can be used to allow multiple-puppy installation on the same partition to be used without risk of using the wrong one in error. Also see Psubok.
Example- psubdir=boot/puppy216
Example- psubdir=boot/puppy216
Psubok
Using psubok=TRUE implies all boot files are in Psubdir AND init may search deeper than one directory level.
Without this setting init's search for the base sfs will be one directory level deep at most.
In a multiboot scenario, not using this option may lead to an "sfs not found" error. This can be confusing because a user may have their base-sfs file in the same (sub)directory as vmlinuz (kernel) and initrd.
Without this setting init's search for the base sfs will be one directory level deep at most.
In a multiboot scenario, not using this option may lead to an "sfs not found" error. This can be confusing because a user may have their base-sfs file in the same (sub)directory as vmlinuz (kernel) and initrd.
Also see
Save File - AKA 'Pup Save' stores updates, in a frugal installation.
Save File - multisession - save files used on mutli-session optical media
BootLoaders
InstallationFrugal
TableOfBIOSKeys
Save File - multisession - save files used on mutli-session optical media
BootLoaders
InstallationFrugal
TableOfBIOSKeys
Related Webpages
mmc drive available at bootup -Barry's Blog
HOW TO: Use the PMEDIA, PDEV1, PSUBDIR Boot Parameters (Puppy 4)
HOW TO: Use the PMEDIA, PDEV1, PSUBDIR Boot Parameters (Puppy 4)
