DFSee version 16.9 2021-04-09 (c) 1994-2019: Jan van Wijk =========================[ www.dfsee.com ]========================== This document describes the DFSee Puppy-Linux based bootable USB sticks: 1) DFSPUP64 64-bit Ubuntu 18.04 based PUPPY distribution 'BionicPup64 8.0 Works with UEFI too, but NOT on 32-bit CPU's kernel 2019 4.19.23 x86_64, booting using Gnu Grub 2.08 2) DFSPUP32 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04 based PUPPY distribution BionicPup32 19.03 Works on older hardware, may work with UEFI kernel 2019 4.9.163 i686 PAE, booting using Grub4DOS 3) DFSPUPPY 32-bit slackware based PUPPY distribution Slacko 8.0 Works on older hardware, but no UEFI support kernel 2015 3.14.54 i686, booting using SysLinux The PUPPY Linux bootable USB sticks are bootable options to be used for disk analysis and recovery with DFSee. It offers booting on most modern PCs using a 4 GB or larger memory stick, prepared with the DFSee program itself. (and for sale in the webshop, as a 16 GB ready-made stick) +-----------------------------------------------------+ | Note: All (linux) programs used with this stick are | | OPEN SOURCE (GPL), and are NOT MODIFIED for use | | with DFSee. You can download the sources from the | | respective websites mentioned in this document | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | The imagefile supplied here is just a REPACKAGE of | | the files from the PUPPY Linux ISOHybrid image to | | allow creation of the stick on any DFSee platform, | | and to include the DFSee program itself with some | | custom startup and filemanagement icons | +-----------------------------------------------------+ Creating a bootable DFSPUPPY/DFSPUP64/DFSPUP32 USB stick ======================================================== There are two simple steps to make a bootable DFSee stick: - Download (refresh) the latest DFSPUPxx.IMZ imagefile (not included in std distribution due to the size) - Create the bootable stick itself, from the Scripts menu (this works from a booted stick too, to create another) Download the latest DFSPUPxx.IMZ to your DFSee installation =========================================================== This adds, or updates, the DFSPUPxx.IMZ imagefile that must reside in your operating system standard DOWNLOAD location: ON DFSPUPPY: /mnt/home/dfsee/ ('dfsee' in stick ROOT) Other Linux: ~/Downloads/ On macOS: ~/Downloads/ On Windows: (Your-home-dir)\Downloads\ On OS/2: (Your-home-dir)\Downloads\ On downloading from the menu, this directory will be shown in the directory-picker dialog, which you can accept or change to another (writable) directory. The Imagefile itself must be downloaded from: https://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/dfspup64.imz or https://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/dfspup32.imz or https://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/dfspuppy.imz You can download either DFSPUPPY variant from the DFSee menu: Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Get DFSPUP64 UEFI capable IMZ or Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Get DFSPUP32 BIOS based IMZ or Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Get DFSPUPPY BIOS-only IMZ Note: DFSPUP32 and DFSPUP64 can only be created using DFSee 16.2 or newer! If you are space-constrained in the default DOWNLOAD directory, you can direct it to it to another drive/directory in the directory-picker dialog that is presented, and create a DFSPUPPY stick from that. The actual stick creation from the menu will prompt you for this alternative location when the image was not found in the default DOWNLOAD directory. Note: The above DOES require the 'wget' utility version 1.16 or later to be available, which is NOT standard on OS/2 or Windows. For OS/2, if you have ArcaOS 5.0 or later, you can install the required WGET by installing that from the package manager called ANPM, which should be reachable from the desktop: Computer -> Install/Remove -> Arca Noae Package Manager Otherwise, you can download a ZIP (currently version 1.18) from my own site: https://www.dfsee.com/download/wgetos2.zip Of course, the resulting 'wget' program has to be in the systems PATH somewhere, for DFSee to find it ... For Windows it also needs to be installed manually. You can download a ZIP (currently version 1.19) from my own site: https://www.dfsee.com/download/wgetwin.zip Of course, the resulting 'wget' program has to be in the systems PATH somewhere, for DFSee to find it ... Automated creation from DFSee menu ================================== This is the easiest way to create the stick, and recommended for most users. It will take a USB memory-stick or disk, and make a large bootable FAT32 partition at the start, followed by another FAT32 data partition taking up the rest of the space if the stick was larger (32Gb for DFSPUPPY and DFSPUP32, 64Gb for DFSPUP64). It can be found in the DFSee Scripts menu: Scripts -> Make Puppy64 boot (USB) disk ¯ ... select the disk (stick) to install on ... or Scripts -> Make Puppy32 boot (USB) disk ¯ ... select the disk (stick) to install on ... or Scripts -> Make Puppy boot (USB) disk ¯ ... select the disk (stick) to install on ... It will restore the downloaded DFSPUPxx.IMZ image to the stick, and prompt you for the download-location when it is not found in the default place (OS standard DOWNLOAD directory). Then the FAT32 partition contained in there will be RESIZED to match the size of the stick, including updating all LVM and partition table information accordingly. This will make sure that the sticks data-folder (x:\dfsee) will be accessible from almost any operating system after using it with the PUPPY Linux boot to analyse or fix a system. Also, when the DFSee version running this is REGISTRED, it will transfer that registration key to the stick as well. If you need to add a registration key LATER, you must copy it to the ROOT of the USB stick (x:\), seen as '/mnt/home' when booted from the stick itself. There will be a temporary 'dfsee.key' there from the initial creation of the stick. When the memory stick used already has a filesystem (is formatted) it is recomended to UNMOUNT that before restoring the imagefile to avoid any flushed cache data to damage the restored image. (it works fine without this 99.9% of the time, but better be safe) For OS/2 (and ArcaOS or eCS) users this can be done using the regular LVM program, and then 'Hide from OS/2' for the driveletter. For Windows (later versions, probably starting from Windows-7): Remove the driveletter from the stick-partition using disk-manager. For Linux and macOS, use the (new) device management function: File -> Device and Volume management Unmount volumes from a disk -> ... select the disk (USB stick ... If you are unsure which disk is the USB stick, you may use: File -> Device and Volume management Display OS device/disk info Registering the DFSee installed on the stick ============================================ When the DFSee version creating the stick is REGISTRED, it will transfer that registration key to the proper location on the stick as well. If you need to add a registration key LATER, you must copy it to the ROOT of the USB stick (x:\), seen as '/mnt/home' when booted from the stick. There will be a temporary 'dfsee.key' there from the initial creation. Upgrading to newer DFSee versions ================================= You can download and install an update directly from the DFSee menu: Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Get latest STABLE update Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Get latest EXPERIMENTAL/Beta The latter being the 'build of the day' or BETA, whatever is available ... Note: This will also work from within other Linux, macOS, OS/2 or Windows versions of DFSee, when a proper UNZIP and WGET utility is available. If you do not have a working internet connection, dfsee_update.zip can be copied to the same download directory on another system, before booting from the stick to do the actual update. The download directory will be the '..mountpoint../dfsee' or 'X:\dfsee' directory on the stick when attached as external USB on another system. (and will be '/mnt/home/dfsee' in the PUPPY environment itself) After copying an update, it needs to be installed inside the PUPPY Linux environment to: /root/dfsee It can be installed there using the DFSee update menu/script: Help -> Program Updates / Downloads -> Install a program update (Note: Done automatically when downloading from the DFSee menu) Note that when upgrading to a new MAJOR version (like 17.0) you will need a new registration key at some point as well. Until you get and apply one, the DFSee program will still work but reminds you of the need to get a new key. Getting your system to boot from USB ==================================== Most modern systems allow booting from USB devices like memory sticks, but you usually need to do something special to make it happen, like: - Enable boot from USB in the BIOS, usually by setting the boot order such that the USB devices (USB HDD) come before the other disks. - Startup with a special key sequence, often advertized on the screen For example, on Thinkpads that would be the "Access IBM" or "ThinkVantage" button, followed by the key to select a bootable medium, or on newer ones (UEFI, like the Thinkpad X1) it is followed by . On some HP systems it is hitting the key a few times during early boot - If the system to boot is a UEFI one, you MUST use the DFSPUP64 variant of the he DFSPUPPY stick, and you have to DISABLE 'Secure Boot' in the system setup. (note: on some systems DFSPUP32 may work as well, but DFSPUPPY will NOT!) Check your systems documentation ... Note: On later Windows systems (starting from Windows 8) it may be needed to do a special form of shutdown, to allow accessing the BIOS settings at boot. This is done by holding the key while selecting the shutdown from the Windows start-menu. Using the DFSPUPPY/DFSPUP64/DFSPUP32 Linux based DFSee sticks ============================================================= - Insert the DFSPUP64, DFSPUP32 or DFSPUPPY memory stick - Start the system from the USB stick The DFSPUPPY desktop should come up, and is a complete Linux desktop environment with filemanageres, web-browser, and much more. In the upper left corner, there are some DFSee specific items: - Documentation Opens the folder with text and PDF documents - DFSpuppy Help This documentation file, DFSPUPPY specific - Browse (DFSpuppy) This is the Internet browser, which can be used for anything you want, but with its 'homepage' set to the DFSee 'DFSPUPPY' page on the DFSee website - home=usb-stick Opens the folder that should be used to store files on the USB stick, and transfer them elsewhere. It is /mnt/home/dfsee in the slacko-DFSee environment and will be 'x:\dfsee' in the OS/2 or Windows world. - mc-home-dfsee Starts a midnight commander filemanager window with /mnt/home/dfsee on one side (data directory on stick) and /root/dfsee on the other (DFSee program directory) - RUN DFSee A DFSee start icon, that starts it for interactive use - Browse IMZ A DFSee start icon, that starts a file Browser window to browse the contents of a (partition backup) IMZ image - HEX Edit file A DFSee start icon, that starts in a medium size window with a File-Open dialog to select a file to be edited. On selecting a file, it will start the HEX-Edit window. The current directory will be the program directory (/root/dfsee/linux) but the file-dialogs will default to the data directory (/mnt/home/dfsee) You can also run the DFSee program without the graphical environment being present in the default Linux console text screen, that you can get to by terminating the graphical environment (click the power 'button' in the top toolbar window) and select 'Exit to prompt'. This could also be useful when the graphical 'xorg' environment does not work or start on your particular system (rare, but happens) and you are left in that same Linux console, with a prompt. To start DFSee in that console, you can simply type 'dfs' In case you need the ROOT password ================================== When booted, you are running as the 'root' user, so it is unlikely you will need its password, however, when needed, the password is: woofwoof (Yes, you could have guessed, thats what puppies do :) Getting a working Internet connection, configuring WIFI access ============================================================== If you have a WIRED connection, it will most likely be active right after booting, so you can use the download/update functions or Browse the WEB. When not, use the network setup as shown below selecting WIRED connection instead of Wireless. For Wireless, things are a bit more complicated and less automatic. However, it is certainly doable, and the below step-by-step procedure will get you a working WIFI connection in almost all cases. Starting with the [Menu] button in the lower left corner: - [Menu] -> Setup -> Internet Connection wizard - Wired or wireless LAN - Network Wizard - Select the wireless interface: [wlan0] - Configure this wireless: [Wireless] - If you get an IWLWIFI WPA warning popup: [Add to List] - Confirm the iwlwifi Module addition: [OK] - Search for your WIFI network (by SSID): [Scan] - Select an available network, then [OK] - Select WPA encryption level: [WPA2] - Fill in the 'shared key' field, then [Save] and [Use This Profile] - Finally, after it connects, get an IP: [Auto DHCP] After this, the network icon in the lower-right should change to the familiar WIFI symbol, with the signal strength shown, hoovering over it with the mouse will show connection details. Using additional USB storage with DFSee ======================================= Just plugging in a USB storage device (external disk, memory stick) will make it visible as a disk/stick icon in the lower left of the desktop. However, there is a small caveat on actually USING that storage: You need to CLICK on that icon ONCE, to 'mount' it This will add a small 'eject' button to the icon, indicating it is ready. You can double-click on it to open it as a desktop folder, and you can also access it using MC or DFSee by navigating (the file-dialog) to: /mnt/sdc1 (and higher numbers for more partitions) Where the 'sdc1' part may vary (as indicated by the disks icon name) depending on the number of other fixed and removable disks in the system, and represents (one of) the filesystems on this mounted removable disk. When the system you booted has one internal disk, it will most likely be: /mnt/sda1 (and higher numbers for more partitions) Note that the USB-stick you booted from has the special name: /mnt/home (representing the ROOT of the USB stick) This is an alias for its actual name, which is something like 'sdb1' but it is NOT mounted under that name in the '/mnt' directory! Further tweaking the bootable USB stick ======================================= You can use, and make changes to anything in the PUPPY Linux environment. After making updates to the DFSee program, or the DFSPUPPY desktop or anything else outside the data-area on the memory stick, make sure to use [Save] when shutting down, or the changes will be LOST! With this, the changes will be stored in the xxxsave-dfsee.4fs container-file in the root of the USB stick, that is automaticaly loaded at the next boot. (where 'xxx' is 'slacko', 'upupbb' or 'bionic' depending on PUPPY version) Note: When downloading a new DFSPUPxx.IMZ or installing a DFSee update ZIP using the menu, you will be prompted afterwards to do a 'save now' to make sure the new version will stick. Normally, unless you intentionally changed something significant, use [No Save] for a quick shutdown.