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Using the instructions on the previous page, I installed SystemRescueCD onto a brand new Kingston DataTraveller DT108/8GB USB flash drive. Unfortunately, when I tried to boot a computer with the USB stick, I got the error missing operating system (on some computers, you might see “Operating system not found” instead).
Fixing the Missing Operating System Error When Booting SystemRescueCD from a USB Flash Drive
The “missing operating system” message was indicating that my USB flash drive was missing a master boot record (MBR). I was surprised by that because I was under the impression that the SystemRescueCd USB installer for Windows automatically installed the MBR for me and made the USB stick bootable.
Nevertheless, the fix is easy. First, you need a copy of syslinux.exe. You can either download it from the Syslinux website or you can extract it from the syslinux zip file in the bootprog folder on the SystemRescueCD flash drive.
To install the MBR onto your flash drive, you execute the following, replacing X with the drive letter of your USB flash drive:
syslinux.exe -m -a X:
After installing the MBR on the USB flash drive, I tried booting it again. This time, I had success!
If this tip helped you, please leave a comment.
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Hey Joe,
thanks for this tip! I used the SystemRescueCD-USB-Win-Installer and couldn’t manage to boot from my stick. Now I know that the MBR was missing and it works :)
Maybe I forgot to set the installer to “use as Admin” but thats not the point here ;)
It worked for me. Thank you.