Boot device configuration issues

Installing on USB subsystems

USB mass storage devices are represented to the operating system as SCSI devices attached to a host adapter named ``usb_msto''. At boot time, each storage device attached to the USB bus is assigned a USB device ID, which is determined by the enumeration order of the detected USB devices. These device IDs remain persistent, unless you make a change such as adding or removing a USB storage device or swapping the location of devices in the USB chain.

If you are uncertain of the hardware configuration of your system, including the USB device IDs assigned to your current USB storage devices, the list of hardware information displayed at boot time (or available by running hwconfig(C)) may help. For example, if your system contains a USB floppy drive, a USB CD-ROM drive, and a USB hard drive, the hardware information display would include entries similar to:

  1 %cd-rom   -   -   -  type=S ha=0 id=0 lun=0 bus=0 ht=usb_msto
  2 %disk     -   -   -  type=S ha=0 id=1 lun=0 bus=0 ht=usb_msto
  3 %Sdsk     -   -   -  cyls=1 hds=64 secs=32
  4 %floppy   -   -   -  type=S ha=0 id=1 lun=0 bus=0 ht=usb_msto
  5 %Sflp     -   -   -  cyls=80 hds=2 secs=18
  6 %disk     -   -   -  type=S ha=0 id=2 lun=0 bus=0 ht=usb_msto
  7 %Sdsk     -   -   -  cyls=40000 hds=64 secs=32

Line 1 represents the USB CD-ROM drive.
Lines 2 through 5 represent the USB floppy drive.
NOTE: Removable USB media devices -- such as floppy drives, LS-120 drives, Zip and Jaz drives, and so forth -- are recognized by the system twice, once as a hard disk and once as a floppy drive, and both share the same USB device ID. You can ignore the information in the disk/Sdsk entries.
Lines 5 and 6 represent the USB hard disk.

The id= string indicates the USB device ID assigned to a USB storage device. The device IDs shown in this example were assigned based on the order in which the USB CD-ROM, floppy, and hard drives were recognized by the system. The device IDs on your system will differ because the physical arrangement of USB ports and connections will be unique to your computer.

Specifying a USB hard drive for installation

If you want to install SCO OpenServer onto a USB hard drive and your system also contains one or more IDE or SCSI hard drives, you may need to use the SCSI Sdsk bootstring.

For example, if the USB hard disk that you want to install is recognized by the operating system as USB mass storage device ID 3, you would enter the following at the installation Boot: prompt:

defbootstr Sdsk=usb_msto(0,3,0) hd=Sdsk

See ``Using bootstrings'' and ``SCSI peripheral bootstrings'' for more information on bootstrings.