Starting Slax 9.2.1 64bit

Slax on CD/DVD
If you plan to run Slax from a CD or DVD disc then you need to download Slax as
an ISO file. In fact, the ISO file is a complete image of a CD, so what you need to
do is to burn it to a CD/DVD media. Actually it doesn't matter if you choose CD or
DVD, both will just work. The most important part is that you can't burn it as a
regular file. That wouldn't work. Instead, you have to burn it as a disc image. In
Windows 7 for example, just right-click the ISO file and select Burn disc image from
the context menu. On older windowses, you'll need some special software for the
task, for example you can try Free ISO Burner. When done, put Slax CD/DVD disc
to your CD/DVD drive and reboot. You may need to press some key to show a
boot menu while your computer starts and select to boot from CD/DVD. That magic
key which shows you the boot menu is usually F11 , F9 or Esc , consult your BIOS
documentation or watch onscreen instructions when your computer reboots to
make sure.
Slax on USB device or hard disk

In order to run Slax from USB device or from hard drive, you need to copy the
contents of the ISO file directly to your disk's root. There is just one folder
called /slax/ , which needs to be copied. For example Windows 8.1 will simply
open the ISO file for you as like if it was a directory. You may need some special
software for this task if your operating system can't access the contents of the ISO
file. Alternatively, you can burn the ISO file to a CD/DVD disc and then copy it from
there. You should end up with /slax/ folder on your removable disk, for example
like E:\slax\ When done, one more step is required in order to make the drive
bootable: navigate to /slax/boot/ directory on your USB device or hard disk and
locate bootinst.bat file there. This file contains boot installer program, so just run it
by double clicking at it, it will make all the necessary changes to your device's
master boot record so your computer's BIOS could actually understand how to boot
Slax from your disk.
Next follow the same procedure like if you were booting from CD - reboot your
computer and choose to boot from the USB drive or hard disk in your computer's
boot menu. Again, you may need to consult your BIOS documentation to find out
how to boot an operating system on your computer from your desired device.
Slax boot options

Before Slax itself starts loading, you can see a big clover image in the middle of
your screen. This is the boot logo. It is displayed for a short while, and you have
exactly four seconds to press Esc key during that time in order to fine tune the way
how Slax is going to boot. Pressing Esc will invoke a simple boot menu like the
following:
Run Slax
Run Slax (Copy to RAM)
Run Slax (Keep changes persistent)
You may use this menu to copy Slax data to RAM during startup or to run Slax in
persistent mode, where all your changes are saved. Use arrow keys to navigate
and Enter key to select any option.
Persistent changes
By default, Slax stores all system changes in memory only and you lose them
when you reboot. If you start Slax with persistent changes enabled, it will detects if
you run it from a writable device. If yes, then all the changes you make to the
operating system itself are saved and restored next time you boot. If your device
uses FAT filesystem, which is most common on USB flash drives, then all file
modifications to Slax itself are saved into a special file changes.dat , which is
created on your boot device in /slax/changes/ directory, and grows automatically in
size up to 4GB. If your boot device uses a native Linux filesystem such as ext4,
then the changed files are saved natively to /slax/changes/ directory without any
need for intermediate changes.dat file. If you, for any reason, do not like persistent
changes, simply select a different option in the boot menu and your Slax will start
using the default 'fresh' configuration and won't save any modifications. It may be
useful also in cases you'd like to test something system-wide, since you can
always revert to the default state by simple reboot (in case things screw up).
The file changes.dat is designed to work even on FAT filesystems, which are
commonly used on most USB flash drives. Unfortunately FAT is limited to 4GB file
size; for that reason, persistent changes can't grow more. In case you need to save
more, please format your storage drive with some Linux filesystem such as EXT4
or BTRFS and install Slax to it. Slax will be able to save changes natively and will
be limited only by the actual capacity of your device. Persistent Changes
functionality does not (of course) affect files on hard drives in your computer. If you
modify these files, they will always be modified regardless of your persistent
changes settings.
Shutting down Slax safely

When Slax is running, it reads system data from the device it booted from. If you're
using Persistent Changes then Slax even writes data to your boot device.
Unplugging or ejecting it would make the operating system crash. Due to that, you
can unplug the boot device only after your computer is switched off or reboots to
other operating system. Similarly, if you access your computer's hard drives while
running Slax, those will stay mounted and will be marked as 'in use'. Be sure to
always shutdown Slax properly, either from the shutdown menu or
using poweroff or reboot commands, and always wait until the system ends.
Running Slax from memory

There may be situations though when you need to unplug the boot device as soon
as possible while keeping Slax running. This is indeed possible; it requires your
computer to load (copy) all Slax data to RAM memory during startup, so it is
accessible even after your boot device is no longer plugged in. In order to put this
"Copy to RAM" feature into action, make sure to start Slax with this boot option in
boot menu. The time needed to start Slax will increase, since it will need to copy
the entire /slax directory from CD or USB to your computer's memory, but then it
will run Slax from there, letting you disconnect your boot device. Your computer will
need at least 512 MB of RAM to hold all Slax data while still having enough free
RAM for the operating system itself. Remember that even if you run Slax from
memory, you have to properly shut it down when needed in order to safely
unmount your hard drives (if any).
Cheatcodes for Slax

Boot parameters (also known as cheatcodes) are used to affect the boot process
of Slax. Some of them are common for all Linuxes, others are specific for Slax
only. You can use them to disable desired kind of hardware detection, to start Slax
from hard drive, etc. To use cheatcodes, press Esc key to activate boot menu
during Slax startup as usual, and when you see the boot menu, press Tab . A
command line will appear at the bottom of the screen, which you can edit or add
new boot parameters at the end:
Cheatcode Meaning Example
from= Load Slax data from specified directory from=/slax7/

or even from an ISO file from=/Downloads
from=http://doma
nosound Mute sound on startup nosound
toram Activate Copy to RAM feature toram

Cheatcode Meaning Example
perch Activate Persistent Changes feature perch
debug Enable Slax startup debugging debug
Separate commands by space. See manual pages man bootparam for more
cheatcodes common for all Linuxes.

Starting Slax 9.2.1 64bit

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Starting Slax 9.2.1 64bit

Uploaded by

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Available Formats

Slax on CD/DVD

Slax on USB device or hard disk

Slax boot options

Shutting down Slax safely

Running Slax from memory

Cheatcodes for Slax

Cheatcode Meaning Example

from= Load Slax data from specified directory from=/slax7/

nosound Mute sound on startup nosound

toram Activate Copy to RAM feature toram

perch Activate Persistent Changes feature perch

debug Enable Slax startup debugging debug

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