mkbootdisk

Additional Notes

mkbootdisk creates a bootable floppy disk for the currently running Linux kernel. It writes the kernel image and a minimal initramfs to a floppy disk, allowing the system to boot if the hard drive bootloader fails or the boot configuration is corrupted.

This command was primarily used on older systems with floppy disk drives. It is largely obsolete on modern hardware but may still be available in some enterprise distributions for compatibility purposes.

Syntax

mkbootdisk [options] kernel-version

Parameters

• kernel-version: The kernel version string (e.g., 6.8.0-arch1-1), as shown by uname -r.

Common Options

• --device device: Write the boot image to the specified device (e.g., /dev/fd0).
• --mkinitrd-args args: Pass additional arguments to mkinitrd.
• --noprompt: Do not prompt before writing.
• --verbose: Show detailed progress.
• --version: Show version information.

Examples

mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 $(uname -r)

Create a boot floppy for the current kernel.

mkbootdisk --noprompt --device /dev/fd0 5.10.0-20-amd64

Create a boot floppy without prompting.

mkbootdisk --verbose --device /dev/fd0 $(uname -r)

Create a boot floppy with verbose output.

Practical Notes

• Floppy disks are unreliable and rarely used. For modern rescue media, create a bootable USB with tools like dd, ventoy, or distribution-specific live USB creators.
• If mkbootdisk is not available, check if your distribution provides mkrescue or similar tools.
• The kernel version argument is the same as the directory name under /lib/modules/.