XBMC OpenELEC - Dual Boot

[Fillmore]

At the moment I dont want to install a dual boot partition on my HTPC.
But would like to boot from a USB Linux boot stick whenever I need to browse the web etc..

However I see that once OpenELEC is installed it ALWAYS boots into OpenELEC and even the Bios setting of boot priority to look for USB disk prior to HDD is ignored.

I believe this is because OpenELEC alters some setting to enable QuickBoot.
Is there any workaround setting within OpenELEC which will let you boot from a USB stick if one is inserted ?

Thanks
Fillmore.

Ps: I went through the XBMC wiki's , but didnt find anything that answers this question.

 

[manniraj]

At the moment I dont want to install a dual boot partition on my HTPC.
But would like to boot from a USB Linux boot stick whenever I need to browse the web etc..

However I see that once OpenELEC is installed it ALWAYS boots into OpenELEC and even the Bios setting of boot priority to look for USB disk prior to HDD is ignored.

I believe this is because OpenELEC alters some setting to enable QuickBoot.
Is there any workaround setting within OpenELEC which will let you boot from a USB stick if one is inserted ?

Thanks
Fillmore.

Ps: I went through the XBMC wiki's , but didnt find anything that answers this question.

I think the easiest way could be that you install the Linux on the internal HDD and the Openelec on the USB stick. So in the boot priority set the USB stick to boot first and the internal HDD as second, this way whenever you want to boot to Openelec keep the USB stick connected and if you want Linux just disconnect the Openelec USB stick. I did this once when I wanted to see the Openelec flavor on a Win 7 machine and it did work. But this may not work if you are using both the OS on USB sticks.

 

[Fillmore]

I think the easiest way could be that you install the Linux on the internal HDD and the Openelec on the USB stick. So in the boot priority set the USB stick to boot first and the internal HDD as second, this way whenever you want to boot to Openelec keep the USB stick connected and if you want Linux just disconnect the Openelec USB stick. I did this once when I wanted to see the Openelec flavor on a Win 7 machine and it did work. But this may not work if you are using both the OS on USB sticks.

Yes this will work, but it defeats the whole purpose of having an SSD for quicker metadata refreshes as you scroll through your media etc..

 

[manniraj]

Yes this will work, but it defeats the whole purpose of having an SSD for quicker metadata refreshes as you scroll through your media etc..

But when you say SSD its an internal HDD, so are you using this for any OS. If yes then install Linux on the SSD and the Openelec on a USB stick.

 

[Fillmore]

But when you SSD its an internal HDD, so are you using this for any OS. If yes then install Linux on the SSD and the Openelec on a USB stick.

Not sure if I am getting what you are saying. Here is my setup.

The primary purpose of the HTPC is for the media , hence it has an internal SSD with OpenELEC running on it.

If I install OpenElec on the USB stick, it will store all the XBMC metadata etc on the USB stick rather than the SSD.
The USB stick has limited storage when compared to the SSD.

So I would prefer XBMC running on the SSD itself.

 

[musicbee]

Depends on your mobo, but in Intel if quick boot is enabled it means devices like USB, keyboard, video, graphics, etc. will only be available after the system boots.

Check if OpenELEC is altering such a setting in BIOS (BIOS boot menu) where secondary devices are not available, in which case boot to USB will not be possible.

Have not used OpenELEC, but a cursory Google search came up with this... do check if you have not already. BIOS may need to be updated.

https://communities.intel.com/message/247434

 

[sud98]

At the moment I dont want to install a dual boot partition on my HTPC.
But would like to boot from a USB Linux boot stick whenever I need to browse the web etc..

However I see that once OpenELEC is installed it ALWAYS boots into OpenELEC and even the Bios setting of boot priority to look for USB disk prior to HDD is ignored.

I believe this is because OpenELEC alters some setting to enable QuickBoot.
Is there any workaround setting within OpenELEC which will let you boot from a USB stick if one is inserted ?

Thanks
Fillmore.

Ps: I went through the XBMC wiki's , but didnt find anything that answers this question.

Will go home and check if the latest Openelec has changed anything. While mine defaults to openelec, I do remember stopping the boot and changing to Windows when I need. Although, Openelec claims their OS is not really meant for Dual boot (read it in the openelec wiki somewhere).

 

[Fillmore]

Will go home and check if the latest Openelec has changed anything. While mine defaults to openelec, I do remember stopping the boot and changing to Windows when I need. Although, Openelec claims their OS is not really meant for Dual boot (read it in the openelec wiki somewhere).

There are multiple factors to this which complicate it further.
(didnt get much time to debug this further)

1. My motherboard is an ASUS H97M-E board. Currently I don't get the boot menu bios screen if it is connected via an HDMI out. However if I switch it to a temp monitor connection via the VGA port then the boot menu comes up.
(This apparently is a known thing with Asus boards)

2. Turned off Quick Boot, but this has no effect. It ALWAYS boots into OpenElec irrespective of the USB stick.

Still looking for the right solution.