How to UEFI64-boot to the AntiVirusLiveCD ISO

The AntiVirusLiveCD ISO only supports 64-bit CPUs and Legacy\MBR booting. MBR-booting on a system with a 32-bit CPU causes a 'not 64-bit CPU' error message to be displayed. 

When I downloaded the AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso file, I found by using 7Zip, that it did not contain a \EFI folder or any boot image which contained any .efi boot files. So the ISO does not support UEFI-booting. 

Even though the ISO does not contain UEFI64 boot files, it is possible to first UEFI64-boot to grub2 and then load the linux kernel and initrd ramdrive files under grub2. As long as the kernel does not rely on any Legacy BIOS calls, it should still boot OK.

I examined the AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso's \boot\isolinux\isolinux.cfg file:

isolinux.cfg

default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title AntivirusLiveCD 36.0-0.103.0
timeout 100

label Console
menu label AntivirusLiveCD 36.0-0.103.0 with Default Display
say Booting AntivirusLiveCD:
kernel /boot/bzImage
append initrd=/boot/initrd.gz rw root=/dev/ram0 vga=normal

label Framebuffer
menu label AntivirusLiveCD 36.0-0.103.0 with VESA Framebuffer
say Booting AntivirusLiveCD:
kernel /boot/bzImage
append initrd=/boot/initrd.gz rw root=/dev/ram0 vga=ask

and then constructed a new .cfg file suitable for agFM:

# AntiVirusLiveCD  (AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso) 

set grubfm_file=($bootdev,msdos1)/_ISO/ANTIVIRUS/AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso

source ${prefix}/func.sh

# check file is contiguous

set x=0

stat -c -q -s x "${grubfm_file}"

if [ ! "${x}" = "1" ] ; then 

echo ERROR: ${grubfm_file} is not contiguous or does not exist!

sleep 3

grubfm "${grubfm_current_path}"

fi

unset x

if [ "${CPU}" == "32" ]; then 

echo ERROR: 32-bit CPUs are not supported!

sleep 3

grubfm "${grubfm_current_path}"

fi

menuentry "AntiVirusLiveCD (default display)" --unrestricted --class gnu-linux {

#only update partition table if already empty

if ! test -d (${bootdev},4) ; then partnew --type=0x00 --file="${grubfm_file}" (${grubfm_disk}) 4 ; fi

map -n "${grubfm_file}"

map -u

loopback loop "${grubfm_file}"

set root=loop

# Check the /grub/isolinux folder for correct parameters to use

linux /boot/bzImage rw root=/dev/ram0 vga=normal

initrd /boot/initrd.gz 

boot

}

menuentry "AntiVirusLiveCD (with VESA Framebuffer)" --unrestricted --class gnu-linux {

#only update partition table if already empty

if ! test -d (${bootdev},4) ; then partnew --type=0x00 --file="${grubfm_file}" (${grubfm_disk}) 4 ; fi

map -n "${grubfm_file}"

map -u

loopback loop "${grubfm_file}"

set root=loop

linux /boot/bzImage w root=/dev/ram0 vga=ask

initrd /boot/initrd.gz 

boot

}

menuentry "Back" --class go-previous {

# return back to 'open' menu

grubfm "${grubfm_current_path}"

}

As the kernel did not seem to support 32-bit CPUs, I added some code to abort if a 32-bit CPU is detected.

Depending on which ISO you are using, you may need to check that the kernel parameters used on the line that begins with 'linux' are correct by looking inside the ISO at the original isolinux.cfg file, because the parameters used can sometimes change from version to version.

The agFM code uses the partnew command to create a new Partition 4 on the USB drive, therefore the ISO file must be made contiguous first. Although the partnew command requires a writeable drive and a contiguous ISO file, it can be used to boot 99% of all Linux-based ISOs in a generic fashion (unlike other solutions such as YUMI or Ventoy which often have to have patches for loads of different versions of different distros). 

The ,cfg file will be listed in the agFM menu.
You can add [64-bit Legacy+UEFI] to the file name if you wish.

Instead of a .cfg file, you can make a .grubfm file. See here or eBook #4 for more details.

The .cfg file is in the latest Beta of agFM v1.71c.