PartBoot

PartBoot is a disk-resident ISO boot manager for UEFI systems. It lets you keep Linux ISO images on a local partition and boot them through a generated GRUB menu instead of preparing a USB drive for each installer or live image.

PartBoot is early-stage software. Test it on a disposable partition first and do not point it at a partition that contains personal data, an installed operating system, or recovery media.

Features

• Interactive partboot start workflow for scanning, extracting, menu generation, and EFI staging.
• ISO discovery and boot profiles for Ubuntu, Debian/Kali, Arch, Fedora, and other GRUB-compatible Linux live images.
• Generated GRUB configuration with optional diagnostics.
• EFI staging and install helpers with explicit --dry-run / --force safeguards.
• JSON output for automation-oriented commands.

Windows installer ISOs are detected but not booted yet. See Future Work.

Runtime Requirements

• Windows with UEFI firmware.
• 7-Zip installed or PARTBOOT_7Z_PATH pointing to 7z.exe.
• A separate NTFS test partition, recommended size 16-64 GB.
• Secure Boot disabled unless you provide your own trusted EFI signing flow.

Installation

Install with WinGet:

winget install --id Haxllo.PartBoot --exact

WinGet can lag the latest GitHub or crates.io release while the package submission is reviewed.

Install with Cargo:

cargo install partboot

cargo install builds from source, so it requires the Rust and C++ build tools listed below.

Or download partboot.exe from the GitHub Releases page.

Building from Source

Source builds are only needed when you want to modify PartBoot or test an unreleased change.

Build requirements:

• Rust 1.95 or newer.
• Git.
• Microsoft C++ Build Tools or Visual Studio with the C++ workload when using the default Windows MSVC Rust toolchain.
• 7-Zip for ISO extraction tests and local end-to-end runs.

Build the binary:

cargo build --release

Run it from target\release\partboot.exe.

Quick Start

Start the guided workflow:

partboot start

The wizard will:

1. Detect available partitions.
2. Import ISO files into the selected PartBoot directory.
3. Extract boot files from supported Linux ISOs.
4. Generate a GRUB boot menu.
5. Stage EFI files and print the installation instructions.

After reviewing the generated files, install them to an EFI system partition:

partboot install-esp --root <PARTBOOT_ROOT> --esp <ESP_PATH> --force
partboot boot-instructions --esp <ESP_PATH>

Then reboot and select the PartBoot entry from the firmware boot menu.

Documentation

• Usage Guide: command reference, supported ISO families, partition guidance, and troubleshooting.
• Developer Guide: build, test, release, and implementation notes.
• GRUB Strategy: EFI and GRUB architecture notes.
• Planning Status: implementation status for active and historical plan docs.
• Future Work: known limitations and planned improvements.
• Contributing: contribution workflow and quality expectations.

License

PartBoot is licensed under the MIT License.