Xen support for sysrescuecd

In this article I will explain how you can customize sysrescuecd in a way that make it run on xen.

Here goes the steps

1. Download, extract, patch the kernel

Best way to do that is to follow this guide

2. Make menuconfig

From "Processor type and features" go to "Paravirtualized guest support " then select xen

Note:If you can't see xen and you are compiling x86 kernel then you need to disable support for High Memory Support (from Processor type and features)

From "General Setup" set "Kernel compression mode" to gzip instead of XZ (Xen doesn't recognize XZ compression)

Carry on and compile/install the kernel as explained in the guide above

2. Recompile initramfs

Now you need to include the new xen modules to your initramfs file

the guide explain how to do that, follow it but please consider those two notes

In the line that says

cp -a /lib/modules/your-kernel-modules /usr/src/initramfs/lib/modules/

This is how it should look like

mkdir /usr/src/initramfs/lib/modules/

cp -a /lib/modules/<kernel version>/ /usr/src/initramfs/lib/modules/

Also in the line that says

find . | cpio -H newc -o | xz --check=crc32 --x86 --lzma2 > /usr/src/initram.igz

Change it to be

find . | cpio -H newc -o | gzip > /usr/src/initram.igz

Because again xen doesn't recognize xz compression

3. Remaster the cd with the new kernel / initramfs.igz file

Hope that helps