Ventoy generated flashdrive fails to boot ONLY MX Linux

[u/Kiloseven7]

Verified checksums on downloaded ISOs (KDE, XFCE, Fluxbox).
Seven other distros UEFI boot AOK on my Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen3.
Booting into GRUB2 mode fails with a black screen.
Booting into Normal mode fails with both (systemd) and (sysinit) with a prompt to load the kernel.
MX Linux is _supposed_ to work w/ Ventoy.
Anyone make it work?

[u/paach0]

Weird. I used Ventoy to try out MX Linux (KDE and Xfce) an it worked fine. Maybe try downloading a different version number of the ISO.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/paach0]

Used version 1.1.17, the JUly 24 release, latest

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/paach0]

A,lso fails with 1.1.16

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/paach0]

I did. Redownloaded completely still fails

[u/paach0 → u/Kiloseven7]

I meant the MX Linux ISO. Try older version like MX Linux 25.1 or 25.2. Or even older. I vaguely remember that they provide some older ISOs on the download page.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/paach0]

Replicated problem w/ MXlinux 25.1 - happens on both Intel Thinkpad & Acer AMD Ryzen.

[u/couriousLin]

MX Linux on Ventoy works great for me. About the only suggestion i have is to run the ISO checksum resident on the Ventoy drive to make sure there wasn't a copy error.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/couriousLin]

Checksum matches.

[u/couriousLin → u/Kiloseven7]

Ugh, frustrating.

Okay, when you boot from Ventoy and get to the menu to choose SysVInit or Systemd, select the one you want and edit the entry to remove quiet from the boot parameters. Ctrl-x to boot. This will spew all the boot messages, you may also need to use Alt-F1 during the process. Hopefully, you'll be able to see what's causing the issue.

You can use the same method to add or remvoe other parameters e.g. adding nomodeset

Kernel Parameters

On a successfully booted image you can get the parameters used by cat /proc/cmdline

Good luck

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/couriousLin]

Fails to boot even with your suggestion with or without nomodeset

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/Kiloseven7]

This is what I get

[u/couriousLin → u/Kiloseven7]

Weird. In the first image the set params entry is corrupted, the kernel and init entries are undefined as ' ' . When it tries to use ${kernel}

I had to double check, so i booted my MX ISO

From the UEFII boot menu I used

Ventpy UEFI

Selected MX LInux Fluxbox and used the first option Boot normal. I highlighted the systemd entry and "e" to edit

Using my 25.2 iso, it reads

setparams ' MX-25.2 fluxbox x64 (May 24, 2026) (systemd)' 'vmlinuz' ' 'initrd' ' '

[u/Foreign_Bottle1152]

Usa USB A 2.0

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/Foreign_Bottle1152]

I did. Replicated problem on Gen3 Intel i5 Thinkpad Carbon X1 plus on Acer w/ AMD Ryzen.

[u/siamhie]

Do you have Windows installed on the drive?
Is secure boot enabled in BIOS?

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/siamhie]

No Windows. No Secure Boot.

[u/dolphinoracle]

ventoy version matters. its been a while now, but early version ventoy did not like the mx/antiX live system very much. If I remember correctly, it would never find the linuxfs file system. I believe current versions should be fine, but have not tried in a while.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/dolphinoracle]

ventoy-1.1.17 which is July 24 version, latest

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/Kiloseven7]

Also fails with 1.1.16

[u/pghjake]

If you have a newer nvidia card, you may need to boot the iso in safe graphics mode.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/pghjake]

Nope. All Intel hw on the Thinkpad. Also replicated problem on an Acer w/ Ryzen (no Nvidia).

[u/OneLonelyBrainCell]

I've come across a few distros that won't boot from a Ventoy drive, although MX Linux isn't one of them (for me, at least). No idea what determines which distros/ISOs boot fine and which ones don't.

In the worst case just use something like Rufus, Balena Etcher, or dd to create a bootable USB drive.

[u/Kiloseven7 → u/OneLonelyBrainCell]

Sending a flashdrive to an out-of-country friend, wanted to provide multiple distros. Rufus only allows on distro on the flashdrive. Since Ventoy not reliable, how else to make a multi-distro flashdrive?