Add SystemRescueCD to systemd-boot

A guide for adding SystemRescue (systemrescue.iso) directly to your EFI System Partition and booting it via systemd-boot — no USB needed.

Requirements

EFI system with systemd-boot
A large ESP (EFI System Partition) — ≥2 GB (ISO + kernel + initrd ≈ 1.5 GB)
Downloaded ISO from: https://www.system-rescue.org/Download/

Step 1: Extract the ISO (Do not mount!)

Use bsdtar or 7z to extract the ISO contents:

mkdir systemrescue-extracted
bsdtar -xf systemrescue-[Version]-amd64.iso -C systemrescue-extracted

Or:

7z x systemrescue-[Version]-amd64.iso -osystemrescue-extracted

Step 2: Copy Files to the ESP

Assuming your ESP is mounted at /boot:

sudo mkdir -p /boot/EFI/sysrescue
sudo cp systemrescue-*-amd64.iso /boot/EFI/sysrescue/
sudo cp systemrescue-extracted/sysresccd/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz /boot/EFI/sysrescue/
sudo cp systemrescue-extracted/sysresccd/boot/x86_64/sysresccd.img /boot/EFI/sysrescue/

Step 3: Label your ESP

Label your EFI System Partition as ESP:

sudo fatlabel /dev/sdXY ESP

Replace /dev/sdXY with your ESP device (check with lsblk or blkid).

Step 4: Create Boot Entry

Create a new entry file:

# /boot/loader/entries/sysrescue.conf
title   SystemRescue
linux   /EFI/sysrescue/vmlinuz
initrd  /EFI/sysrescue/sysresccd.img
options img_label=ESP img_loop=/EFI/sysrescue/systemrescue-[Version]-amd64.iso archisobasedir=sysresccd copytoram=y

Boot Options Explained

Option	Description
`img_label=ESP`	Label of the ESP containing the ISO
`img_loop=…`	Path to the ISO file relative to the ESP
`archisobasedir=…`	Base directory inside ISO; for SystemRescue always `sysresccd`
`copytoram=y`	Loads everything into RAM; allows unmounting/removing ESP after boot

Done!

Reboot and select SystemRescue from the systemd-boot menu. You now have a rescue OS stored permanently on your internal disk.

silverhadch/SystemRescueCD-systemd-boot.md