. /\_/\ section:
. ____/ o o \
. /~____ =ø= / Linux Bootloaders and Dual Boot Handling
. (______)__m_m) v0.48
. ______________________________________________________________________________
.
. grub - grub is a bootloader for x86 arch linux
. lilo - lilo is a bootloader for x86 arch linux
. redboot - for ARM, MIPS, MN10300, PowerPC, Hitachi SHx, v850, and x86
. isolinux - linux bootloader that operates off ISO 9660/El Torito CD-ROMs
. osl2000 - commercial bootloader + menu for windows, linux, others
. bootpart - WinNT add partitions to boot menu, windows, os/2, or linux
. loadlin - Boots Linux from within DOS, comes with many distributions
. chos - graphical boot manager appearing in some distributions
. bootmagic - a commercial boot manager by PowerQuest
. system comman - a commercial boot manger 'system commander'
. ______________________________________________________________________________
.
. Bootloaders / boot managers may be installed to the following:
. (1) MBR - The Master Boot Record
. (2) The First Sector of the Boot Partition
.
. The master boot record is a reserved area on your hard drive that is
. automatically loaded by your computer's BIOS. It is the first place that a
. bootloader can take control of the boot process.
.
. Use the First Sector of the Boot Partition for a second bootloader. For
. example, you may have GRUB or LILO on your MBR, and BOOTPART on your First
. Boot Secotor since GRUB and LILO are unable to directly launch Windows NT.
.
. Information about the filesystem as a whole is contained on the Superblock.
. The Superblock of the First Boot Partition is where the bootloader is
. installed to when another bootloader is on the MBR.
.
. .oOo. boot loader support and frequently asked questions .oOo.
.
. Q. After installing or reinstalling Windows XP, grub no longer appears on boot
. so I can't get to my Linux operating system on my dual boot system.
.
. A. (1) Using a boot floppy:
.
. There are more than one way to approach this issue. If you created a boot
. floppy (such as with Redhat) simply boot from the floppy and execute the
. command: 'grub-install /dev/hda' (hda or appropriate drive).
.
. (2) Using Fedora Core 1.0 Installation CD Disc 1
.
. Boot off Fedora CD #1 in rescue mode. When prompted, select the
. appropriate keyboard layout. When asked to set up network, just skip.
. Lastly, you will be asked how to mount your Fedora install, choose the
. default option (OK) which mounts it read-write. Then you should be taken
. to the rescue shell. At the shell type the following commands:
.
. chroot /mnt/sysimage
.
. This makes grub think that your system booted normally by giving you a
. chrooted shell.
.
. /sbin/grub-install /dev/hda
.
. Assuming that your installation was to harddrive A, this installs grub onto
. the MBR.
.
. Press CNTRL-D twice or type 'exit' + Enter twice.
.
. Your system will reboot. Remove the Fedora installation CDROM and grub
. should take it from there.
.
. Q. My Windows 98 installation is now showing up in the GRUB boot menu after I
. had to install grub into the MBR again.
.
. A. Open the grub.conf file in a text editor. For example:
.
. vi /boot/grub/grub.conf
.
. Edit the boot entries to ensure that the correct partition is assigned to
. Windows 98. Multiple Windows operating systems are not handled by lilo and
. grub without chain-loading. I've used BootPart 2.20 (not on the MBR) to
. handle more than one Micro$oft OS on a single harddrive. BootPart is
. available at www.winimage.com to download.
.
. BootPart is an easy tool for adding additional partitions to the Windows NT
. multi boot menu. You can use it to add the OS/2 boot manager or a Linux
. partition. Bootpart 2.50 is free and also compatible with Windows NT,
. Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
.
. Q. How do I get Linux to work with Bootpart 2.50 using the lilo boot loader?
.
. A. Method 1: Install Lilo on the MBR and BootPart on the First Sector
. Method 2: Install BootPart on the MBR and Lilo on the First Sector
.
. For Linux, you can install Lilo at the beginning of the Linux partition
. and then add the Linux partition with BootPart:
.
. When you install Linux or run liloconfig, select "Superblock of the root
. linux partition" as the location for Lilo. On the Linux box, this added
. the line "boot=/dev/sdb4" into the file /etc/lilo.conf
.
. This method puts Bootpart on the MBR and lilo on the First Sector. It is
. possible to have lilo on the MBR and Bootpart on the First Sector also.
.
. Q. How do I get Linux to work with Bootpart using Grub (linux + winNT/XP)?
.
. A. Method 1: Install GRUB on the MBR and BootPart on the First Sector
. Method 2: Install BootPart on the MBR and GRUB on the First Sector
.
. There is more information on using Method 2, however, I prefer Method 1.
.
. Method 1 will cause the PC to boot to the GRUB menu first, offering the
. options of Linux or Microsoft. When Microsoft is selected the 'NTLDR'
. bootloader or BootPart displays a menu with two Microsoft Operating
. systems.
.
. (this information shall be revised, it is designed for 3 os's)
.
. (proceed at your own risk!)
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