DonsDeals Blog: Grub2 - I want to make a Multi Boot Linux ISO Testing Setup and I want to be able to Boot my ISO Files into Live Systems.

I'm trying to install Grub2 on a SATA Hard Drive that is plugged into a USB Adapter. The drive has Win7 on the Second Partition with a hidden First Partition called, “System Reserved” (since it came out of a Laptop). There is a Third Partition with Data on it and that is the Partition that I want to make a Multi Boot Linux ISO Testing Setup on. I want to be able to Boot my ISO Files into Live Systems, like you can do with USB Stick Drives... I want to install Gru2 on the MBR, since it seems like an easy Boot Loader to use for this purpose. I am doing this in ArtistX Linux, since it has Grub2 installed as it's default Boot Loader. I already tried in Fedora 14. But, just ended up with Grub2 installed on my Hard Drive, as a Second Boot Loader.

How To Re-install GRUB
The following two commands will work from withing a running Ubuntu operating system

grub-setup /dev/sdb

- this example installs the IPL for GRUB to the second hard disk's MBR

How To Install GRUB to a Partition Boot Sector

grub-setup --force /dev/sda2

this example installs /boot/grub/boot.img to the boot sector of /dev/sda2
(The GRUB from the operating system you're working in will be installed to /dev/sda2).
NOTE: GRUB 1.96 didn't seem to like having it's IPL installed to a partition boot sector, it complained and required the use of --force to get it to work.

TIP: If you can't boot Ubuntu in the normal way you can use your GRUB2RESCUE CD and see the following link, GRUB2 How To Boot From CLI Mode - NEW! Rescue your System.
Alternatively, you could use your Ubuntu Live CD and mount the operating system concerned and chroot into it to run these commands.

From... http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GRUB2%20Bash%20Commands.html#grub-setup

Main Page... http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GRUB2%20Bash%20Commands.html

I'm running from Krusader root mode Konsole, opened from Krusader...

grub-setup /dev/sdc

root@artistxbluefic:/media# grub-setup /dev/sdc

root@artistxbluefic:/media#

May have worked... It put “boot/grub” on C drive of the Win7 Partition on my USB HD. No grub.cfg file though....

But it has no grub.cfg

7. Run grub-mkconfig

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /media/Verbatim/boot/grub/grub.cfg

8. Relax the file permissions to make it easily editable from GUI mode, (user freindly).
Let's make it editable so we can play with it.

sudo chmod 777 -R /media/verbatim /boot

Now we can open it in GUI mode even if we want and edit the grub.cfg file to our heart's content.
From... http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GRUB2%20Bash%20Commands.html#GRUB_USB

I'm running from Krusader root mode Konsole, opened from Krusader...
grub-mkconfig -o /media/2CB2E613B2E5E176/boot/grub/grub.cfg

root@artistxbluefic:/# grub-mkconfig -o /media/2CB2E613B2E5E176/boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: moreblue-orbit-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-36-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-36-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-35-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-35-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-28-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sda1
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sdc1
done
root@artistxbluefic:/#

It worked and found every OS on this System, including the USB HD that I am installing Grub2 on to... Time for Testing...
Don

Update:
I have since learned how to Add Other operating systems to the GRUB 2 menu. If you have other operating systems installed and wish to boot them via GRUB 2. So, I'm going to try it again with Fedora 16 LXDE, since is uses less resources and I like Fedora better.

Here's what I have found on doing this...

Grub-1-and-2-grub-setup-dev-sdc-from-fedoraproject-org-and-how-to-install-grub-page.html

Don

GRUB 2 (from: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/GRUB_2)

Contents

[hide]

Introduction

GRUB 2 is the latest version of GNU GRUB, the Grand Unified Bootloader. A bootloader is the first software program that runs when a computer starts. It is responsible for loading and transferring control to the operating system kernel, (Linux, in the case of Fedora). The kernel, in turn, initializes the rest of the operating system.

GRUB 2 has replaced what was formerly known as GRUB (i.e. version 0.9x), which has, in turn, become GRUB Legacy.

Starting with Fedora 16, GRUB 2 is the default bootloader on x86 BIOS systems. For upgrades of BIOS systems the default is also to install GRUB 2, but you can opt to skip bootloader configuration entirely.

Tasks / Common issues

Adding Other operating systems to the GRUB 2 menu

If you have other operating systems installed and wish to boot them via GRUB 2:

# yum install os-prober

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Note
As of the F16 Beta, os-prober should get pulled in automatically during install and used to auto-generate entries for your other installed operating systems.

Setting default entry

Due to grub2-mkconfig (and os-prober) we cannot predict the order of the entries in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg, so we set the default by name/title instead. To do this, first, we set

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved

in /etc/default/grub, and run

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

to update grub.cfg. Then we call

grub2-set-default <title or number>

with the title of the newly installed Fedora's entry. From that point on you can change the default by calling

grub2-set-default <title or number>

or view it by running

grub2-editenv list

To do that, you'll need the list of possible menu entries, which you can find with

grep menuentry /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

(Surely there's a better way?)

Note
There are other, simpler, ways of setting the default entry, but they are prone to error if/when grub2-mkconfig is re-run. These include directly setting the default in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg or setting GRUB_DEFAULT to either a number or an entry title in /etc/default/grub. Neither of these methods is recommended.

If you understand the risks involved and still want to directly modify /boot/grub2/grub.cfg, here's how you can do it:

Edit /boot/grub2/grub.cfg, and change the line

This is not the recommended method
This will not survive grub2-mkconfig. It might not even survive a kernel update.

set default="0"

set default="5"

Updating GRUB 2 configuration

It is safe to directly edit /boot/grub2/grub.cfg in Fedora. Grubby in Fedora modifies the configuration when a kernel update is performed but does so in a safe manner. Other distributions, in particular Debian and Debian-derived distributions provide a software patch that adds an update-grub command which is neither included nor needed in Fedora.

Encountering the dreaded GRUB 2 boot prompt

If improperly configured, GRUB 2 may fail to load and subsequently drop to a boot prompt. To address this issue, proceed as follows:

1. List the drives which GRUB 2 sees:

grub2> ls

2. The output for a dos partition table /dev/sda with three partitons will look something like this:

(hd0) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1)

3. While the output for a gpt partition table /dev/sda with four partitions will look something like this:

(hd0) (hd0,gpt4) (hd0,gpt3) (hd0,gpt2) (hd0,gpt1)

4. With this information you can now probe each partition of the drive and locate your vmlinuz and initramfs files:

ls (hd0,1)/

Will list the files on /dev/sda1. If this partition contains /boot, the output will show the full name of vmlinuz and initramfs.

5. Armed with the location and full name of vmlinuz and initramfs you can now boot your system.

5a. Declare your root partition:

grub> set root=(hd0,3)

5b. Declare the kernel you wish to use:

grub> linux (hd0,1)/vmlinuz-3.0.0-1.fc16.i686 root=/dev/sda3 rhgb quiet selinux=0

# NOTE : add other kernel args if you have need of them

# NOTE : change the numbers to match your system

5c. Declare the initrd to use:

grub> initrd (hd0,1)/initramfs-3.0.0-1.fc16.i686.img

# NOTE : change the numbers to match your system

5d. Instruct GRUB 2 to boot the chosen files:

grub> boot

6. After boot, open a terminal.

7. Issue the grub2-mkconfig command to re-create the grub.cfg file grub2 needed to boot your system:

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

8. Issue the grub2-install command to install grub2 to your hard drive and make use of your config:

grub2-install --boot-directory=/boot /dev/sda

# Note: your drive may have another device name. Check for it with mount command output.

Other GRUB 2 issues

Absent Floppy Disk : It has been reported by some users that GRUB 2 may fail to install on a partition's boot sector if the computer floppy controller is activated in BIOS without an actual floppy disk drive being present. A possible workaround is to run (post OS install) from rescue mode:

grub2-install <target device> --no-floppy