How to Install Grub4DOS to a Partition Boot Sector Instead of the MBR?

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How to Install Grub4DOS to a Partition Boot Sector Instead of the MBR?

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Started 11 years ago by GoodGuy98
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GoodGuy98

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Hello,

I want to install SliTaz in a preallocated partition (sda9) which is just for that OS.
I have tried installing SliTaz 4.0 using the TazPanel installer, but I told it not to install
the Grub bootloader because that will overlay the MBR and I don't want that.

How do I run Grub4DOS?
Most documentation discusses Grub Legacy or Grub 2 when installing a boot loader in the
partition boot sector. When I install a Linux such as Ubuntu, it offers a choice of the MBR
such as sda or a partition such as sda1, sda9, etc.

Thank you

Posted 11 years ago #
ernia

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which OS manage the MBR grub?
linux mint boot slitaz without grub4dos, so maybe your os could handle it too

Posted 11 years ago #
GoodGuy98

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I am using a product called Bootit Bare Metal from TeraByte

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

Posted 11 years ago #
ernia

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i don't know this product, may you configure it to boot what you find in yourslitazpartition/boot/grub/menu.lst ?

Posted 11 years ago #
GoodGuy98

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I have to configure it to boot what bootloader it finds in a partition's boot sector. If I install Ubuntu and tell it to install Grub2 to /dev/sda9, I point the Bootit Bare Metal entry to the partition for /dev/sda9 and it runs Grub2 in that case.

I have no experience with Grub4DOS and find the documentation confusing. In the case of SliTaz it looks like it somehow uses a Grub1 setup as far as I can tell. The initial boot screen shows a Grub4DOS header when installed to the MBR of a Virtual Machine in Virtualbox. I want to run Slitaz in an older PC but wish to retain the Terabyte Bootit Bare Metal boot system.

This web page shows what I would normally run in a Grub1 system.

http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/ReinstallGRUB

If you wish to re-install GRUB to the PBR of Partition #2 on a SCSI or SATA disk (/dev/sda9):

# grub-install /dev/sda9

How do I accomplish "grub-install /dev/sda9" using Grub4DOS that SliTaz seems to use if
I was willing to install the bootloader to the MBR of /dev/sda?

Hope I was able to explain what I wish for adequately.

Posted 11 years ago #
mojo

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Slitaz splits grub4dos into 2 tazpkgs
grub4dos we can ignore includes M$ filesystem tools grub.exe and bootlace for installing grub to M$ filesystem,grldr a.k.a. grubloader( http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:frugal ).
grub4dos-linux which has grub-install is used by /usr/bin/tazinst the full slitaz installer to install grub to MBR. The grub in grub4dos is legacy grub.

/usr/bin/tazinst:

# GRUB info with disk name used for grub-install.
grub_install()
{
if [ "$TGT_GRUB" == "yes" ]; then
TARGET_DISK=echo $TGT_PARTITION | sed s/"[0-9]"/''/
msg "$(gettext "Running grub-install on:") $TARGET_DISK"
grub-install --no-floppy \
--root-directory=$TARGET_ROOT $TARGET_DISK 2>>$LOG
debug "Grub installation done..."
else
debug "Grub not installed"
fi
}

If your chrooted into the install then the commands in the centos link should work,otherwise you will have to mount partition to a folder and add --root-directory=partition.mount.folder

Try this to install grub to bootsector of partition /dev/sda9
Mount partition /dev/sda9 to folder sda in current working directory.
# mkdir sda
# mount /dev/sda9 sda
# grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=sda /dev/sda9

How to re-install grub to partition sector from grub shell:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=232

Posted 11 years ago #
GoodGuy98

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Thank you mojo. It should really help!

Posted 11 years ago #
GoodGuy98

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This is to document the solution in case it can help others in the future.

Do NOT allow the install procedure to install Grub.

Once the install procedure is finished, but prior to rebooting I entered these commands.

# mount /dev/sda9 /mnt/target

# grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/target /dev/sda9

# umount /mnt/target

It was not necessary to create the /mnt/target folder because it already existed.
Change /dev/sda9 to the correct partition.

Thanks again to mojo for the guidance.

Posted 11 years ago #

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