Tim wrote:
On Sat, 2008-08-02 at 20:08 -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote: > What I'd like to know is, how can I convert my existing setup or > partition layout so that each of the Fedora partitions are bootable > with grub installed for which chain-loader will work? When installing extra OSs, don't install the bootloader to the disc MBR, but to the boot partition for that OS (with each OS having its own boot partition). At a simplistic level, you might install an OS with individual partitions like the following: system boot (e.g. /dev/sda1) Fedora boot (e.g. /dev/sda2) Fedora / Ubuntu boot Ubuntu / Debian boot Debian / OpenBSD boot OpenBSD / The system boot would just be where GRUB has a few files, that the BIOS will read to start booting. This will be your boot menu, and to boot other OSs you'll chainload to their own boot partitions. When you boot up, you'll see the initial boot menu (offering just Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, OpenBSD, etc., and when you pick one of them, you'll move over to the boot menu for that distro - where you can pick which particular kernel they'll boot with, or just go with their defaults). To change existing installations over to working this way, you'd need to already have boot partitions for each one, and you'd reinstall their bootloaders to their own boot partitions. e.g. You'd install Fedora's GRUB to /dev/sda2 not /dev/sda. Some people will share a boot partition between different OSs, but that *may* be a problem, if one of them updates kernels and messed with others. It shouldn't happen, but I've read postings about it. > In the past, I had nightmares trying to figure this out, and was not > successful, but then I was not using chain-loaders either. From my > past experiences, for some reason I got the idea that it was a no-no > to have /boot installed in / - I forget why exactly - but I found that > /boot worked if it had it's own partition which explains my particular > partition layout. It would save me a partition for other uses if I > can get /boot embedded within / - that would be very cool! If boot is just a directory inside /, it might be located on a part of the disc that the basic motherboard BIOS cannot access, so you won't be able to boot up. When you make boot partitions, you can control where they're created, and create them in a place that BIOS can actually read. Some people think that a boot directory inside / is fine, rather than a partition, because it works for them, at *that* time. But later on, as they install updates and other files, the location of boot-up files (e.g. kernel and initrd files) moves around, and can end up in an unreadable (by the BIOS) place.
What is the command for installing the "MBR" and grub into each of their respective partitions? I tried: grub-install --recheck /dev/sdc1, and likewise for /dev/sdc2 and /dev/sdc3 but nothing happens. Since I had copies of /boot for f8 and f9 I simply copied f8's boot files into /dev/sdc2 and f9's boot files into /dev/sdc3 but for /dev/sdc1 (boot-sys), I copied f8's boot files into /dev/sdc1, removed initd*, vm*, and System*, edited grub/grub.conf with the chain-loaders like you said. But I am at loss to figure out how to get each of the 3 partitions with it's own "MBR". Thanks! Dan -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
