Grub 2 Basics

[peter b]

grub 097 is still available from ubuntu's main server on karmic;

changing to main server synaptic shows it. I just downgraded grub2 to grub 097 today on a stubborn pc that kept not seeing xp with grub2 doesn't matter what; problem solved in no time elegantly; moreover, by doing this I could see that in menu.lst there is an option that offers chainloading to grub2.

grub2 is still beta so I guess that glitches here and there can be expected; so far grub2 was 'dissected' extensively by the community and lots of v good tips and tricks were made available and documented. for sure os-prober needs some additional work - just my opinion.

it looks like upcoming lucid will have a new version of grub2.

[ranch hand]

10.04 has its 3rd version of grub. Started with 1.97beta4 went to 1.97 and we are now running 1.98.

I would have put in a custom entry for MS.

Os-prober is a dependency for grub of any version. It is more important in the newer versions for sure. It has improved a good bit but it certainly needs a lot more.

I am a long term lover of grub0.97 but I really like the new one even better. The only problem I have with grub-legacy is that it is no longer supported. I hope that grub-common keeps supporting both (that i where your chain loading comment comes from).

[peter b]

grub 097 never, and I mean never let me down booting anything that crossed my desk.

about the grub custom file entries - I made at least 5 attempts with no luck so I just gave up (os-prober exec rights either in place or removed). grub2/os-prober pure and simple stunned me - not able to read the presence of a functional boot.ini on (hd0,1) ?

So I plugged in an old hardy grub floppy and in 1 minute I was up to the races xp and all. I guess this is one of the odd situations in beta releases;

probably it has something to do with the way the hd was initialised and formatted initially (after first use) - apparently, the hd was part of an array then used as a standalone hd now; so once again the wiping/zeroing of previously used hd, especially the ones used in arrays, is a must before reuse. I guess the owner or whoever installed xp did not know or did not want to spend time on such an exercise.

[ranch hand]

Like I said, I really have a long standing love of grub0.97.

I am glad that you got it going to. There are a cou;e of pitfalls that can get you in reverting. If you encourage anyone else to do that send them to;

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1298932

Now, I really think it is time to turn this thread back over to the newer grub.

[garmada]

Thanks. This is really tutorial, i teach a very much.

[kansasnoob]

I wondered if I could get some of you grub2 aficionados to have a look at something. Basically the OP installed Karmic in a dual boot with Win XP, but created a separate /boot partition.

Later he installed another Debian based distro with legacy grub. So he ended up with a /boot that looks like this:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: Grub
Boot sector info: Grub 0.97 is installed in the boot sector of sda5 and
looks at sector 2453506 of the same hard drive for the
stage2 file. A stage2 file is at this location on
/dev/sda. Stage2 looks on partition #2 for
/boot/grub/menu.lst.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /grub/grub.cfg /grub/core.img

Cute huh?

I'm a bit scared to have him restore grub2 so I gave him some legacy grub entries that I hope will get Karmic booting from the legacy grub install.

Here's the link:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...27#post8855727

[meierfra.]

I'm a bit scared to have him restore grub2 so I gave him some legacy grub entries that I hope will get Karmic booting from the legacy grub install.

The OP installed the Backtrack Grub to the boot sector of the Ubuntu boot partition. That won't cause any problem. So I posted in that thread and gave instructions how to install Ubuntu's Grub to the MBR.

[undrakh_orgil]

Hi all.

[drs305]

Hi all.

Hi there undrakh_orgil, welcome to the Ubuntu forums!

With the title of your post, did you happen to post to the wrong thread? ... Even though you are most welcome here as well.

[kansasnoob]

The OP installed the Backtrack Grub to the boot sector of the Ubuntu boot partition. That won't cause any problem. So I posted in that thread and gave instructions how to install Ubuntu's Grub to the MBR.

Thank you