Grub4dos Guide - Loading/Installing Grub4dos From Linux

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Load via SysLinux

To load via Syslinux you will first need to install Syslinux to a bootable device (version 3.70 tested). Copy C:\Grub4dos\GRUB.EXE to the syslinux folder on the drive containing your Syslinux files and add an entry to the Syslinux configuration file syslinux.cfg. e.g. –

LABEL grud4dos
MENU LABEL Grub4dos
KERNEL grub.exe

Alternatively copy C:\Grub4dos\GRUB.EXE to the root of the drive containing your Syslinux files and add following entry to syslinux.cfg –

LABEL grud4dos
MENU LABEL Grub4dos
KERNEL /grub.exe

Note the use of kernel /grub.exe.

Load Via (Legacy) Grub

Linux users with (Legacy) GRUB already installed can use it to boot Grub4dos. Identify the partition containing the GRUB boot files/folder (e.g. (hd0,0)/boot/grub). Copy grub.exe to the GRUB boot folder. Now add the following entry to your /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

title Grub4dos
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/grub/grub.exe

Change the root (hd0,0) command to reflect your own setup.

Load From Linux (kexec)

Following was tested using ubuntu Linux (version 8.04 (Hardy Heron)) - kexec package was installed using terminal command sudo apt-get install kexec-tools -

sudo kexec -l grub.exe
sudo kexec -e

Installing Grub4dos Code to the MBR

To install Grub4dos code to the MBR use bootlace.com. Using Puppy Linux version 4.0, (hd0) was identified as /dev/sda - Grub4dos was installed using the command /mnt/sdb1/bootlace.com /dev/sda. Output from running this command in a terminal -

# /mnt/sdb1/bootlace.com /dev/sda 

Disk geometry calculated according to the partition table: 
   Sectors per track=63, Number of heads=255 

Success. 

Installing Grub4dos Code to the Partition Boot Sector

The following instructions have been copied from README_GRUB4DOS.txt -

******************************************************************************
***           Use bootlace.com to install partition boot record            ***
******************************************************************************

Since bootlace.com has not implemented the --install-partition option, you
need to use the already implemented --floppy=PartitionNumber option instead.

Hear is a way you might want to follow:

Step 1. Get the boot sectors of the partition and save to a file MYPART.TMP.
    For NTFS, you need to get the beginning 16 sectors. For other type of
    filesystems, you only need to get one sector, but getting more sectors
    is also ok.

Step 2. Run this:

    bootlace.com --floppy=Y --sectors-per-track=S --heads=H --start-sector=B --total-sectors=C --vfat --ext2 --ntfs MYPART.TMP

    where we suppose MYPART.TMP is for (hdX,Y) and the partition number Y
    should be specified as in the --floppy=Y option.

    Note that for FAT12/16/32/NTFS partitions, you can omit these options:

         --sectors-per-track, --heads, --start-sector, --total-sectors,
         --vfat and --ext2.

    For NTFS partitions, you must specify --ntfs option.

    For ext2 partitions, you can omit --vfat, --ntfs and --ext2 options,
    but other options should be specified.

Step 3. Put MYPART.TMP back on to the boot sector(s) of your original partition
    (hdX,Y).


Note: Only a few file systems(FAT12/16/32/NTFS/ext2/ext3) are supported by now.

Note2: Under Linux you may directly write the partition. That is to say, Step
    1 and Step 3 are not needed. Simply use its device name instead of
    MYPART.TMP.

Note3: grubinst has the feature of installing grldr boot code onto a partiton
    boot area.


To install Grub4dos code to (hd0,1) which is an NTFS formatted partition and is device /dev/sda2 (in Puppy Linux version 4.0) -

Use the formula (hdX,Y) to calculate the floppy= parameter to be used with bootlace.com. For (hd0,1) Y=1, therefore we will use floppy=1 (to install to (hd0,2) we would use floppy=2, for (hd1,3) we would use floppy=3, etc).
Use bootlace.com command bootlace.com --floppy=1 --ntfs /dev/sda2 - hopefully you will receive confirmation similar to the following

# /mnt/sdb1/bootlace.com --floppy=1 --ntfs /dev/sda2 

Filesystem type is NTFS. 

Success. 

Copy grldr to (hd0,1) and set (hd0,1) as active. grldr must be present on the partition on which the bootsector was installed, menu.lst can however be on another partition.