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Grub4dos Guide/Tutorial


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#1 diddy

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 08:01 PM

After harassing Jaclaz and ilko countless times over the past few weeks I have finally, with their help, completed a grub4dos guide. Many thanks to Jaclaz and ilko for their input, suggestions and support :cheers: .

Feel free to post any errors or feedback – good or bad. The guide is available here – a downloadable version is also available.

diddy

Updated - 18th July 2008
Guide updated to version 1.1 following feedback from tinybit - see below.

Updated - 19th February 2009
Guide updated to version 1.2

Updated - 22nd April 2009
Guide updated to version 1.3

Updated - 17th May 2009
Guide updated to version 1.4
  • bee4u and Michele13 like this

#2 tinybit

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 02:55 AM

Good work :cheers:

I would like to add one point on the "mappings" page: http://diddy.boot-la...s/files/map.htm.

"Double-mapping" should perhaps (better) be called "nested mapping". The nest is no limit to the depth.

Another point about the "memory mapping":

The use of compressed images is therefore recommended, as it allows for less memory usage and faster loading.


The gz image does not save memory since it will be decompressed by the map command. It only save disk space where it occupies. It allows faster loading, yes.

Example use for Gzip'ed images -

* find --set-root /win98.ima.gz
* map /win98.ima.gz (fd0)
* map --hook
* root (fd0)
* chainloader +1
* boot


In map --mem /win98.ima.gz (fd0), the --mem should not be omitted.

#3 was_jaclaz

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 07:59 AM

Hmmm, it seems that the proofing by jaclaz :cheers: wasn't so accurate, after all. :cheers:

jaclaz

#4 tinybit

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 10:08 AM

Oh, I think jaclaz's words are very accurate indeed, and even more accurate than the developer's documents in most cases.

#5 diddy

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 12:41 PM

@Tinybit

Thanks for the quick response (and the eagle eyes - well spotted on the missing --mem switch). I'll edit the guide with the necessary changes and upload the new version within the next week - I want to see if any other errors are noticed first.

diddy

p.s. Jaclaz - you're sacked :cheers:

#6 mr_

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 02:11 PM

Great guide! Helps very much.

But why not post this guide into the grub4dos wiki?

#7 was_jaclaz

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 10:18 AM

@diddy

A couple links that you may want to add to this page:
http://diddy.boot-la...files/links.htm

Grub4dos latest releases (sometimes more up-to-date than http://grub4dos.jot.com/ )
https://gna.org/projects/grub4dos/
http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/

jaclaz

#8 Xtremee

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Posted 21 September 2008 - 08:12 PM

@ diddy,

Thank you a lot for your excellent Tutorial for Grub4Dos it is really interesting.

While I am reading you tut I find some typos that need to be fix.

Boot Options.htm
1st line: utilises --> utilizes

Map Command.htm
Nested Maopping section
2nd line: utilises --> utilizes

Booting Disk Image Files
section
this maps the image file (in this case PE.img --> sectionthis maps the image file (in this case PE.ima

I fix the .htm pages and pack them to you.

#9 ilko

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Posted 22 September 2008 - 04:56 AM

@diddy- yet another link from Tynibit, the latest builds:
http://grub4dos.nufans.net/

@Xtremee- isn't utilise alternative spelling?
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/utilize
http://www.babylon.c...nition/utilise/

#10 Galapo

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Posted 22 September 2008 - 06:01 AM

While I am reading you tut I find some typos that need to be fix.


[joking]
That depends on one nationality and the acceptance or non-acceptance of whether US English should be the standard. Apart from specialised (not a typo!) terms for a domain of study originating (or in part originating) from the US, I prefer to use -ise suffix myself and reject the use of -ize. Diddy's choice could be similarly intentional.[/joking]

Regards,
Galapo.

#11 was_jaclaz

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Posted 22 September 2008 - 10:05 AM

With all due respect to our U.S. friends, the language is called English, and rather obviously the fact that you have to specify "U.S. English" or "American English", means that it is NOT the "real thing".
http://www.bartleby....68/36/3436.html

-ise, -ize (suffix)


is an extremely prolific word-forming suffix, and many conservatives balk at what appears to be unnecessary invention and overuse of the device to coin such originally nonce words as concretize, computerize, pauperize, and the like. Americans make more use of -ize; Britons use more of -ise, but there are many American spellings with -ise as well.


Both suffixes are commonly accepted, but the -ise one does look more "British".

By the way, there is even people that use the term "amlish" for the "american way" of using English :huh::
http://www.accomodata.co.uk/amlish.htm

Of course all the "English" we commonly write and talk has had some influences from American English, and it is very difficult to distinguish American terms that have become common use in English from "wrong" ones, but when we are talking about spelling, I guess that British English should always prevail.

Personally I find that calling a dinner jacket "tuxedo" (American) or "smoking" (Italian) is a crime against logics and semantics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tie
:huh:

jaclaz

#12 Xtremee

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Posted 22 September 2008 - 10:28 AM

@ ilko & Galapo & jaclaz

Thanks for the info I really don't know that.

:huh: :huh: :)

#13 xclimbing

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Posted 13 November 2008 - 06:57 AM

I suggest to add some contents to the guide as below:

1. grldr.mbr can also be used to load grldr under Windows NT. for example:

edit boot.ini just like below:
[boot loader]

timeout=3

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /PAE /3GB

c:\boot\grldr.mbr="Grub4DOS by grldr.mbr" 

c:\grldr="Grub4DOS by grldr"

2. grldr can also be loaded by PXE as PXE boot file. after boot through PXE, it will use (pd) as the TFTP Server device.
map --mem (pd)/someimg.img (fd0)
map --hook
...

3. about PXE, you can use pxelinux to switch to grub4dos just as syslinux does, but you can keep the pxe stack and let grub4dos can access the (pd) device.

pxelinux.cfg:
LABEL grub4dos.pxe

MENU LABEL GRUB4DOS with PXE

kernel /grub.exe

append keeppxe

ALSO in (pd)/menu.lst/default you can do this:
title Return to PXELinux

pxe keep

chainloader --force --raw (pd)/pxelinux.0



title Load grub.exe with PXE support

pxe keep

terminal console

kernel (pd)/grub.exe



title Load grldr with PXE support

pxe keep

terminal console

chainloader --force --raw (pd)/grldr

At last, please forgive my poor English.

#14 was_jaclaz

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Posted 13 November 2008 - 01:34 PM

@Climbing

Thanks for the update :cheers:, I am sure that diddy will include them in next "revision" of the guide.

But two questions, one maybe worth something, the second pretty much noobish:
1) What are the advantages (if any) or drawbacks (if any) in using grldr.mbr instead of grldr in BOOT.INI? :cheers:
I mean, if I am not mistaken, the "job" of grldr.mbr is simply that of starting grldr, so I cannot see the usefulness of this "added step".

2) About PXE booting I have a number of perplexities - mainly because I did some experiments with PXE booting only a long time ago and I am not at all "familiar" with the process.
Could you post (or PM me if you prefer) a single "from beginning to actual boot" example (I mean a real world example, with actual settings used and known to work), including the settings of the TFTP server, some details of the OS/image booted through PXE and the like?
Even if you do not trust your English (in which I can see no problems, BTW :cheers:) it would be useful, as I could try and "fill the blanks" and "pass" it to diddy so that he can edit it in "real English" and add to the guide a complete set of instructions.
I see bits and pieces of the process, here and there, on the board and on the grub4dos readme_grub4dos.txt but I am failing to catch the thing in its entirety.

:cheers:

jaclaz

#15 xclimbing

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Posted 14 November 2008 - 03:38 AM

@jaclaz

Thanks. (BTW: The word "noobish" is hard to understand. I googled it for a long time. Finally got it.)

My answers to your questions:

1) about using grldr.mbr to load grub4dos. I think grldr.mbr just like a boot sector of grldr as well as bootsect.dos to IO.SYS(MS-DOS). and in some situation, user want grldr has customized name such as mygrldr, foo.ldr ... etc. then he can use grubinst to edit grldr.mbr to do this:
grubinst  -b=mygrldr -o grldr.mbr

also, you can use :
grubinst -e -b=mygrldr grldr

ren grldr mygrldr

copy mygrldr c:\

echo c:\mygrldr="grub4dos" >> c:\boot.ini
similar way to customized the grldr name.

grldr.mbr needn't have to put in drives root directory. Also, some one want to load grub4dos under NT and Vista in the same way. then using grldr.mbr is the only way.

2) I think you want me give the steps to setup a PXE server and use grldr as the boot file. ok, following:

PXE server = DHCP Server + TFTP Server.

How to setup DHCP Server and TFTP Server, there are many documents on the internet, just google it.

DHCP Server settings for PXE:
Option:066(boot server) = IP address of the TFTP Server.
Option:067(boot file) = grldr

TFTP Server settings for PXE:
suppose the TFTPServer root is: c:\tftproot, pxemenu.lst is the PXE boot menu for grub4dos.
copy grldr c:\tftproot

copy grub.exe c:\tftproot

md c:\tftproot\menu.lst

copy pxemenu.lst c:\tftproot\menu.lst\default

copy memdisk.gz c:\tftproot

copy pxelinux.0 c:\tftproot

then setup PXE Server done!

You can simply use TFTPD32(who include DHCP and TFTP Server in one program) in windows (NT) to setup a PXE Server for simple use or test.

you can downloads files above at: http://nufans.net/upload/pxe/tftpd32


TFTD32 Settings:
Posted Image

DHCP Server Settings of TFTD32:
Posted Image

When you setuped the PXE Server, you can try boot the computer from PXE(in a LAN with the PXE Server).

Hope this can help.

Climbing

#16 Twilight Cruiser

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Posted 02 December 2008 - 01:23 PM

Hi diddy,

great piece of work!
Hard to get through because it's so comprehensive, but a great help in understanding and handling GRUB4DOS (which is a real great boot manager tool)! :)

Greetings
Norbert

#17 JonF

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Posted 01 January 2009 - 08:14 PM

Minor error at http://diddy.boot-la...s/files/map.htm, at the end of the first paragraph after the bulleted list: "Either of the following programs can be used to defragment a file that is contiguous" should be "Either of the following programs can be used to defragment a file that is not contiguous".

#18 mr_

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Posted 03 January 2009 - 08:06 PM

The tips from here http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=6614 could be potentially added to this guide if a pxe part will be introduced.

#19 Icecube

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Posted 03 January 2009 - 09:29 PM

The Installing Grub4dos part doesn't mention, booting grub4dos via (legacy) grub for the linux folks :cheers: .

Load via Grub
Copy grub.exe to /boot/.
Add the following section in your /boot/grub/menu.lst file.
title Grub4dos

root (hd1,0)

kernel /boot/grub.exe
Change the root (hd1,0) command to the right drive and partition for your PC.

#20 rasker

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Posted 15 January 2009 - 06:05 PM

Really a great guide. Well done! Perhaps it should form the basis of the official documentation.

Cheers
R

#21 diddy

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Posted 19 January 2009 - 10:24 PM

This is just a quick message to thank everyone for the positive feedback and useful comments. Unfortunately, due to other commitments I have had very limited time in which to update the guide. I'm hoping that things calm down within the next few weeks and will work on an updated version at that time - incorporating some of the suggestions (and corrections) made so far. I will definitely be adding a pxe boot section but confess to being an 'English English' speaker so will be sticking with the utilise spelling - sorry Xtremee :) .

I might end up waiting for the release of grub4dos 0.4.4 Final to motivate me in updating the guide and eagerly look forward to the release - thanks for all of the hard work tinybit. Due to the explosion of grub4dos builds it's hard to keep track of all of the changes so it's likely to take a few weeks to make all of the additions - I've been using build 2008-5-14 for a while now and haven't been keeping up with any new releases so it's likely to take a week just to work through the changelog.

Thanks for the patience.

diddy

#22 caze

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 09:22 AM

the tutorial is really great! thank you all a lot!
unless i am mistaken (which is very probable), it might be helpful to include under esp. method 6 the note that the grldr file should, in order to be found by grub4dos stage1 in mbr, not be placed on an ntfs partition but may e.g. reside in the root of any fat16/32 partition. but note that this might be wrong and only not work for me.

#23 was_jaclaz

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 10:08 AM

the tutorial is really great! thank you all a lot!
unless i am mistaken (which is very probable), it might be helpful to include under esp. method 6 the note that the grldr file should, in order to be found by grub4dos stage1 in mbr, not be placed on an ntfs partition but may e.g. reside in the root of any fat16/32 partition. but note that this might be wrong and only not work for me.


grldr placed in NTFS partition works perfectly, AFAIK.

You may want to start a new thread detailing the problem you are having.

jaclaz

#24 caze

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 12:04 PM

hm. thank you for the advice. you are sure about that - in the situation where there is only grub4dos in mbr plus grldr on a ntfs (logical) partition, no grub4dos in bootsector, i assume? i will try and look into this. if it reproducably won't work, i'll open a new thread as you advice. thanks again!

#25 Icecube

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Posted 09 February 2009 - 06:15 AM

Add some new commands to the tutorial:
http://www.boot-land...?...pid=58554




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