4 replies to this topic

[dillonlim]

My apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum. I'm attempting to pxechain from an existing PXE server running syslinux 3.72 to a second PXE server running grub4dos 0.4.4. I've tried using following:

LABEL grub4dos

MENU grub4dos

COMBOOT pxechain.com

APPEND x.x.x.x::grldr

The grub loader appears to load but it drops me to a grub prompt without providing a menu. Unfortunately combining both servers at this point isn't really an option. Am I doing something wrong? Any assistance is very much appreciated. Thanks.

[Wonko the Sane]

My apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum. I'm attempting to pxechain from an existing PXE server running syslinux 3.72 to a second PXE server running grub4dos 0.4.4. I've tried using following:

LABEL grub4dos

MENU grub4dos

COMBOOT pxechain.com

APPEND x.x.x.x::grldr

The grub loader appears to load but it drops me to a grub prompt without providing a menu. Unfortunately combining both servers at this point isn't really an option. Am I doing something wrong? Any assistance is very much appreciated. Thanks.

Try chainloading grub.exe adding to it a config-file directive.
There should be some threads about this, try loking here also:
http://www.boot-land...hp?showforum=58
http://www.boot-land...hp?showforum=12

Another way (as I see it much easier) it is to edit the menu.lst embedded in grub4dos (this way the file is "monolithic"), see here for a quick reference:
http://www.boot-land...?...c=6775&st=5
http://www.boot-land...?...=7231&st=25



Wonko

[dillonlim]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately this is all pretty new to me and I'm trying to make sense of it. Just out of curiosity, would running the latest version of pxelinux on the first server make things any easier?

[Icecube]

Using the last version of PXELINUX (and additional files) is always recommended.
Which TFTP server and DHCP server do you use, and which options did you select?

[Wonko the Sane]

Unfortunately this is all pretty new to me and I'm trying to make sense of it.

Yep, I expected as much.

Point is that you are *somehow* (the actual *somehow*, i.e. Syslinux/isolinux/pxelinux being essentially Icecube's "realm" ) one of the two grub4dos "executables".

grldr is *something* that can be chainloaded from:

• grub4dos's own MBR: grldr.mbr
• a partition bootsector
• NTLDR through an entry in BOOT.INI
• another bootloader (like Syslinux/Isolinux/pxelinux )

grub.exe is *something* else that is at the same time:

• a DOS executable, that can be run from DOS as any other
• a "linux kernel" that can be loaded by ANYTHING that can load a Linux kernel (among which Syslinux/Isolinux/pxelinux , but also GRUB legacy, etc. etc.)

The difference is that grldr accepts NO "command line parameters", whilst grub.exe does accept them.


BOTH "executables" read by default a very small "internal", embedded configuration file (or menu.lst) that actually searches for the "real", "external" menu.lst on the available drives.

Right now your setup, by loading grldr, attempts to load a menu.lst in the available drives (which evidently do not comprehend the location where your actual menu.lst is ).

So, there are TWO possible ways to have it load your menu.lst:

• one - more complex - is to pass to the grub4dos "executable" a command line parameter (and to do this you need to "switch" to using grub.exe instead of grldr)
• the other - easier - is to actually replace the embedded menu.lst with the contents of your currently "external" menu.lst

If you try going back to the links I posted earlier at the light of the above info, matter should become clear.

Mind you that my intervention is *limited* to answer the specific question:

How can I load a menu.lst in a grub4dos loaded from Syslinux through COMBOOT pxechain.com?

and nothing else, i.e. whether the contents of your menu.lst will "work" or not is another thing....


Wonko