How to install and boot 145 operating systems in a PC

In case you do not know why I put Grub in hda3 it was to pull off a stunt!

hda3 is a data-only partition without an operating system inside.

By using a data-only partition I could demonstrate every one of the 145 operating systems could be booted by chainloading.

Had I used Grub from a Linux that Linux must be booted directly with a "kernel" and possibly with an "initrd" statement too. Therefore I cannot used the indirect method of chainloader +1 on it.

The way I did it was using "chainloader +1" for every syetem without exception. It is unconventional but it shows once Grub is understood then we can play tunes with it.

It is also a good way to bring a festure of Grub that not many Linux users are aware of.

I cant boot m$ after installing ubuntu 64bit, problem=no such partition

Code:

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Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sda2  *          1      16708  134206978+  f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5            1020      16708  126021861    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6              1        1019    8185023  83  Linux

---

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Tomislav,

Welcome to Justlinux!

You should find your MS system will boot if you change the root partition reference from (hd0,0) to (hd0,1) as your sda2 is marked active and would have a boot loader inside to fire up the XP in sda5.

Code:

---

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

---

I was "Googling" for clues on how to setup LILO for a triple boot system when I came across your thread.

I've never understood the difference between LILO and GRUB and wondered why the World needed more than one boot loader.

After reading <a href="http://home.att.net/~lilo-boot/lilohome.htm">this site</a> thoroughly, I believe I'm starting to "get it". It seems that LILO needs to read a file or two from the Linux partition from which it was written in order to boot even Windows.

IOWs: If the Linux partition where the LILO "map" and/or "boot.b" files exist gets corrupted, you'll be shut out of your other OS installations as well. Unacceptable! (I can't find "boot.b" on my Slack-like installation, though... not in the "locate" database and not under /boot either.)

So I'm trying to convert to GRUB.

I've attempted to make my "Slack" chainloadable... but I must be missing a concept or two here.

I've left LILO on the MBR for the moment and pointed it at my "chainloadable" Slack. All I get is the GRUB prompt. I can then enter the kernel file by hand and "boot"... but the boot then fails... something about how "this should never happen."

I'll keep trying and I'll re-read your instructions as well.

Thank you for such a comprehensive treatment of the GRUB here. I registered on this forum because of your thread.

Cheers! :)
-Ed

Sregrepsa,

Welcome to Justlinux!

Since Slackware is not shipped with Grub my prediction is if you have built Grub into it then its configuration file /boot/grub will not be available.

The menu.lst is normally arranged by the installer, same function as the liloconf program inside Slackware that builds the /etc/lilo.conf for you. As Slackware has not anticipated Grub you will have to write your own menu.lst.

Luckily this is the simplest for Slackware because it has no initrd (shipped distro version) and the kernel is symbolic-linked to vmlinuz. Therefore if you get a Grub prompt you can manaully boot up Slackware, say it is in hda4 or (hd0,3) to Grub, by commands

Code:

---

root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda4
boot

---

Your /boot/grub/menu.lst can be simply

Code:

---

title Slackware in partition hda4 known to Grub as (hd0,3)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda4

---

The "boot" statement is mandatory in manual booting but optional in menu.lst. It acts as the green light to tell Grub to fire up the system. The title line is a display message that can be omitted in manual booting.

If the above menu.lst works and you have another Grub in the MBR then your Slackware in , say in (hd0,3), can be made chainloadable by commands in either a Grub prompt or a Grub shell

Code:

---

root (hd0,3)
setup (hd0,3)

---

Thereafter you can fire up Slackware manually by command

Code:

---

root (hd0,3)
chainloader +1
boot

---

or inside a menu.lst with lines

Code:

---

title Slackware in (hd0,3) booted indirectly
root (hd0,3)
chainloader +1

---

Lastly in chainloading you boot one boot loader with another. It only works if you have two Linux at least. The one in the MBR is always booted directly by using the kernel statement. You will understand it if you think about it. If not I can explain it if you want.

Also Lilo can multi-boot same as Grub and 3 systems are no problem at all by chainloading. Its equivalent command is "other=" . Thus if you are using Lilo to boot the Slackware above the commands are just

Code:

---

other=/dev/hda4
label=Slackware

---

It will fire up after you has done the "root" and "setup" statements. I am assuming Slackware is boot by Grub and you have another Linux with Lilo sitting at the MBR here.

Happy booting.

I feel silly. I left the 'root' statement out when I tried to manually boot from the Grub prompt.:o

I'll give it another go. But I really like the approach of having Grub in it's own partition. Can't wait to try that!

Again; this is a very inspiring thread. Thank you so much for taking the time to patiently address my question.
-Ed

EDIT 10 May '08: WOOT! Successfuly installed GRUB on the Slackware partition and got it to boot from LILO in the MBR. So it starts with the LILO screen... I choose Slackware... I get the GRUB screen (from the Slackware partition)... then choose Slackware. Now to eliminate LILO completely! Note: It's kind of funny right now; with the LILO map file sitting in the same folder with the GRUB menu.lst file.

Hi Saikee!

First of all congratulations for the achievement of installing/booting more then 100 OSs in one PC and for sharing this with us.

I am trying to configure a multi-boot system following your instructions from <http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=147959> but I am getting an error message when running:
root (hd0,0)

See the error message below:
grub> root (hd0,0)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> root (sd0,0)

Error 23: Error while parsing number

grub> root (sda0,0)

Error 23: Error while parsing number

I thought it could be just the nomenclature of my disk, but no option I tried resulted in anything good.

My system should boot Ubuntu 7.10 in sda6, Ubuntu 8.04 in sda7 and XP in sda2
All the systems are already installed in their respective partitions, but I just cannot make the first partition root in order to select the system to boot.
I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 last and this is the system that boots by default. As Ubuntu 7.10 was already installed the grub from 8.04 presents 7.10 as the second option in the boot menu

My disk:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000001

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 130 1044193+ 16 Hidden FAT16
/dev/sda2 131 3705 28716187+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 3706 60801 458623620 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3706 3835 1044193+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 3836 6515 21527068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 6516 9195 21527068+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 9196 22456 106518951 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 22457 35717 106518951 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda10 35718 60801 201487198+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

What should I do in order to make my first partition root?

Thank you,

Lejepra

When you in a Grub shell, from either booting from a Live CD or any boot-up Linux, restore Grub again.

Say the partition that you host Grub in the MBR is /dev/sda6 known to Grub as (hd0,5) these two line will restore Grub

Code:

---

root (hd0,5)
setup (hd0)

---

I did notice Grub may need to be restored if the installer hasn't done the job properly.

I put down on the installation of Grub wasn't cleanly done. It does happen.

It is also possibly that the installation was perfect but a small corruption of the partition data occured. Boot loaders are sensitive to such small corruptions.

Thank you for the reply!

My problem is exactly getting the command root (hd0,0) to work.
My first partition (sda1) is the one where I am trying to install Grub.

Every time I run this command I get the error message:
grub> root (hd0,0)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

I am using a SATA HD and I thought maybe it should not be hd0,0 but sd0,0 then I tried the following, but just got more error messages:
grub> root (sd0,0)

Error 23: Error while parsing number

grub> root (sda0,0)

Error 23: Error while parsing number

Any more tips?

Thank you,

Lejepra

Actually it is quite easy to sort out your situation. You do this by asking what Grub sees. Grub always names the hard disks as (hd0), (hd1), (hd2)....etc. (sd0) is never used!

In a text boot screen before you select a system to boot you can always press the "c" key to get a Grub prompt. In a Grub prompt you can ask Grub what are the partition layouts, of say the first two disks, by command

Code:

---

geometry (hd0)
geometry (hd1)

---

Grub must has a disk in order to load itself.

I notice you start off with sda1 or (hd0,0) as a hidden Fat16 partition. This might prevent Grub from reading its content and gain access to its menu.lst. If you have installed Grub in (hd0,0) you will need Grub to unhide it first so that you have Grub in a working order first. You only need to hide (hd0,0) if you boot a MS Windows installed alone at a later partition so that the "c" drive is not given to (hd0,0).

Can you add this line at the beginning of you menu.lst

Code:

---

unhide (hd0,0)

---

and confirm if the same error persist?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lejepra

What should I do in order to make my first partition root?

---

Don't!

That looks like a Dell/HP recovery partition. (Given the fact that there are tons of NTFS partitions, I'd suspect HP. They seem to steal lots of your disk for recovery junk.) There is no data from grub on that partition (unless you put it there yourself). The grub "root" argument tells it where to find its files (that is, menu.lst, stage1, *_stage1_5, stage2, etc.); if those files aren't on the partition you give it, it still won't install properly.

What you have to do is choose one of your Linux filesystems to hold the grub files (both of them probably already do, in /boot/grub); I'd choose the Ubuntu 8.04 partition myself. (That's sda7, or (hd0,6) to grub.) Then use that for the root command, not your hidden recovery partition that has no grub info on it. ;)

Saikee, I want to thank you so much for your lucid HowTo and your help in making the whole partitioning and grub work much clearer. Like others whose posts I've read here on this thread, I have joined this forum just because of the interest which your story and your HowTo has generated for me.

I have an older laptop (1999 Gateway 9300, celeron 433 mhz, 256 Ram) and am interested to slim down to something smaller and faster than the Ubuntu I've been running for the past year. I have an extra 10GB hard drive, and would like to put four small distros on it to test: Tinyflux, AntiX, Puppy Linux, and Fluxbuntu. I was thinking to keep the root and home folders of each distro in separate partitions, requiring a total of 8 for those plus one swap, giving a total of 9 partitions.

I was thinking to separate the root and home into separate partitions because many people have commented on the forums that it is more convenient as well as safer to have one's personal data separate from the OS. But I noticed that you seemed to put the home and root directories of each OS in one partition. Does that mean you do not subscribe to the idea of separating them? Or perhaps rather, that it was just too many OS's to separate the home and root for?

Do you recommend that I separate the home and root into different partitions, or keep them together? And do you think there is benefit in my putting grub into a separate partition the way you did? Or given the smaller nature of my project, is it just as good to just use the grub menu of one of the four distros to run the whole thing? Thanks!

Swarup ,

Welcome to Just Linux.

For maintenance purpose I prefer to keep each distro complete with its own set of /boot and /home. A common /home is doable but involves a lot of work because it keeps the desktop settings which can be different for different distros. So in theory it is a bad idea especially when you have to come up with the same user and group settings which each distro has a mind of its own.

I find it much better to have a data-only partition to store my personal information so that my photos, Word documents/spreadsheets, MP3 etc which can be used in any operating systems. Whatever I want to keep in /home I move it to my data-only partition. This way I can afford to lost any complete operating system without pain.

A common /boot does not work because every distro will dump its kernel and initrd files there and you will never know which kernel belongs to which distro even If none of them is overwritten. If you provide one partition per distro it will have /boot inside and so you can always identify the kernel and the boot loader just by the partition you’ve assigned to it. Thus if you install 4 distros you will have 4 boot loaders installed and any one can be “sourced” to take over the MBR to do the multi-booting.

My 145-system is a demonstration that every OS can be chainloaded. The only way I could show it is to put Grub in a data only partition because Grub has no master of its own.

Without an exception Grub must boot the Linux, that hosts Grub, directly by using “kernel” and “initrd” commands. It cannot chainload the Linux that hosts it because Grub will boot back itself in an endless loop. Think about it and you will understand. I described it as a dog chasing its own tail.

Putting Grub in a data-only partition does have the following advantages

(1) Grub is permanently available even if all Linux and other operating systems are removed.
(2) A Grub prompt is always available. One can learn far more about booting in a Grub prompt than working inside a Linux. Also there is no installed PC operating system in existence that cannot be booted up in a Grub prompt.
(3) One can use a MS Windows to boot up Grub if the data-only partition is a primary type. All it needs is to ask the MS Windows to make the primary data-only partition active. On the next boot the MS system’s MBR will fire up Grub instead of the Windows partition. That is something worth to have a go. The data-only partition needs to be one MS Windows supports like Fat16 or Fat32.
(4) Grub in a data-only is the easiest thing to set up. Just (1) format the data only partition, (2) Make a /boot/grub directory in the data-only partition, (3) copy stage1 and stage2 from a Linux into /boot/grub directory and (4) fire up a Grub shell and install Grub by command “root (hdx,y)” and setup “(hdx)” where x is the disk number and y is the partition number of the data-only partition. Thereafter a Grub prompt will appear in every boot. To control Grub one just write or copy a menu.lst into /boot/grub directory of (hdx,y).

I believe every Linux user will enjoy booting once he/she realise how simple the whole process has been arranged by Linux. Everything about booting I know was taught by the members and moderators here. So if you enjoy this thread you will enjoy Justlinux and the knowledge the members/moderators here are able to offer to you freely.

Thank you so much for your detailed and helpful reply. :) I think that on the point of /home and root architecture, I may not have been able to clearly express what I was planning: I was not thinking to create a single /home partition for common use by the four distros. Rather, I was thinking that there would be four separate root partitions (one for each distro), and four separate /home partitions (one for each distro). That gives a total of eight partitions i.e. "/" #1, /home #1, "/" #2, /home #2, "/" #3, /home #3, "/" #4, /home #4. Plus one swap for a total of 9 partitions. And I could add a 10th partition which would be a data partition housing personal data to be commonly accessed by all the distros.

In contrast, you are suggesting that I collapse the "/" and "/home" into one partition rather than having them in two separate partitions. In either case, each distro will have its own unique "/" and unique "/home". Just in the scenario I am suggesting, each distro will have its configuration settings in /home maintained separate from the root partition. Which gives the convenience I suppose, of being able to do a clean install or upgrade to a newer version of the distro in future, without having to save all the browser bookmarks and other settings from home, separately during the upgrade.

1. Do you feel it is worth creating separate unique home and root partitions for each distro as I have described above? Or is it simpler and better to just put each distro's root and home together in the same partition?

2. With regard to the single data partition where one will keep all word files, photos etc: What about one's mail folders for the email program? This is amongst my most important and critical data. Do you keep the mail data in the data partition as well, so it is accessed by all the distros using a same email program? And that way one could check and respond to email from within any distro, and the new email data thereby created would be accessible from within any of the four distros?

Or is that email data going to have to be kept in one distro's home folder. Let's say for argument's sake that Thunderbird is installed on all four distros. Can my TB profile folder be kept in the data partition and accessed by all? If so, then this would mean ALL my personal data is truly located in the data partition. And the only thing in the home folder would be the config files.

In reality the four distros do not come default with the same email client. But I suppose if I want to pursue a true separately maintained data partition in which all the personal data including mail and address book data would be accessible to all four distros, then the way to do it would be to install a single common email application such as TB, into each. Is that what you did, or what you would have in mind for the setup I describe?

(1) As I favour one partition per distro I would not be in favour just to create an extra /home for each one. The root partition of each distro is its /. In operation /boot and /home are always subdirectories of /. Since kernel 2.6.20 Linux no longer support 64 device names for a hard disk and we can only get 16 device names instead. Leaving the name of the hard disk and the extended partition one can have a maximum of 14 usable partition regardless the size of the hard disk.

In my own working when I mount a distro partition I can access every file it has. Believe me after a while you may have a job to tell which partition is holding what. In my case I keep a sheet of paper tabulating each distro's partition name. I could also look up Grub's menu.lst as I put the name of the distro and the partition reference there too.

If you want a lot of partitions you may have to go with LVM but the installers of the 4 distros need to recognise it first.

(2) I have not stored email extensively in Linux as most free email sites would do this for me, like hotmail, Yahoo and gmail. For work-related emails, which are in Windows, I have them stored offline in the hard disk and do backups regularly. I am probably not in a position to advise you how to pull different emails from different distros into a central location. May be the volume of my emails isn't large I find either hotmail or gmail is big enough to store all my emails permanently online.

My ISP is AOL and it also keeps all my emails permanently online.

Thank you-- that is very clear. I'll go ahead and keep the "/" and "/home" in the same partition. And as for email, I think I understand what to do. TB allows one to put its profile folder wherever you want, so all the distros could access it from the separate data partition. And other email programs probably do similarly.

There is only one issue that remains unclear for me, and that is that of setting up the boot menu in grub. Whether I use one of the four distros' grub installation wizard at the time of install, or whether I put in the lines manually into the menu.1st file later on, there is certain information one needs in order to have the three lines in the menu.1st file about each distro be accurate and work properly. THIS is what I need to know. --How to list the information correctly about each distro in the menu.1st file, so it will boot to each distro. (Last time I tried to do this, the Tinyflux grub installer did not get the AntiX listing correct and I could not boot into AntiX until I had the AntiX livecd redo grub from its own partition. Then both AntiX and Tinyflux would boot. But I'd rather use the Tinyflux installer so that that distro becomes the default distro to load.) I want to know though what information I need, and how to list it. It seems like one needs to know the kernel each distro uses, right? How do you find that out before installing it? Is there a place where one can go to copy the three lines for each specific distro, and then just paste it?

Add: I think I understand now. Someone told me on another forum that once all the distros are installed, I can use the working distro's grub to boot to that one and from there browse into each of the other distros' own grub's menu.1st file and copy the three boot lines from there into the grub install which I'm going to use. Is that the idea?

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

Also, if I should opt to do the grub in a separate partition as you detail below, there are a few steps there which are not clear yet for me:

Quote:

---

(4) Grub in a data-only is the easiest thing to set up. Just (1) format the data only partition, (2) Make a /boot/grub directory in the data-only partition, (3) copy stage1 and stage2 from a Linux into /boot/grub directory and (4) fire up a Grub shell and install Grub by command “root (hdx,y)” and setup “(hdx)” where x is the disk number and y is the partition number of the data-only partition. Thereafter a Grub prompt will appear in every boot. To control Grub one just write or copy a menu.lst into /boot/grub directory of (hdx,y).

---

"Make a /boot/grub directory in the data-only partition": So I guess in order to do this, I need to boot up into a different HD. Then I connect this HD I am creating as an external HD, browse to the data-only partition, and creat a "boot" folder and then within that a "grub" folder. Is that the point?

"copy stage1 and stage2 from a Linux into /boot/grub directory": I don't know what this refers to. What is "stage1" and "stage2" and where do I get it?

The 4th step would need more step by step instructions for me in lay language. "Fire up a Grub shell" -- what does it mean? Where do I do that, and how?

"command “root (hdx,y)” and setup “(hdx)” where x is the disk number": So I would be executing all this from a terminal window in another HD, right? And the disk number I would get by seeing the disk # assigned to the external HD by gparted? But that disk number would change as soon as I install the new HD into the laptop.

You can write your own menu.lst or just edit any one from a selected distro.

Say if you have Linux A with Grub controlling the MBR then that Linux will be booted directly. The remaining Linux B, C and D can then be booted indirectly by chainloading each with 3 lines like

Code:

---

title Linux B in partition (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

---

You can add the above line even before you install Linux B.

During installation you just make sure Linux B is installed into the 6th partition of the 1st hard disk or (hd0,5) and instruct its installer to put Grub (work equally well for Lilo) inside the root partition or (hd0,5).

After installation Linux B will become bootable. Just repeat the same for Linux C and D by specifying the correct partition number.

Regarding how to prepare Grub in a separate partition the current thread Post #3 has a full set of Bash commands listed. I copied and pasted them here

Code:

---

mkdir /mnt/hda3
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3
mkdir /mnt/hda3/boot
mkdir /mnt/hda3/boot/grub
cp /lib/grub/i386-pc/*  /mnt/hda3/boot/grub
grub
root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0)
quit

---

Commands in blue are issued in Bash root terminal. Those in red are inside a Grub shell.

Grub is just one of the many program you can run in a Linux terminal. To activate it you just type

Code:

---

grub

---

Once Grub is activated you will be working inside a shell. All the commands are to Grub's convention until you leave the shell by command

Code:

---

quit

---

and drop back to a Linux terminal.

stage1 and stage2 are all the Grub's system files needed to run Grub. For how I find it in directory /lib/grub/i386-pc/ I suggest you read Post #3 again. It is more rewarding if you try to think/understand the intention of every command.

At anytime you can ask Grub to tell you the partition layout by commands in a Grub shell

Code:

---

grub
geometry (hd0)
geometry (hd1)
quit

---

I think you are quite near to it. All you need is get yourself into a root terminal and try out a Grub shell.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

You can write your own menu.lst or just edit any one from a selected distro.

Say if you have Linux A with Grub controlling the MBR then that Linux will be booted directly. The remaining Linux B, C and D can then be booted indirectly by chainloading each with 3 lines like

Code:

---

title Linux B in partition (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1

---

You can add the above line even before you install Linux B.

During installation you just make sure Linux B is installed into the 6th partition of the 1st hard disk or (hd0,5) and instruct its installer to put Grub (work equally well for Lilo) inside the root partition or (hd0,5).

After installation Linux B will become bootable. Just repeat the same for Linux C and D by specifying the correct partition number.

---

I see. So Linux A with Grub controlling the MBR, its entry in menu.1st is slightly more complex with an extra two lines (for kernel and initrd). While the remaining three distros-- Linux B,C, and D, will have only three lines: Title, root, and chainloader. Now the title-- can you make that whatever you want? Or is there a fixed convention by which the title is made? For example, you made as the title "Linux B in partition (hd0,5)". But here below in the entry for the hard drive I'm using now, it reads as below. There, there is no mention of the location of the distro in the title line the way you gave it. And the kernel is described in the title line, whereas in your example that is not done. So for the title then, can one put whatever one wants there?

Code:

---

title                Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root                (hd0,4)
kernel                /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=372f0ec5-49da-4f2d-970d-550651cf9364 ro quiet splash
initrd                /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

title                Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root                (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader        +1

---

And for the "root" line, just the location of the root directory is needed. And there (0,5) means the 1st hard disk, 6th partition. How does this convention work: why does "0" mean the 1st hard disk, and why does "5" mean the 6th partition?

Then the term "chainloader +1" will always appear just like this for every distro Linux B,C,D, after Linux A?

(I am studying what you gave about how to put grub in its own data partition. The info is very helpful and I understand it better now, thank you.)

The "title" line is for Grub to display on the screen whatever you wish to tell yourself. As far as Grub is concern it is just a line of text it has to display.

Grub always counts from zero. So (hd0) is the 1st disk and (hd0,0) is the 1st partition of the 1st disk and so.

"Chainloader +1" means the current Grub will cut and discard itself from the 2nd sector onward and paste the remainder with another bootloader specified by the "root" statement at its "+1" (or the 2nd sector) position. In otherword Grub boots another boot loader and passes the control to the 2nd boot loader. It is a child play once you know it.

The beauty of chainloader is the 2nd boot loader does has to be Grub and can be any boot loader used on the PC. That is the magic and power of Grub. Chainloading is also used by every boot loader but not as well defined as in Grub.

Chainloading is used if Grub cannot read the filing system of the system it has been asked to boot. Therefore if you issue the "kernel" and "initrd" commands for a ntfs partition Grub can't execute them because Grub can't read its files. Also if the operating system has no defined kernel, like the MS systems, then the only way to boot a foreign system is by chainloading.

It is just not a widely known knowledge that Linux can chainload another Linux as most users and distro developers are used to do direct booting.

You don't have to use chainloading at all for Linux. Just copy the appropriate menu.lst section of the installed Linux B, C and D into the menu.lst of Linux A. Grub can boot every Linux directly this way.

In chainloading one boot loader boots another boot loader. It is simpler. The amazing thing of it is you can set up the menu.lst even before you install any of the systems as you don;t need to know their kernel and initrd names.

Thus basically you need one Grub to boot its master Linux A directly as indicated by the "kernel" and "initrd" of your Ubuntu.

Thereafter Ubuntu's Grub can chainload the next 200 operating systems if you install them.

The picture is a lot simpler than you think.

Wow. NOW it is all starting to make sense. What you wrote in your last post really put it all together for me. Thanks!

Now, in a previous post you had written, "During installation you just make sure Linux B is installed into the 6th partition of the 1st hard disk or (hd0,5) and instruct its installer to put Grub (work equally well for Lilo) inside the root partition or (hd0,5)."

My question is this: I was bad and did not follow the above guidance about "instructing its installer to put Grub...inside the root partition". Last night I installed the four distros onto my hard drive, each with its "/" and "/home" in the same partition as you instructed. Each of the four is a separate logical partition in my Extended partition (sda2). Sda1 is swap, and sda3 is my ext3 data partition. But I believe that the default for the boot loader in each distro's install was to set up grub in the MBR rather than in its own root partition. And I accepted that. Is this going to be a problem for me? Will I still be able to follow the shortcut way of adding Linux B,C, and D to Linux A's boot menu by the simple three-line (Title, root, chainloader +1) entry? Or will I have to instead "copy the appropriate menu.lst section of the installed Linux B, C and D into the menu.lst of Linux A". Or will neither of these two methods work, because of the fact that I let each distro's install default the grub setup to the MBR?

I would say out of a 100 Linux distros I could only name about 1 distro that has no otption to install the boot loader other than the MBR. So keep an eye on the installer like a hawk and you should find the facility!

In any case in a Grub shell you can put Grub back into its root partition, say it is (hd0,5) thereby making the partition "chainloadable" by commands

Code:

---

root (hd0,5)
setup (hd0,5)

---

In fact you can let each of the Linux A, B, C and D to enjoy the warmth of the MBR. Let say you have installed them in partition (hd0,5), (hd0,6), (hd0,7) and (hd0,8).

Assuming you want Linux A in (hd0,5) to control the MBR so have the menu.lst edited along the line I have suggested. You can then put Linux A in the MBR and Linux B, C and D chainloadable in one sweep commands of Grub as follow

Code:

---

root (hd0,5)
setup (hd0)
root (hd0,6)
setup (hd0,6)
root (hd0,7)
setup (hd0,7)
root (hd0,8)
setup (hd0,8)

---

I hope you now believe booting in Linux is child play!

Learn to use a Grub shell or Grub prompt and you can kiss all your booting problems good bye. The difference between the two is the latter is what you get before a Linux or any system is booted . Once Linux is booted you get only a Grub shell which is controlled by the kernel.

(Add: This post was written and posted before I saw the one from you just above. So all the work below was done while each distro's grub was still set to MBR and not root. But since the work was done using copy and paste of the original boot menu entry from each distro, then for the purposes of the work that was done below, I don't think it should matter.)

I went ahead and tried to set it up myself in the mean time, using the method of copying and pasting the entry from the menu.lst of each distro B,C,D into that of A. I got mixed results. Linux A is Tinyflux (a distro based on PCLOS), and that of course boots up fine. The other three distros are AntiX, Fluxbuntu, and Puppy 4.0 (their "frugal" install). Puppy also boots up just fine. Fluxbuntu tried to boot up for what I thought was an extraordinarily long time, and in the end gave an error message that the file system check failed. It then gave a command prompt, and said to type cntrl-D to reboot. I typed cntrl-D, and to my astonishment instead of rebooting, it completed its boot and immediately booted successfully! But even then, something funny is going on with it. I know, because when I first installed it and used its own grub to boot with, it booted fine. And finally, AntiX would not boot at all-- gave an error immediately "Bad file or directory type".

Here below is the menu.lst which I made (by adding lines to the Linux A (Tinyflux) boot menu):

Code:

---

timeout 15
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pcfluxboxos/boot/message
default 0

title Tinyflux
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/hda6  acpi=on resume=/dev/hda1
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=/dev/hda6  failsafe acpi=on resume=/dev/hda1
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title AntiX (MEPIS at sda5, newest kernel)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 nomce quiet splash vga=791 resume=/dev/sda1
boot

title Fluxbuntu (Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic)
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=304dc21f-1de9-49bb-8807-6fe85da66403 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title = Puppy (4.0)
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 loglevel=3 PMEDIA=idehd
initrd /boot/initrd.gz

---

So as I say, Tinyflux and Puppy both boot up fine. Fluxbuntu booted but with great delay and difficulty, and AntiX would not boot at all. (I know that all these distros boot fine to their own grub, because I tested them.)

Here is the error message given when I select AntiX from the boot menu I made:

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
File system type is ext2fs, partition type is 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 nomce quiet splash vga=791 resume=/dev/sda1

Error 2: Bad file or directory type

---

It is odd, because the root location is correct, but the file system type is in fact ext3, NOT ext2. Don't know why grub is thinking it is of type ext2.

Here is the error I get with Fluxbuntu. After around 7-8 minutes of going through the motions of booting (Fluxbuntu doesn't show the actual lines of code--there is an image on the screen during the time), I get the following error message:

Code:

---

fsck.ext3: unable to resolve 'UUID=9938fd2e-3823-4de1-8d38-9eef0263625d'
fsck.ext3: unable to resolve 'UUID=7970934e-390d-4842-9460-b4a1ba63cecc'
1 dev/sda8: clean, 16/47232 files, 28016/188755 blocks
fsck died with exit status 8                    [fail]
file system check failed
A log is being saved in /var/log/fsck/checkfs if that location is writable
Please repair the file system manually
A maintenance shell will now be started
[==> command prompt appeared]
Control-D to reboot system
[I did Control-D]
[Then the system proceeded immediately to the login screen after a fast show of several lines of code, and from the login screen went successfully to a functional desktop.]

---

So what is wrong with the AntiX and Fluxbuntu grub menu listings? The listing is the exact replica of what I found in their respective root's grub menus. What do I need to do to fix this, so that all four distros will boot up properly?

From my experience with the Ubuntu family distros they like to fsck every partition you have got and so the delay isn't to do with the booting but let the distro to stick its nose into other partitions.

I usually have to go to the /etc/fstab to disable the partition-to-partition checking. I don't have the patience of seeing it to scan the 150+ partitions in my PC ( for the 145 systems). Many distros try to be clever and this is not always to their own good.

Your AntiX menu looks OK to me. What I would do in your case is to drop all the trimming and boot the system up manually by pressing "e" for edit on the AntiX choice. I would edit the entry as

Code:

---

title AntiX (MEPIS at sda5, newest kernel)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro
boot

---

or try "rw" intead of "ro" just to see if the distro boots.

You might have missed out the initrd statement there too.

In any case you can put Grub inside root partition of (hd0,4) and boot it up by chainloading. To do this at the boot up screen do not select a system to boot but just press the "c" key to drop into a Grub prompt. Then type these lines at the terminal

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
boot

---

The above is for you to boot AntiX with its own menu.lst in its original state as prepared by the installer.

If your AntiX has booted successfully when you installed its Grub into the MBR then the chainloading will fire it up.

The experience and expertise you have in this area is incredible. Whatever problem comes, you have the answer. Again, this last post you have given is marvelous. Such insight! I am making my way through your post, one by one dealing with the issues your raised. Here is the first one:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

From my experience with the Ubuntu family distros they like to fsck every partition you have got and so the delay isn't to do with the booting but let the distro to stick its nose into other partitions.

I usually have to go to the /etc/fstab to disable the partition-to-partition checking. I don't have the patience of seeing it to scan the 150+ partitions in my PC ( for the 145 systems). Many distros try to be clever and this is not always to their own good.

---

After looking at the concerned fstab file, I am sure you are correct about this. Here I am pasting for you the file. Can you look at it and tell me how to disable the partition-to-partition checking.

Code:

---

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>  <type>  <options>      <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc          proc    defaults        0      0
# /dev/sda7
UUID=304dc21f-1de9-49bb-8807-6fe85da66403 /              ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0      1
# /dev/sda3
UUID=772e77f7-1e6f-4474-bc33-7b5fe8843eb5 /media/sda3    ext3    defaults        0      2
# /dev/sda5
UUID=9938fd2e-3823-4de1-8d38-9eef0263625d /media/sda5    ext3    defaults        0      2
# /dev/sda6
UUID=7970934e-390d-4842-94b0-b4a1ba631ecc /media/sda6    ext3    defaults        0      2
# /dev/sda8
UUID=9b33370d-b246-487d-a470-f05121874f49 /media/sda8    ext3    defaults        0      2
# /dev/sda1
UUID=193e5b03-3cc4-44bd-9e20-158467acae8b none            swap    sw              0      0
/dev/scd0      /media/cdrom0  udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0      0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec 0      0

---

Do I have to turn something "off" in this file, or do I have to delete those lines related with other partitions? Or comment them out with "#"? If so, exactly which ones? What should be done?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

Your AntiX menu looks OK to me. What I would do in your case is to drop all the trimming and boot the system up manually by pressing "e" for edit on the AntiX choice. I would edit the entry as

Code:

---

title AntiX (MEPIS at sda5, newest kernel)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro
boot

---

or try "rw" intead of "ro" just to see if the distro boots.

---

Ok. I'll try it and see how it goes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

You might have missed out the initrd statement there too.

---

Actually, I went back to confirm again and in fact there is no initrd statement in the AntiX entry. Don't know why.

Add: Actually, I'm just going to do the setup for chainloading AntiX as you suggested. That seems the easiest and the surest shot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

In any case you can put Grub inside root partition of (hd0,4) and boot it up by chainloading. To do this at the boot up screen do not select a system to boot but just press the "c" key to drop into a Grub prompt. Then type these lines at the terminal

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
boot

---

The above is for you to boot AntiX with its own menu.lst in its original state as prepared by the installer.

If your AntiX has booted successfully when you installed its Grub into the MBR then the chainloading will fire it up.

---

I tried to do this just now. I started the computer, and at the grub menu I typed "c". The letter "c" appeared in the lower right of the screen, but nothing happened. No Grub prompt appeared. So I thought, maybe I need to hit "enter" in order for the "c" to process. I hit "enter", but when I did that, grub just booted to the default OS-- Tinyflux. And that's where I am now. I thought, while I'm here I'll see if I can get the work done in terminal. So I opened a superuser terminal window and opened grub. (I can't figure out how to copy and paste from the terminal/grub window into this post, so I'll have to type out what happened. [How do you paste from this terminal window?])

In the grub shell I typed

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
result came: filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
setup (hd0,4)
result came: checking if "boot/grub/stage1" exists .... no
                        checking if "grub/stage1" exists ... no
                        Error 2: Bad file or directory type

---

What happened? Why couldn't I do the work at the grub boot menu screen? And why couldn't I do it once booted into Tinyflux, in the grub shell?

If you want a Grub prompt put a # in front of the gfxmen statement like this

Code:

---

#gfxmenu (hd0,5)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pcfluxboxos/boot/message

---

What you have done was to trade the Grub prompt in for a bit of graphic look at the boot screen by using a gfxmenu statement inside menu.lst. The # tells Grub to ignore that line.

You should get a Grub prompt now so try to boot up AintX manually.

In a terminal mode you can use the mouse to highlight the text, right click the mouse button to select copy.

Don't know your AntiX setup but if it has a menu.lst as you have claimed to be able to copy the booting commands from then it must have stage1 and stage2 in /boot/grub directory of (hd0,4).

Thanks very much for the info on the grub prompt. I just tried it, and for some reason I failed to get it to work as a grub prompt. What I am understanding is that at the screen where all the distros appear in menu form and you choose which one you want to boot to-- at that screen there is a window at the bottom of the screen in which the address of the chosen boot path appears, and in which one can also write. In that window, I moved the cursor as far to the left as it could go, and typed "# c". But upon hitting "enter", the computer just booted to whatever distro the cursor had last been on. Don't know if I tried to put this in the proper place?

Also, please see post #104, about partition-to-partition checking. Because I posted twice in a row (#104 and #105), I think #104 may have sneaked in without being noticed.

This line with edition in red is to be implemented in menu.lst

Code:

---

#gfxmenu (hd0,5)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pcfluxboxos/boot/message

---

Similarly to ask the kernel not to fsck partition /dev/sda3 you change the line from

Code:

---

# /dev/sda3
UUID=772e77f7-1e6f-4474-bc33-7b5fe8843eb5 /media/sda3    ext3    defaults        0      2

---

to

Code:

---

# /dev/sda3
UUID=772e77f7-1e6f-4474-bc33-7b5fe8843eb5 /media/sda3    ext3    defaults        0      0

---

The partition sda3 will still be mounted but not checked. or

Code:

---

# /dev/sda3
#UUID=772e77f7-1e6f-4474-bc33-7b5fe8843eb5 /media/sda3    ext3    defaults        0      2

---

In this case the partition is not mounted because any command line prefixed with a # is not executed.

Take your pick.

Wow, that worked out great and it wasn't even hard. I took care of the cross-partition checking, commenting out the lines for all the other partitions as you indicated. And it worked beautifully. (Fluxbuntu does still seem to take a bit longer than the other distros to boot, but it does so errorlessly and without any hitch. :) )

Now, as for AntiX-- I changed the entry for it in my current grub's menu.lst file to read:

Code:

---

title AntiX (MEPIS at sda5, newest kernel)
root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
boot

---

Should that work?

When I select Antix in the boot menu, I still get the same error as I was getting before i.e. (1) that there is no stage 1 or stage 2, and (2) Bad file or directory type.

But in AntiX's own grub (hda5/boot/grub) folder, there are 15 items including the menu.lst file, two others called "stage1" and "stage2", and then there several others as well which you know about I'm sure. So why would it be saying there is no stage1 or stage2?

Anyhow, if this is going to be a difficult one to solve, then I could just boot up to the AntiX livecd and have AntiX rebuild the entire grub boot menu according to its own standard. I did that once before during a previous install on this hard drive, and AntiX was able to make everything including itself boot up just fine. I just wasn't necessarily wanting AntiX to be the default distro for boot up, but that isn't a big deal.

Think I need to take you by the hand on this one again.

The commands of

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
boot

---

were meant for you to issue them at a Grub prompt.

Basically the first two lines setup up Grub in the boot sector inside (hd0,4) thereby making the partition chainloadable.

Thereafter your entry in the menu.lst (of the one in the MBR) can be arranged as

Code:

---

title AntiX (MEPIS at sda5, newest kernel)
root (hd0,4)
chainloader +1

---

In other word you only need to setup up Grub once.

The reason I combined the two was because when you are in the Grub prompt you can do "setup" first and then booting Antix second or to execute one immediately after the other. My intention was to demonstrate to you the "root" statement in this case only needs to be issued once.

My recommendation for you to use the chainloading is for you to boot up the original menu.lst compiled by the ANtiX installer. Your current failure may be due to a mistake you have made in copying the booting instructions from one menu.lst to another.

In any case once you get rid of the fgxmenu you can get yourself into a Grub prompt and try the commands listed at the very beginning of this post.

If it still fails you can tell ask Grub to report to you in which partition it has stage1 by command

Code:

---

find /boot/grub/stage1

---

If the stage1 is indeed inside (hd0,4) then your AntiX should boot, otherwise you may have to copy the two files stage1 and stage2 from another Linux.

Yes, I had understood that you wanted me to put those commands in at a grub prompt. But when yesterday I had tried them in a grub shell and they didn't work--giving the error message I had told you--then I figured a grub shell and a grub prompt are probably the same thing just one inside the OS and one outside it. So if that's the case, I figured, then it is just going to give me the same error at a grub prompt as it did at the grub shell. And that's why I (foolishly) tried to just put it into the menu.lst.

But I will try to do it now as you have instructed, at the grub prompt, and let us see what happens.

Would you kindly just let me know how I would issue the order to boot to, say Puppy (sda8), from the grub prompt in case the AntiX order doesn't work out? (Without changing the Puppy boot to chainload type. Just a one-time manual boot. Would it be "root (hd0,8)", and then "boot"?). That way at least I'll be able to boot into an OS so as to change the grub boot menu back to the GUI.

I do not really think the problem I am having with the AntiX boot is because of not copying and pasting correctly from the AntiX menu.lst file-- I've checked it multiple times, and it looks exactly proper.

So I am wondering whether perhaps the grub utility in AntiX is different somehow, that AntiX requires it for a proper boot? Just a guess. :)

I have more faith in Grub than others and believe if the files are there Grub will work out.

There is a huge difference between a Grub prompt and a Grub shell!

A Grub shell is one you get after you have booted into a Linux. There is no chance you can boot another Linux inside a kernel! although there is a program for you to wind down the Linux to do just that it is not commonly used.

You can only boot up a system in a Grub prompt and that is what Grub would be before it hands over the control to a kernel. Remember in a Grub shell Grub can see every USB drive because the kernel privides the drivers to read them. Whereas in a Grub prompt Grub has no USB driver and so it can only read one USB drive if that has been nominated by the Bios as the first bootable device. There are other bits and pieces that you can't do in one but can in another but the main difference is you cannot boot another Linux inside a Grub shell. Just think of it a Grub shell is managed by the kernel. Would the kernel be happy to let Grub kill itself and load another kernel in? It is equivalent to the MS Windows protected mode.

Regarding booting up Puppy in sda8 assuming you only have one disk then sda8 will be known to Grub as (hd0,7).

If Grub is inside the root partition of sda8 then it will boot in a Grub prompt by commands

Code:

---

root (hd0,7)
chainloader +1
boot

---

If you have not put Grub inside its root partition you can still boot it up with commands

Code:

---

root (hd0,7)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

---

You should know by now that Grub only boots a system by its partition reference. You need the "title" statment in a menu.lst but not in a Grub prompt. The "boot" statement is mandatory in a Grub prompt but optional in a menu.lst. Otherwise you can use all the commands in a menu.lst in manual booting with a Grub prompt.

Grub is also the best booting teacher in the world and you can pick up one hell of knowledge by booting systems manually in a Grub prompt. If there is a line Grub cannot execute it always tells you with the explanation. No response means your command has been exceuted without error.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

Regarding booting up Puppy in sda8 assuming you only have one disk then sda8 will be known to Grub as (hd0,7)...You should know by now that Grub only boots a system by its partition reference.

---

Yes, thanks-- I was in a rush to go out, and in my haste referred to sda8 as (hd0,8). But you've taught me this point earlier, and I understand.

I'm out at work right now and won't be able to test the grub prompt boot until I get home--I'll let you know how it goes.

On the subject of partition numbering though, one question: If Swap is sda1, the extended partition is sda2 with four logical drives inside sda5-8, and the data partition is sda3, then what happened to sda4? Why isn't the number "4" being used?

And thank you for all the education about grub prompts and shells just above. As well as how to word the boot commands at the grub prompt. I hope and know that many others who read through this will benefit tremendously as well!

Within the 512 byte in the MBR the first 446 bytes are computer code.

Between the 447th to 510th position there are 64 bytes divided into 16 bytes each for recording sda1 to sda4 generally known as the 4 primary partitions.

If you use logical partition then one of them must be converted into an extended partition. In you case you did so after creating sda1 as swap so sda2 was used up automatically for the extended partition.

Currently the last 16 bytes of the partition table are empty but you may also run out of disk space.

In an extended partition its 16 bytes has the information of the beginning sector of the first logical partition and the last sector of the last logical partition. Each logical partition has to carry the hard disk address of the next logical partition. Thus an operating system requires a scan outside the 64-byte partition table in order to establish the full set of the logical partitions which always start at the 5th position.

The first time you create a logical partition the next unused/vacant primary partition name will be used up as the extended partition. Therefore if you start from a raw disk with a logical partition the first partition you create is sda5. sda1 disappears as the extended partition and the first primary you can create become sda2.

If you use cfdisk to partition the hard disks you will see how the system works in front of your eye.

I refer to the above as the PC standard and it is the same in which ever operating system you work with. MS is trying to change it but so far without success.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

The commands of

Code:

---

root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
boot

---

were meant for you to issue them at a Grub prompt.

---

I did it at the Grub prompt tonite, and still got the same error there as when I had done it in the grub shell. When I did the root (hd4,0) command it was fine with that, and stated the filesystem type. When I then did setup (hd0,4) it gave the error that it could not find stage1 inside boot/grub. And then said "Bad file or directory type".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

If the stage1 is indeed inside (hd0,4) then your AntiX should boot, otherwise you may have to copy the two files stage1 and stage2 from another Linux.

---

So I booted up into Puppy, and deleted the stage1 and stage2 which were there inside the sda5 boot/grub folder. And then copied and pasted the stage1 and stage2 from sda6 (which I am booting with everyday), into sda5. And tried it again. ....Still the same error.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

If it still fails you can tell ask Grub to report to you in which partition it has stage1 by command

Code:

---

find /boot/grub/stage1

---

---

I did that, and got the reply:

Code:

---

sda5
sda6

---

So it sees that the AntiX (sda5) boot/grub folder has stage1 in it when I do the find command. But when I go to execute it and get AntiX to boot up, then it gives the reply that there is no stage1 in hd(0,4).

Also of curiosity is that the "find" command did not find the stage1 in sda7 (Fluxbuntu). And that OS boots up just fine.

OK in your case it may be better to cut the loss by re-installing AntiX in sda5. This time make sure the partition is formatted and mounted as /.

I couldn't explain why no stage1 in sda7 or (hd0,6). It is possible that stage1 could be in /boot instead of in /boot/grub. What you can investigate is boot up any Linux and as Linux to find all the stage1 in every mounted partition inside / for you by command

Code:

---

find / -name stage1

---

needless to say you need to mount sda7 in the boot up Linux or just use Fluxbuntu itself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saikee

OK in your case it may be better to cut the loss by re-installing AntiX in sda5. This time make sure the partition is formatted and mounted as /.

---

Ok. Before I do so, I'll just mention that earlier, prior to formatting my HD to establish the current setup, I had installed just two distros: Tinyflux (which is the now sda6 and whose grub is managing the current MBR boot menu), and AntiX. And at that time also, I had installed Tinyflux second so that it would manage the boot. And then also, it was unable to boot up AntiX. And I had been in touch with the AntiX developers with it via their support forum. They had given several different suggestions for how to word the AntiX lines in Tinyflux's boot menu. Ultimately, even they could not get it to work, and had suggested:

Quote:

---

You could install antiX's grub to the MBR and overwrite the Tinyflux one and add the lines you have for Tinyflux to the antiX-mepis grub menu.

To do that, boot antiX livecd, and open a terminal, sux to root password and type msystem.
There is an option to re-install grub.
Put it in the MBR from the antiX partition.

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So I did that, and then both AntiX and Tinyflux booted fine. I didn't even have to "add the lines you have for Tinyflux to the antiX-mepis grub menu". It all just worked.

1. It's odd that when AntiX manages the boot, then it is able to boot itself up just fine. But if Tinyflux (or perhaps any other) OS is managing the boot, then AntiX doesn't seem to be able to be booted.

2. I could do what the AntiX developers suggested last time, again this time. (If I were to do so, do you think AntiX would be able to select out of Tinyflux's current menu.lst, the appropriate lines since it has lines for all the four OS's there? Even if not, I could just paste them in later.)

3. If I do the reinstall of AntiX in Sda5, and put its grub in /, then you think it would be a pretty sure shot to work even though we couldn't move it to / using the grub prompt?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saikee

I couldn't explain why no stage1 in sda7 or (hd0,6). It is possible that stage1 could be in /boot instead of in /boot/grub.

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I am in Puppy now-- I just browsed to sda7 and found that Fluxbuntu's stage1 is indeed located right in /boot/grub. Odd.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saikee

What you can investigate is boot up any Linux and as Linux to find all the stage1 in every mounted partition inside / for you by command

Code:

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find / -name stage1

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needless to say you need to mount sda7 in the boot up Linux or just use Fluxbuntu itself.

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Just now tried it in Puppy, with sda7 mounted. It gives the result:

Error 15: File not found

I know some distros modify Grub to get to do to extra things but I would rather stick a standard Grub in the MBR and forget all those fancy bits, especially to do with gfxmenu etc. It is possible that your AntiX has bugs making the standard working of Grub erratic.

Regarding your Puppy it will not have Grub if it is a Live CD installation which is called a Frugal install. Some small distros do not keep a permanent root filing system but start every boot up from new as running a Live CD from the original iso. Your Puppy booting instructions certain point to that direction. You can install Puppy properly as a normal installation which it also supports.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saikee

I know some distros modify Grub to get to do to extra things but I would rather stick a standard Grub in the MBR and forget all those fancy bits, especially to do with gfxmenu etc. It is possible that your AntiX has bugs making the standard working of Grub erratic.

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I see. Makes sense.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saikee

Regarding your Puppy...

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Yes, that's true mine is a frugal install, and so my Puppy has no grub. But in the above post I was just mentioning that I was booted to Puppy; my point was that I browsed to the Fluxbuntu (sda7) partition and found that the stage1 file is indeed in /boot/grub. And that despite having mounted sda7 (Fluxbuntu), the "find" command you gave for locating all the "stage1" files in mounted partitions, did not find the stage1 in Fluxbuntu. Just a funny quirk I guess, nothing critical.

Saikee, I want to thank you for all the help and generous education you gave to me. I really learned alot. Now I am able to manage my partitions on my own for the most part. All due to what you taught me. :)

Another question has cropped up on the way, and I am wondering if I may ask it to you? Here is the question: Can one shrink a partition from its LEFT side using gparted (Parted Magic)?

I have a triple boot WinXP/Ubuntu Hardy/Puppy Linux 3.01 (frugal). Looking at the partitions in gparted, they are going from left to right: WinXP/Hardy/Puppy/Swap. WinXP is a primary partition sda1, then there is an extended partition sda2 inside of which are three logical parititions: Hardy (sda5), Puppy (sda7), swap (sda6).

My question is this: I need to expand the WinXP partition by around 2 GB. The only way to create the space is to shorten the Hardy partition from Hardy's LEFT side, so that space is created on WinXP's right side for WinXP to expand into. But of course, all of Hardy's material is on the left half of the partition, and the free space is on the right half of the Hardy partition. If I select to RESIZE (shrink) the Hardy partition from the LEFT side, will Hardy move all its folders etc safely toward the right half of the partition so as to shrink the left side? Or is shrinking from the left side problematic and one can only shrink from the right side (in which case, I am in problem).

add: I have also asked this question on the following Ubuntu thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...29#post5125229
I don't think anyone knows quite as much as you do about these things, but I give you the link in case you may find it interesting to see what others have said about it.