installing bootloader to partition instead of MBR

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gojirasan
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installing bootloader to partition instead of MBR

Post#1 by gojirasan » 11 Sep 2012, 07:36

I have read on the forums that the install bootloader option automatically installs to the MBR. I don't want this because I frequently reinstall Windows and don't want to have to go through a constant clobber-restore cycle as Linux and Windows battle for MBR dominance. Any suggestions on the easiest or quickest way to get Grub or another bootloader installed on the Porteus partition? Once that's done google reveals various methods to get ntloader to jump to it.
Porteus 1.2 x86-64 frugal install + XP64 + XP32 + linux_noob + previnst=Arch+TinyCore + Core2 + 8 GB + x48 + 11xHDD + ArecaRAID + RocketRaid + GTX280 + Envy24

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Re: installing bootloader to partition instead of MBR

Post#2 by Hamza » 11 Sep 2012, 13:57

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gojirasan
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Re: installing bootloader to partition instead of MBR

Post#3 by gojirasan » 13 Sep 2012, 09:05

This might sound picky, but are there any other methods that can be recommended? I can't figure out the instructions for grubinst, and I don't like not knowing what is going on behind the scenes. I think it's also grub4dos instead of grub legacy or grub 2. I'd prefer a pure Linux based solution if possible. Ideally I'd like to find a simple solution that I can understand. Would it be correct to assume that no version of Grub is accessible from the Porteus Live CD?

Some ideas:
1. Boot Porteus Live CD and install grub from an online repository or if it's not (yet) available download the source and compile it with gcc and package it in a Porteus friendly way and then install. Would gcc also need to be installed? I'm still working on figuring out how to use the package manager from a Live CD. I'll post a separate question about that if I can't figure it out.
2. Boot to a different distro which either includes grub legacy (Puppy Linux maybe?) or from which grub legacy can be easily installed. Maybe a TinyCore Live CD and then installing Grub from the tc package manager. I'm not too happy about using a 32 bit distro for this kind of thing because I have several 3 TB drives and presumably it won't be able to read them properly which might mess up the device numbers and is just not ideal. My OS drive is only 1 TB. So it won't be an immediate problem with the drive itself. I suppose I could just unplug the 3 TB drives temporarily.
3. freedos + grub4dos on a DOS boot CD. Although I'd prefer to avoid grub4dos for the moment.
4. Some way to use the included boot loader (extlinux?) to install to a partition record. I looked into that briefly and I'm not sure that Extlinux even has an option to install to anything but the MBR.
5. Super Grub boot CD or Rescatux, but I think both these solutions are intended for boot loader repairs and not fresh installs. I'm not sure it will work for a new install.
Porteus 1.2 x86-64 frugal install + XP64 + XP32 + linux_noob + previnst=Arch+TinyCore + Core2 + 8 GB + x48 + 11xHDD + ArecaRAID + RocketRaid + GTX280 + Envy24

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Re: installing bootloader to partition instead of MBR

Post#4 by fanthom » 14 Sep 2012, 06:32

@gojirasan
Porteus doesnt have to be installed at all. It's enough to extract the ISO to some folder and then point bootloader to vmlinuz and initrd + use from_dir= cheatcode.

i would go with grub4dos as described here:
http://www.slax.org/forum.php?action=vi ... ntID=63150
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

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