A Multi-device Multi-boot Menu Using Grub, Multi-boot Vista / XP / Other OS's Options

[spacesurfer]

Finally, Success!! Success!! Success!! I wanted to share my success with you all so you can also created this awesome menu.

I finally created a Grub menu from which I can boot any one of the following items directly from the Grub menu:

*BartPE from a second partition on HDD (partition other than your Windows XP)
*BartPE directly from CD-ROM (no need to load floppy image first)
*Floppy image of Ghost 2003
*Floppy image of Partition Magic 8.0.5
*Floppy image of Grub itself (just for fun)
*Windows XP of course
*And now, Windows Vista, instructions here.

Read the guide in this post to get started on Grub from HDD. This will give you a basis on this guide. Otherwise you may feel a little lost.

Let me emphasize that booting directly from CD-ROM is supported by the latest grldr (dated 8/8/2006) directly from the menu. Ed_P and jaclaz, I believe, were playing around with it and Ed_P was successful booting CD from grub floppy. However, this method requires no floppy or floppy image to be loaded first.

Requirements:
*Latest Grub loader (grldr) dated 8/8/2006. This version is needed for CD-ROM support.
*Bart’s PEBuilder to make BartPE CD and to add it to HDD. Follow the link above on how to copy files to HDD.
*Any other floppy images you want to add to menu.

Method:
1) Rename %systemroot%\ntldr to %systemroot%\ntldrxp
2) Copy your grldr (the latest one) to %systemroot% and rename it to ntldr.
3) copy menu.lst to %systemroot% or create one if you don’t have one in %systemroot%
4) Edit your menu.lst the way you want using the sample below that allows you to boot various items


Menu.lst

CODE

color black/cyan yellow/cyan
timeout 5
default 0

# This finds and loads your Windows XP.
title Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Pro (hd0,0)
find --set-root /ntldrxp
chainloader /ntldrxp
rootnoverify (hd0)

# This finds and loads BartPE on your HARD DRIVE.
title BartPE with XPE 1.0.4 (Find and Load setupldr.bin)
find --set-root /minint/setupldr.bin
chainloader /minint/setupldr.bin

# This boots BartPE from CD-ROM 0.
# You can investigate if find --set-root /I386/SETUPLDR.BIN works for you.
# Pay special attention to case. This is CaSe SeNsItIvE.
# I’m not sure if you need  the line cdrom --add-io-ports=0x03F601F0. Play around yourself.
title Start BartPE from CD-ROM 0
cdrom --add-io-ports=0x03F601F0
cdrom --init
map --hook
chainloader (cd0)/I386/SETUPLDR.BIN
boot

# This is same as above but from CD-ROM 1 (if you have more than 1 drive).
title Start BartPE from CD-ROM 1
cdrom --add-io-ports=0x03F601F0
cdrom --init
map --hook
chainloader (cd1)/I386/SETUPLDR.BIN
boot

# This simply boots a floppy disk from your physical floppy drive.
title Boot Floppy on (fd0)
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

# This is how you boot a floppy image stored on a FAT/FAT32 partition.
# Replace ghost.img to whatever image you desire to boot.
title Boot Ghost 2003 (ghost.img)
find --set-root /ghost.img
map --mem /ghost.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1

# This is how you boot the Grub floppy from an image instead of the physical floppy.
title Grub4Dos (grub4dos.img)
find --set-root /grub4dos.img
map --mem /grub4dos.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)
map --floppies=1
boot

Let me add that my floppy images were created by WinImage. I saved them uncompressed (meaning, they are not *.imz) as *.ima. I renamed them as *.img.

My floppy images are stored on a FAT32 partition - the same partition where my BartPE resides. The advantage of using a FAT32 partition (as opposed to NTFS) is if you boot to DOS, you have access to that partition. I store other DOS commands and utilities (such as edit.com, choice.com) on that partition. It is available for me when I need it.

Edit 2:

You BartPE does not have to be on a FAT/FAT32 partition. It can be NTFS. Even floppy images can reside on NTFS partitions.

Edit 3: Added loading Vista with grub4dos.

This post has been edited by spacesurfer: Jun 2 2007, 09:38 AM

[Ed_P]

GRLDR on my C: drive (FAT32) does not work with CDs for me. Not even the 08-08 version.

When the chainloader (cd0)\I386\SETUPLDR.BIN command executes I get:

CODE

biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=65d04, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=65d04, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=65d04, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67d54, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67d54, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67d34, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67d34, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67df8, err=0xaa
biosdisk_int13_extensions read=0, drive=0xe0, &dap=67df8, err=0xaa

Error 19: Cannot mount selected partition

Press any key to continue

Changing (cd0) to (cd1) resulted in:

CODE

Error 23: Selected disk does not exist.

I tried the cdrom --add-io-ports=0x03F601F0 option also and that didn't help either.

I haven't tried this lastest version from a floppy yet.

[spacesurfer]

Ed_P, is your C: drive your Windows XP or some other OS?

Also, how about changing \ to / -- (cd0)/I386/SETUPLDR.BIN. Just a try.

I am running grldr (renamed as ntldr) from my Win XP NTFS partition that is my C: drive.

[Ed_P]

Ed_P, is your C: drive your Windows XP or some other OS?

Also, how about changing \ to / -- (cd0)/I386/SETUPLDR.BIN. Just a try.

I am running grldr (renamed as ntldr) from my Win XP NTFS partition that is my C: drive.

Yes C:\ is my XP drive. And yes my command is with / not \.

CODE

chainloader (cd0)/I386/SETUPLDR.BIN

[spacesurfer]

I used my laptop and it worked on it.

I'm going to try on my desktop later and will post results then.

In meanwhile, let us know if you get same errors using the grub floppy.

[jaclaz]

Some small corrections/hints:
1) We are talking here about GRUB4DOS:
http://grub4dos.jot.com/WikiHome
which is a port of GRUB to Dos/Windows, and has ADDITIONAL features than GRUB

2) GRUB4DOS does support zipped or gzipped images DIRECTLY, so you CAN use compressed images, see my post here for basic examples:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?s=&...st&p=116708

3) as already posted here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?s=&...st&p=118820
the docs EXPLICITLY say that:

By default, these ports are used for searching cdroms(so they needn't
be added):
0x03F601F0, 0x03760170, 0x03860180, 0x6F006B00, 0x77007300.

so the part:

cdrom --add-io-ports=0x03F601F0
cdrom --init
map --hook

is NOT needed.

4) Please also note that the majority of motherboards will allow direct BIOS support to CD drive, in this case, you will ALREADY have your CD mapped as "(cd)", not "(cd0)", again read docs:

Note 4: The BIOS might have offered a cdrom interface. It would be (cd). After
`cdrom --init' and `map --hook', we might have our (cd0), (cd1), ...
available. It is likely that one of them could access the same media
as the BIOS-offered (cd).

5) Always remember that GRUB has a command line interface, so that you can experiment with commands at boot time, or on-the-fly change some settings in a boot entry, this is VERY advantageous if you have the GRLDR on a portable disk or boot CD

6) Also remember that if you put a copy of GRUB.EXE inside the DOS/WIN98 image and or on an accessible from DOS drive (i.e. FAT formatted) you can boot from the image, do whatever you need to do, then invoke GRUB.EXE and boot another OS WITHOUT RE-BOOTING !
(some limitations apply if you loaded into DOS some TSR or Device Driver that altered memory mapping of the kernel)

7)

USB devices are still not supported yet.

Not really, like ANY other USB booting method, USB IS supported IF the PC boots from the USB Mass Storage Device.
They are not supported if you want to "pass" control from another booted from media to the USB device.
This CANNOT be resolved until something like the very recent development about CD support is added to the code; by the way this latest development was more or less the "native" built-in version of the ATAPI CD ROM driver of the Smart Boot Manager code for booting CD's on motherboards that did not support it:
http://btmgr.webframe.org/
Chaining from GRUB/GRUB4DOS the SMBT is a known technique, see this for example:
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~bernhard/grub-chain-cd.html
Now if someone comes out with an Open Source/Freeware app that can "boot" from USB even if there is no BIOS support for it, one could use a similar method to chainload it from GRUB/GRUB4DOS.



@Ed_P
Sorry, but on your next to latest post in the other thread you said that you managed to boot to BartPE through the CD interface:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?s=&...st&p=117416

What has changed in the meantime?

jaclaz

[Ed_P]

@Ed_P
Sorry, but on your next to latest post in the other thread you said that you managed to boot to BartPE through the CD inteface:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?s=&...st&p=117416

What has changed in the meantime?

jaclaz

The initial booting to a CD was from GRLDR on a floppy, GRLDR on the hd does not work for me.

Note 4: The BIOS might have offered a cdrom interface. It would be (cd). After
`cdrom --init' and `map --hook', we might have our (cd0), (cd1), ...
available. It is likely that one of them could access the same media
as the BIOS-offered (cd).

According to your quote, "it is likely" that CD0 and CD would work the same.

[jaclaz]

The initial booting to a CD was from GRLDR on a floppy, GRLDR on the hd does not work for me.

hmmm, strange, can you try using a menu.lst entry similar to last one in spacesurfer's example to try and load a floppy image then boot from the GRLDR on the image to CD?

jaclaz

[spacesurfer]

I don't think there is a difference in the floppy grldr or HD grldr. Grldr has no external commands, only internal commands such as root, set, find, etc. that we're familiar way. The floppy has nothing more than grldr and menu.lst. You should be able to do anything drom HD grldr that you can from floppy.

[spacesurfer]

Update:

I tried it on my desktop and system hung with the newer version of grldr (8/8/06 version). Even the older versions (all the 0.4.2 versions) that support CD-ROM hang. I think error is something like

Gate A20 successfully opened.

Then system hangs.

Grldr 0.4.2 works on my laptop without a problem.

This can only mean that grub is not universal yet for all BIOS's or systems.

I can only launch grldr that is version 0.4.1 from my desktop, but no cd-rom support.

[jaclaz]

There is NO such thing (yet) as a 0.4.2 version.

Latest stable is 0.4.1.

Current version are either 0.4.2pre (i.e. pre-release versions) that means BETA

or "nightbuilds" that means BETA-BETA.

A newish nightbuild has just been released:
http://grub4dos.jot.com/WikiHome
http://grub4dos.jot.com/WikiHome/grub_for_dos-2006-08-08.zip

with this comment by the coder:

Fixed a bug about Rock-Ridge parsing

maybe THAT was the problem.

jaclaz

[spacesurfer]

Yeah, I was referring to 0.4.2pre. That's the one that won't load on my system.

And 0.4.1 does not support cd-roms as far as i know. or i'm doing something wrong since i can't use the cdrom --init command. it says command does not exist.

if there is another way to search cd-rom's with 0.4.1, please let me know.

[jaclaz]

No, cdrom support was introduced in one of the pre versions, cannot remember if 0.4.2pre6 or 0.4.2pre7.

jaclaz

[Ed_P]

My original GRUB used bcdl.bin and bcdf.bin to access CDs but they also only worked from a floppy. A back door approach that is used by normal GRLDR to access CDs from a hd is to boot a SMART BOOT Manager image which has CD support built in.

[spacesurfer]

My original GRUB used bcdl.bin and bcdf.bin to access CDs but they also only worked from a floppy. A back door approach that is used by normal GRLDR to access CDs from a hd is to boot a SMART BOOT Manager image which has CD support built in.

Are you referring to a floppy image of smart boot manager? If not, Ed_P, can you elaborate on how this can be done.

I would rather use the approach of loading an image of SBM and invoking that from grldr than install SBM.

I like grldr because it doesn't mess with boot records.

[Ed_P]

Are you referring to a floppy image of smart boot manager? If not, Ed_P, can you elaborate on how this can be done.

Yes.

This link that jaclaz referenced in post #6 describes a process. I believe when I have tried this in the past it worked without using the memdisk module so you may want to experiment a bit.

[spacesurfer]

Ed_P, how did you make a floppy image with SBM on it?

I downloaded SBM and installed to floppy. The floppy works. But I can't make an image of the floppy using WinImage 7.0. The floppy is also not readable by Windows XP.

[Ed_P]

Ed_P, how did you make a floppy image with SBM on it?

Use the file you download with the GRUB instructions shown on the link:

CODE

title Boot "El Torito" CD with the help of memdisk/smart boot manager
kernel /boot/grub/memdisk.bin
initrd /boot/grub/sbootmgr.dsk

[d4vr0s]

I've loaded SBM this way:

CODE

title Smart Boot Manager
find --set-root /IMAGES/SBM.GZ
map --mem /IMAGES/SBM.GZ (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

This is just using the sbm.bin file that's gzipped.
It's ~15K in size.

For some reason it's not working with the 8/9/2006 build, "Error 30: Selected item cannot fit into memory"
It's been working up to that build however.

This post has been edited by d4vr0s: Aug 9 2006, 12:54 PM

[spacesurfer]

I noticed in the Grub readme that you can use Grldr as a no-emulation bootable cd-rom boot image here:

Readme.txt

CODE

Update 5:    Now GRLDR can be used as a no-emulation-mode bootable CD-ROM
        boot image. Example for Linux users:

            mkdir iso_root
            cp grldr iso_root
            mkisofs -R -b grldr -no-emul-boot -boot-load-seg 0x1000 -o bootable.iso iso_root

Has anyone tried this and if so how it can be done?

For example, if I wanted to load acronis.iso stored on my HDD for the Acronis TrueImage and Disk Director, is it possible?