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