On 11/15/2009 10:43 AM, Jim wrote:
> FC 11
>
> We have two Linux distros installed on one hard drive.
>
> How do I in fedora tell grub to show both Distros on the Boot Menu at
> boot start up so I may select select one of two at Boot start.
> If I do a grub-install /dev/hda from Fedora it will only show the
> Fedora Kernels at Boot Menu and not the other Linux OS.
>
> And what is even worse is if the other Distro does a Kernel update
> it's not shown in the Boot menu at start up.
>
>
> I know I could tell yum.conf not to update kernels, but I don't want
> that.
>
> I'm using Mint as second Distro. and at boot startup Mint in it's boot
> Menu does not give you the "apend" (a) feature but Fedora does.
>
[ Warning: Long explanation! ]
I am not sure if this applies to your request, but
I have posted a long and detailed explanation
some time ago, but the gist of it is to have a
"master" grub (boot-sys) that refers to the
"slave" boot/root-osN in the extended partitions.
This structure segregates the various linux
distros into it's own areas with it's own boot/root
partitions.
This scheme works well for me and I have many
distros, debian, fedora[9,10,11], ubuntu[8,9]
and so on.
For example, look at the following structure:
Part#1 Part#2 Part#3 Part#4: Extended
+======+=======+====+=============================================== =+
| boot-sys | boot-bkup | swap | Ext [ | boot-os1 | root-os1 | boot-os2
| root-os2 | ... | l-App1 | w-App2 | ... ] |
+======+=======+====+=============================================== =+
100M >100M 2xMEM 100M 100G ...
Notes:
(1) boot-sys can be *any* grub you want, and you
can add your own local customization as desired.
Keep in mind that you can control what you want
seen here, regardless of what os you have anywhere
and grub can see all drives, anywhere so as long as
you properly define it.
To ensure that your MBR is correctly set, simply
do:
# grub (as root user)
> find /grub/stage1 (this shows all grub partitions, if any)
> root (hd0,0) # This is the GRUB partition location
> setup (hd0) # This puts MBR on the drive
Make SURE that each of your boot-osX-dY is similary
done for each partition. For example: for boot-os1-d1:
# grub (as root)
> root (hd0,3)
> setup (hd(0,3)
repeat above for 5,7,... if these exist
Here is what my boot-sys looks like:
# ===============
# Master boot-sys-d1
# ===============
#boot=/dev/sdX where X is your boot drive
#hiddenmenu
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/my_splash.xpm.gz
default=saved
timeout=5
title Fedora 8
rootnoverify (hd0,04)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Fedora 9
rootnoverify (hd0,06)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Fedora 11
rootnoverify (hd0,08)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Debian 5
rootnoverify (hd0,10)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Ubuntu 9
rootnoverify (hd0,12)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd2,2)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd2,1)
chainloader +1
savedefault
title Windows 2000
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
chainloader +1
savedefault
(2) For SATA drives, you are allowed up to a maximum
of 15 partitions, 3 primaries, and 12 extended.
(3) For PATA drives, I am not sure what the max is, probably the
same as SATA?
(4) For IDE drives, it's more than 15, but I cannot remember
off-hand, but something like 23?
(5) If you wish to boot off another drive with it's own partitions
you can apply the same scheme, except when using labels
instead of UUID, you must make sure that the labels are
unique - in my case, I use the same names as shown above
but added -d1, -d2, ..., dN and the end of each of the above
names, for example: for drive "1", boot-sys would be
boot-sys-d1 as for the rest of the labels on drive "1", and
the second drive partitions would have "-d2" and so on.
I do the labeling in this way because I wanted to ensure that
if should one of the drives "dies", I can switch in BIOS the drive
to boot and do a recovery or a disk replacement. Of course, if
you have a RAID system, all of this might be unnecessary.
I just wanted total separation between the two drives and
no RAID - since the "other" drive is my "backup". In a RAID
system, if you screw up the OS, it's over. With total separation
you have a chance but of course, like any backup scheme, the
data is only as good as your most recent backup. The problem
I have with backups is, where to save it - and if you do not have
a secondary drive to boot - well, it's a royal pain and set it all
up - new drive, restore, etc. but in this way - I can switch over
to the backup and begin right away to do the work needed.
Also, using labels for boot information, it is easy for me to
simply switch os'es around as desired but UUID is to wieldly
for me to manage or remember and should they get lost,
may God help you! ;)
Sorry for the long and winded explanation and/or if this does
not help, my apologies....
FWIW,
Dan
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