Grub Manual

the GNU GRUB manual
The GRand Unified Bootloader, version 0.97, 8 May 2005.

Gordon Matzigkeit
Yoshinori K. Okuji

This manual is for GNU GRUB (version 0.97, 8 May 2005).
Copyright c 1999,2000,2001,2002,2004,2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or anylater
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections,
with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual,” and with the Back-Cover
Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
“GNU Free Documentation License.”
(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have freedom to copy and modify
this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies publishedby the Free Software
Foundation raise funds for GNU development.”

i

Table of Contents
1

Introduction to GRUB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
History of GRUB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .
GRUB features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The role of a boot loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1
1
2
4

2

Naming convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1
3.23.3
3.4

4

Creating a GRUB boot floppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Installing GRUB natively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Installing GRUB using grub-install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Making a GRUB bootable CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7
7
8
9Booting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1

How to boot operating systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.1 How to boot an OS directly with GRUB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.2 Load another boot loader to boot unsupported operating
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Some caveats on OS-specific issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 GNU/Hurd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.2 GNU/Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.3 FreeBSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.4 NetBSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.5 OpenBSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.6 DOS/Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.7 SCO UnixWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.8 QNX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 How to make your system robust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.1 Booting once-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.2 Booting fallback systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
15
15

5

Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

6

Downloading OS images from a network . . . 21
6.1
6.2

7

How to set up your network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Booting from a network . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....