Grub4Dos-0.4.4(2008.07.21)

Please refer to http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/ for DOCs on GRUB4DOS. Main project page: https://gna.org/projects/grub4dos/ Download site: http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/ Download site: http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/ Download site: http://sarovar.org/projects/grub4dos/ Download site: http://grub4dos.nufans.net/ Download site: http://grub4dos.jot.com/ Get the latest source code by using anonymous svn in this way: svn co svn://svn.gna.org/svn/grub4dos/trunk grub4dos or in this way: svn co http://svn.gna.org/svn/grub4dos/trunk grub4dos View the source code online with your web browser at: http://svn.gna.org/viewcvs/grub4dos/trunk/ GRUB4DOS mailing list: grub4dos-devel@gna.org Subscription page: https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/grub4dos-devel/ Discussion forum(Official technical support site): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=66 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Usage: GRUB [--bypass] [--time-out=T] [--hot-key=K] [--config-file=FILE] The FILE, for example, can be (hd0,0)/menu.lst In CONFIG.SYS, the line looks like: install=c:\some\where\grub.exe --config-file=FILE If no options present, GRUB.EXE simply uses (hd0,0)/menu.lst as the configure file, if it exists. (Notice! We finally changed the default file from (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst to (hd0,0)/menu.lst) (Changed 2006-12-23. See Update 3 below.) The partition (hd0,0) can be of a Windows partition or a Linux partition, or any other partition type supported by GRUB. Only GRUB-style filename is acceptable here for FILE. A DOS filename won't work(it is certain we should use GRUB-style filenames because DOS-filenames won't access a file in a Linux ext2 partition for example).(See Update 2 below) Update: FILE can be the contents of a menu. Use semi-colon to delimitate the embedded commands here in FILE. The FILE can be enclosed with a pair of double-quotes. For example: GRUB --config-file="root (hd0,0);chainloader +1" This command will boot the system in (hd0,0). Another example: GRUB --config-file="reboot" This command will reboot the machine. One more example: GRUB --config-file="halt" This command will halt the machine. if --bypass is specified, GRUB will exit to DOS when timeout reached. The option `--time-out=T' specifies the timeout value in seconds. T defaults to 5 if --bypass is specified and defaults to 0 if --bypass is not specified. The default hot key value is 0x3920(for space bar). If this key is pressed, GRUB will boot normally. If another key is pressed, GRUB will terminate immediately and return back to DOS. See "int 16 keyboard scan codes" below. Each option can be specified only once at most. Update 2: DOS filenames have been supported(patched by John Cobb). If the beginning two characters of FILE are "#@", then the rest of FILE is taken as a DOS filename. Example: GRUB --config-file="#@c:\menu.lst" Only the beginning 4KB of the DOS file will be used. The file should be an uncompressed text file. Note: You may also use the `direct DOS file access' with the SHELL or INSTALL line in CONFIG.SYS, but should not use it with the DEVICE line. The DOS document said that a DOS device driver should not call the `open file' DOS call. Update 3(2006-12-23): By default, GRUB.EXE will locate its config file in the following order: (DOS file) .\menu.lst, the MENU.LST in the current dir. (DOS file) \menu.lst, the MENU.LST in the root dir of the current drive. (GRUB file) /menu.lst, the MENU.LST in the root dir of the boot device. The default boot device is still (hd0,0). -------------------------------------------------------- Update 1: Version 0.2.0 also brings out a new thing, GRUB for NTLDR, which could be used to boot into GRUB from the boot menu of Windows NT/2000/XP. Copy GRLDR to the root directory of drive C: of Windows NT/2000/XP and append to C:\BOOT.INI this line: C:\GRLDR="Start GRUB" That will be done. The GRLDR should be in the same directory as BOOT.INI and NTLDR. Note that BOOT.INI is usually hidden and you must unhide it before you can see it. The filename GRLDR shouldn't be changed. If GRLDR is in a NTFS partition, it should be copied to the root directory of another non-NTFS partition(and likewise should the menu.lst file be). If GRLDR is compressed, e.g., in a NTFS partition, it will not work. Even if the drive letter of this disk has been changed to other than C by the Windows device manager, it seems you still have to use the letter C here in BOOT.INI, otherwise, NTLDR will fail to locate the GRLDR file. And what's more, if you are booting NTLDR from a floppy, you will have to write the GRLDR line in A:\BOOT.INI like this: C:\GRLDR="Start GRUB" and shouldn't use the letter A like this: A:\GRLDR="Start GRUB" (Note that in the case when BOOT.INI is on floppy A, the notation "C:\GRLDR" actually refer to the file A:\GRLDR). Update 2: GRUB for Linux is also introduced along with 0.2.0. You can boot grub using a linux loader KEXEC, LILO, SYSLINUX or another GRUB. (GRUB4LIN has merged into GRUB.EXE) To boot GRUB off Linux, use this pair of commands: kexec -l grub.exe kexec -e To boot GRUB via GRUB, use commands like the following: kernel (hd0,0)/grub.exe boot To boot GRUB via LILO, use these lines in lilo.conf: image=/boot/grub.exe label=grub.exe To boot GRUB via SYSLINUX, use these lines in syslinux.cfg: label grub.exe kernel grub.exe LOADLIN may encounter problems when loading grub.exe, because grub.exe requires some unchanged original BIOS interrupt vectors, but DOS has destroyed them, and loadlin does not recover them before it transfers control to grub.exe. Update 3: Beginning at version 0.4.0, GRUB for DOS supports memdrives. Example: # boot into a floppy image map --mem (hd0,0)/floppy.img (fd0) map --hook chainloader (fd0)+1 rootnoverify (fd0) map --floppies=1 boot Because the image will be copied to a memory area, the image itself can be non-contiguous and even gzipped. Another Example: map --mem=-2880 (hd0,0)/floppy.img (fd0) This memdrive (fd0) will occupy at least 1440 KB of memory. This is useful when the size of a 1.44M-floppy image is less than 1440 KB. One more example: map --mem --read-only (hd0,0)/hd.img (hd1) This memdrive is a hard drive, and read-only. That means you will not be able to write data to the memdrive (hd1). You can use many memdrives and many ordinary virtual emulated disk-based drives at the same time. If the BIOS does not support int15/EAX=e820h, you will not be able to use any memdrives. Update 4: For memdrive emulation, a single-partition image can be used instead of a whole-harddrive image. Example: map --mem (hd0,7)/win98.img (hd0) map --hook chainloader (hd0)+1 rootnoverify (hd0) map --harddrives=1 boot Here win98.img is a partition image without the leading MBR and partition table in it. Surely GRUB for DOS will build an MBR and partition table for the memdrive (hd0). 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 As an alternative, grldr can also be used the same way as stage2_eltorito. The -boot-info-table option is allowed but you can omit it: mkdir iso_root cp grldr iso_root mkisofs -R -b grldr -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o grl