How to put lilo in the MBR and make my system dual bootable

micflunu · 12-25-2012, 01:04 AM

I have installed ubuntu 12.04 in my pc.Now i want to change my bootloader to lilo and add other kerenel version.But the problem is how to make lilo my boot loader.I run this

Code:

 /sbin/lilo -v -v

to make lilo my bootloader in MBR but i got this

Code:

Fatal:no image have been defined
Removed temporary file /boot/map~

what sld i do and besides where do i get this image,map,boot,root....parameters that i sld write in the lilo.conf file.Are those pre defined thing or i am supposed to define them.Pls help me with a material to reed or any thing.
Best Regardes

business_kid · 12-25-2012, 03:36 AM

you should be running lilo -C /path/to/config.file, usually /etc/lilo.conf. Read man lilo.conf

markush · 12-25-2012, 03:52 AM

You should post your /etc/lilo.conf file here

Markus

micflunu · 12-25-2012, 04:20 AM

I just instlled lilo i n a command line like this

Code:

 sudo apt-get install lilo

it is installed ther is a a lilo file added in my /boot but i didn't have a/etc/lilo.confg file so i created a file with that name.Now it is that it is empty and i don know how to fill it.

markush · 12-25-2012, 04:24 AM

afaik there should at least be a template lilo.conf, for example on my computer there is a /usr/share/doc/lilo-23.2/sample/lilo.example.conf
you should copy the example to /etc/lilo.conf and then edit it. there's a manpage for lilo.conf

Markus

micflunu · 12-25-2012, 05:30 AM

Than u sooo much u have been very helpful.Now do i copy and paste it completelly??

markush · 12-25-2012, 05:33 AM

Code:

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/lilo-23.2/sample/lilo.example.conf /etc/lilo.conf

where you have to use the correct path to the sample file.

Markus

micflunu · 12-25-2012, 06:38 AM

Ok i did that but u know what are the things that i need to update or change and to what kind.

markush · 12-25-2012, 06:51 AM

Well, you should post your settings. On which partitions are / and /boot and the other OS?

If you want to install lilo to the MBR you'll have to have a line

Code:

boot = /dev/sda/

in your lilo.conf, provided you meant the MBR of /dev/sda

Markus

micflunu · 12-25-2012, 07:22 AM

Dear Markus
U know i am new to linux.so i don't know how to find out in which partition which is installed.Well i have one Desk and i have both ubuntu,Windows and another ubuntu installed in a virtual machine.I am working this thing in the virtual machine.Here is the lilo.conf file that i copied.What sld i do??

Code:

lba32
boot=/dev/sda
map = /boot/map
install=menu
prompt=100
#First example(default)
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-2-generic
       label="Linux"
       root=/dev/sda2
       read-only
       initrd = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-2-generic
#second example
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-1-generic
       label="LinuxOLD"
       root=/dev/sdb1
       read-only
       initrd = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-1-generic
#Third example
image = /mnt/testsystem/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-1-custum
       label="TestSystem"
       root=/dev/sda3
       read-only
       initrd = /mnt/testsystem/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-1-custum
other=/dev/sda1
     label="Windows xp"
other=/dev/sda1
     label="Windows 2003"

while this is what my /boot directory looks like

Code:

abi-3.2.0-29-generic-pae         memtest86+.bin
coffee.bmp                       memtest86+_multiboot.bin
config-3.2.0-29-generic-pae      onlyblue.bmp
debian.bmp                       sarge.bmp
debian-de.bmp                    sid.bmp
debianlilo.bmp                   System.map-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
grub                             tuxlogo.bmp
initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae  vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
inside.bmp

cld u pls tell me what is in my lilo.conf file??

markush · 12-25-2012, 07:57 AM

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
  initrd = /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
  root = /dev/sda?
  label = Linux
  read-only
###

For the questionmark you will have to insert the number of the partition where / is. This provides that /boot and / are on the same partition. You can check the output of

Code:

cat /etc/fstab

or

Code:

df -h

to find out about the partitions.

And don't forget to run lilo before rebooting

Markus

micflunu · 12-26-2012, 01:42 AM

Dear Markus
Thank u soo much for ur wonderful help.I did the following in the /etc/lilo.conf file

Code:

boot =  ata-VBOX_HARDDISK_VBf8f45f35-9b533ad8
map = /boot/map
prompt
timeout = 100
image = /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
    label = "Linux"
    root = "UUID=7c37411f-3ff6-4de2-b35b-5f3605ad7ad5"
    read-only
    initrd = /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae

then in a terminal

Code:

/sbin/lilo -v -v

then i got the following output cld u pls what is wrong??

Code:

 
LILO version 23.2 (released 09-Apr-2011)
  * Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger  (until v20)
  * Copyright (C) 1999-2007 John Coffman  (until v22)
  * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Joachim Wiedorn  (since v23)
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software
distributed under the BSD License (3-clause). Details can be found in
the file COPYING, which is distributed with this software.
Compiled at 04:05:58 on Jun 19 2011
Running Linux kernel 3.2.0-29-generic-pae on i686
Ubuntu GNU/Linux

Fatal: raid_setup: stat("ata-VBOX_HARDDISK_VBf8f45f35-9b533ad8")

markush · 12-26-2012, 03:14 AM

Well, lilo thinks you have a RAID system running. Could you please post your /etc/fstab file?

Markus

micflunu · 12-26-2012, 05:14 AM

Here it is

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=7c37411f-3ff6-4de2-b35b-5f3605ad7ad5 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=db9f8da7-ef2a-4298-8457-15d9eb4a51e0 none            swap    sw              0       0

markush · 12-26-2012, 05:18 AM

Well, what does

Code:

df -h

and

Code:

fdisk -l

say? do you know which partition is /

Markus