Reinstalling GRUB without Reinstalling my Distro
 

I dual boot. I recently re-installed my XP on my main hdd and as expected, I now need to re-install GRUB.

Unfortunately it appears my distro (MEPIS 7) will only let me re-install GRUB after re-installing MEPIS on my root.

This would be annoying but not the end of the world.

Is there a way to re-install GRUB without re-installing my (perfectly working) distro?

There is the manual way, which is a pain in the ***, and involves a live cd and chrooting and a bunch of other steps. Or you can use super grub boot disk, and let it's wizard do the heavy lifting.

http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/?section=download

I've done both, and I know which I prefer. :)

David

Can't you just run 'grubconfig' as root ? I'm using Slackware, and I don't know if it comes with GRUB in all distros, so it may not exist, but it's worth a try.

Just run grub from the live cd (i.e. in a console, not some gui frontend nonsense). Assuming Windows hasn't hosed your entire system, grub is still installed, along with your configuration, you just need to rewrite the mbr.

Just give grub the appropriate root partition (grub root, that is, which isn't necessarily your Linux / of course), and run the setup command:

Grub will/should automatically find your existing menu.lst (or menu.conf, or grub.conf or whatever it's called these days) on the root fs.

Using any livecd just do: sudo mount /media/sdxx ; then: sudo /usr/sbin/grub-install --recheck --no-floppy --root-directory=/media/sdxx /dev/sda with x being the partition grub should be installed to.

I never knew
 

I never knew such a GRUB bootloader (iso) was available. Your suggestion looks the easiest so I will try that first.

Thanks!

I have used mepis as a live cd in the past.

if the other way does not work for you pls post the steps you took and compare to my memory.

----
boot mepis
open a shell
su
grub
root (hdx,y)
setup (hd0)
quit

whre hdx,y is the grub speak for your /boot folder or partition as per my signature.

--------------------------------

Normally we speak of installing the bootloader into root....we mean into the partition that has the /boot ....either as a partition or a sub-folder to /

and confuses a lot of people into thinking it always means /

Your suggestion
 

budword:

Your suggestion seemed to do all the heavy lifting, as promised. Thanks!

Mepis tools.
 

Sorry I didn't get here in time to save you all this falderal.
System>Mepis>Mepis System Assistant>Repair Sytem Boot (tab)

It's all right there in the gui...Along with a lot of other handy tools.
Mepis is the only reason I don't use Pure Debian.