Which is installed? Lilo or Grub?

swdavison · 01-30-2005, 11:26 AM

How can I tell which bootloader, lilo or grub, is _really_ installed
on a system? I need to do this without booting the system, so I
can't just look at the initial bootloader screen that appears at
boot time.

The specific systems I'm dealing with are Red Hat from 7.2 to
Enterprise 3, but I'm hoping there is a distro-independent
answer.

On all the systems I'm dealing with, both the lilo and grub
RPMs have been installed, so you see /etc/lilo.conf and
/boot/grub/ on all of them.

Thanks for any help.

Stowe Davison

michaelk · 01-30-2005, 11:46 AM

Sounds like a homework problem.....
Are these computers operating and have not been modified since the original install?

linuxLuser · 01-30-2005, 12:03 PM

You probably need the "grubby" program:

Code:

# grubby --bootloader-probe

Don't ask me if it comes with your distro or not...I have no clue. But if you have it, it'll tell you what bootloader you have

-- the dudeman

swdavison · 01-30-2005, 12:18 PM

Many thanks, Dudeman! It looks as if grubby is exactly what I need!

Michael -
Not a homework problem. I could write up a data file from the
original installation specs if that's what you were suggesting.
Stowe

makuyl · 01-30-2005, 12:31 PM

You could also get the MBR to a file with: dd if=/dev/hda of=/home/username/bootsect bs=512 count=1
If you then do "cat bootsect" it should say LILO somewhere on the first line if lilo is in use.

If it's a dual boot and lilo (or grub) resides on the linux partition, say hdb1, and is called by NTLDR you can do:
dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/home/username/bootsect bs=512 count=1

michaelk · 01-30-2005, 03:47 PM

If you have not changed the bootloader from the original install there should be a cfg file in /root to show what applications were installed. If it still exists.