Grub as a stand alone

spiky0011 · 02-17-2013, 02:46 AM

Hi

I would like to install grub2 as a standalone not connected to any OS.
Can I put it in an extended partition
It will have to boot multi distros with chainloading, I know this is setup in /etc/grub.d/40_custom so how would this work.
Finaly how would I update-grub when a distro updates or would that have to be done by hand?
Think I have covered everything

pingu · 02-17-2013, 03:19 AM

Unfortunately, you can't do that. For some strange reason I never could understand, Grub2 is an integrated part of the OS.
If you install Grub2 in one partition and then remove the distro, you have no control over your Grub2-installation.
This is why I'm still using old grub, I want one place to boot from. What I've done is install grub-legacy in one small partition, and use that for booting.

syg00 · 02-17-2013, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pingu

For some strange reason I never could understand, Grub2 is an integrated part of the OS.

Probably because it was written by (predominantly) Debian/Ubuntu people that obviously have no concept of users doing what they want.
Placing files under /etc destroys plans like this.

I keep one installation (distro) per physical system so I have control of the boot environment whatever I do with the other distros. Can still be a challenge, but is manageable in my situation.

Edit: yes you can install to a logical partition (not the extended).

spiky0011 · 02-17-2013, 05:25 AM

Hi syg00

That is how it is at the moment, I did mean logical I realised that after I posted.
Not sure I,m going to keep ubuntu tho.

syg00 · 02-17-2013, 05:32 AM

Shouldn't matter. Any newer system can be the "control" system - simply allow it to install into the MBR.
The problem(s) come when other systems automatically over-write the MBR without you knowing - usually when they upgrade grub in their own environment. Generally pretty easy to fix.

spiky0011 · 02-17-2013, 05:43 AM

The other OS are bsd,centos windows they dont use grub2 which I,m familer with and like the only reason I put ubuntu on was grub2 and I have used before.

syg00 · 02-17-2013, 05:56 AM

As I said, no big deal if you replace Ubuntu with something else that uses grub2. These days they should all run os-prober - don't know if it'll find a BSD as I don't use it, but shouldn't be hard to fix - maybe keep your own .cfg on a USB key.