What is "initrd" in grub.conf?

captainstorm · 07-30-2003, 02:26 AM

Can somebody tell me what is the meaning of "initrd" in the grub.conf file?
My grub.conf is like this:
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,6)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title RedHat Linux(2.4.20-8)
root(hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img

title 888
rootnoverify(hd0,1)
chainloader+1

I have read some other examples of grub.conf without this "initrd". Do I really need this line? What if I remove it?

Thank you very much.

acid_kewpie · 07-30-2003, 03:49 AM

it's basically a ramdisk that is used for initally settings up the system. the only reas I use it is to have a full bootsplash screen, but it does come in useful for other real things too. if you're on grub anyway you can try removing it by editing the option at boot time and deleting that entry, rather than permanently modifying grub.conf itself. it'll probably work, but at the end of the day, if it ain't broke....

see mkinitrd for more infor on ramdisks

captainstorm · 07-30-2003, 04:12 AM

Thank you acid