Installing LILO to specific boot sector

[saml]

Hello people, I'm trying to achieve a setup like this:

sda - SSD, my main Windows drive
sdb - 1.5TB HDD, storage
sdc - old HDD for Linux
sdc1 - swap
sdc2 - Xubuntu
sdc3 - Salix

I use a utility called EasyBCD for Windows to set up something it calls NeoGRUB - writes to my SSD so when I boot, I can either choose Windows, or I can choose a Linux menu option and get a list of sdc partitions to boot. After choosing sdc2 or sdc3, the bootloader installed on the boot sector of that partition then takes over.

So whenever I try a new Linux distro on sdc3, I always install Grub to the boot sector of sdc3 (never sda/sdc - no drive's MBR) and then I'm good to go - NeoGRUB just initialises that partition and the ditro's Grub installation boots the OS.

With Salix, the installation didn't look like it was going to give me the option of where to install LILO (let me know people if this approach is even possible with LILO!) and I didn't want to risk it installing to sda. So I now have Salix set up on sdc3 without any bootloader. So!

Is it possible to install LILO or Grub now on sdc3 to boot Salix, and if so, how? And if it's not possible and I restart installation, can anyone confirm that Salix will give me the option of putting LILO on the boot sector of sdc3 rather than an MBR? Thanks for your help.

[Adys]

You could use LiloSetup from SalixLive to ("advanced") edit lilo.conf.

IIRC, the "boot=" directive for your case would be "boot=/dev/sdc3" (maybe you should wait for akuna, developer of Lilosetup, or at least someone else to confirm whether I am remembering correctly, just in case...).

[saml]

Thanks for your reply Adys, but I didn't download the live DVD, just the setup ISO... would be faster to reinstall than download and burn another ISO. Does Salix have to start from LILO or could Grub do it? Would it be possible to boot into Xubuntu, download a Grub package and then setup Grub to sdc3? I'm a Linux novice and still finding my way - would I do something like:

- open terminal
- sudo su (or whatever)
- apt-get install grub-config
- grub
- root (hd2,2)
- setup (hd2,2)

And then Grub picks up my Salix and automatically sets up sdc3 to boot it? Also, could anybody clear up whether (hd2,2) is the 2nd partition or the 3rd? I remember seeing somewhere that the first partition of the first drive would be (hd0,1) (since Grub considers the boot sector to be hd0,0 so first partition is hd0,1) but other places say hd0,0 would be the first partition of the first drive. Is the confusion related to differences in Grub legacy vs Grub 2? This bootloader stuff is confusing!

[saml]

Actually would that process ^ end up installing that Grub on my Xubuntu partition? Would I need something like:

- mount /mnt /dev/sdc3
- chroot /mnt

First? I'd be a lot more willing to try this stuff out but I've had bad experiences in the past with Linux installations writing Grub over my Windows BCD on the SSD MBR, so really want to avoid that!

[Adys]

Maybe you should read http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/B ... llation_CD and http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/L ... _customize.

BEWARE: The links posted in those wiki pages might need to be updated to point to current latest versions.

If you want to use a different boot loader other than LILO (like GRUB for example), you can.

And I agree: if you are not 100% sure about this, ask before blindly trying.

About LiloSetup, you don't really need it. It is just an easy GUI tool. But at least I should mention that if you want to manually edit "/etc/lilo.conf", then you also need to perform a lilo command so to actually apply the new lilo.conf (it is not enough to just edit the conf file). Read the wiki, and don't hesitate to ask.

[saml]

Thanks for the help Adys! I'm going to give this a shot and see how I go.

[Adys]

The general idea is that you can boot into your current Salix already installed (using the first wiki link), and then use gslapt to add both packages, LILO and LiloSetup (if for some reason any one of those packages is not installed already). Then you can use LiloSetup to edit the "boot=" directive in lilo.conf and to actually apply the new conf.

Let us know your results or any doubts you may have.

[sojurn]

...
So whenever I try a new Linux distro on sdc3, I always install Grub to the boot sector of sdc3 (never sda/sdc - no drive's MBR) and then I'm good to go - NeoGRUB just initialises that partition and the ditro's Grub installation boots the OS.

With Salix, the installation didn't look like it was going to give me the option of where to install LILO (let me know people if this approach is even possible with LILO!) and I didn't want to risk it installing to sda. So I now have Salix set up on sdc3 without any bootloader. So!

Is it possible to install LILO or Grub now on sdc3 to boot Salix, and if so, how? And if it's not possible and I restart installation, can anyone confirm that Salix will give me the option of putting LILO on the boot sector of sdc3 rather than an MBR? Thanks for your help.

I use GAG for everything, chain-load into the root partition of either an installed grub legacy (my old system) or now lilo (salix lxde 13.37, what I am switching over to at this very moment actually, am just about to add mail and image it).

From a text installer Lilo couldn't be easier to install to a root partition, there is a dialog screen which gives you the choice explicitly (that or MBR). From a live CD if I remember right you have to enter the drive (so in your case the sdc), but then before you actually install lilo select "edit" and change (for you) the sdc at the start of lilo config to sdc3.

If you only have the installations CD (like for me with LXDE) you can also boot directly into an installed system like this:

http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/B ... llation_CD

(edit: just noticed this link is already mentioned above)

***

I have also been doing a bit of cloning, would like to be adept at chroot'ing into things, but at the moment used super grub disk 1 to boot into my other system directly, and have the option here above for the salix installation. But am working on the chroot part of things, want to have that in my "arsenal".

[saml]

No luck I'm afraid - kernel image hugesmp.s not found. Sojurn - just to clarify your second paragraph, are you saying that if I go ahead with Lilo installation in the Salix installer I'll be given the option of where to install it? If so, that's awesome and I'll reinstall right away! To be honest I thought there's a good change it would give me the option, but didn't want to risk it making the decision itself (especially since I'm more familiar with Grub than Lilo and wasn't sure if Lilo can even be installed to root partitions as opposed to MBRs).

[sojurn]

No luck I'm afraid - kernel image hugesmp.s not found. Sojurn - just to clarify your second paragraph, are you saying that if I go ahead with Lilo installation in the Salix installer I'll be given the option of where to install it? If so, that's awesome and I'll reinstall right away! To be honest I thought there's a good change it would give me the option, but didn't want to risk it making the decision itself (especially since I'm more familiar with Grub than Lilo and wasn't sure if Lilo can even be installed to root partitions as opposed to MBRs).

I don't know exactly what you are doing but it sounds very similar to what I do myself. I never install to MBR, the only problem for me is that GAG can only boot to legacy grub, so I have to replace grub2 with it on the fly if I want to test drive a new system which used it (quite a few), and then of course install that to the root partition. And grub people say never, never do this, and I of course then always, always do...

Salix installs easily to the root partition. There is a slight difference if you are using a text installer or live CD. For me with the text installer you can't miss the step, there is a dialog screen which gives you the choice of installing to the root partition or the MBR (and something else, I forget what). With the live CDs and the graphical installer the step is easy to miss. Which I know because I missed it several times. When you get to the lilo install you will first have to specify the drive. And you'll do so with all sorts of misgivings because you don't want to do that. But on the following screen and before saying "OK, install lilo now" there is a little edit box that allows you to make changes in the lilo config file. You select that and you can see the line to change right in the first couple of lines. It will be a device name like /dev/sdc, and then you just change that to /dev/sdc3 and say "OK". Now you are back at the main screen and you say "Install lilo". And that's it. Lilo now installs to your root partition on sdc3. I forget the other steps involved, but this was the only tricky point as I recall.

I like the new graphical salix installer, but give me lilo and especially a text installer and I am in heaven. So fast, so easy.

What are you installing exactly? I can install the same thing tomorrow if you like. Salix installs are kind of fun actually.