An application that was created in order to provide users with an easy to use and universal boot loader which is based on GNU GRUB
The intricacies of the inner workings of operating systems are a bit too complicated for most users who just want to see stuff working, without having to go in depth to learn what a software 'mechanism' is all about.
When it comes to things like the boot sequence or having two or more OS's installed, we're already stepping into the less known territory. Nonetheless, something quite useful and easy to remember insofar as the multi-boot systems is concerned is that they need a good boot loader to function properly.
One of the rather numerous tools of this kind that are mainly targeted at highly experienced users is GRUB4DOS. This program can be considered an evolution of GNU GRUB, carrying several enhancements.
First of all, it is important to understand what such a utility actually does. Any boot loader software will come into play when you switch on the power on your computer. This program will initiate the OS or offer a list of installed operating systems to allow the user to choose the one that they want to start.
Aug 23, 2017 Note that this has nothing to do with a 64-bit processor, or a 64-bit operating system. It is a separate issue with the filesystem itself being 64-bit, as opposed to 32-bit in previous versions. While Puppy booted live can read from a 64-bit Ext4 partition, the Grub4DOS bootloader itself cannot. Wrote about it previously. Oct 07, 2018 When trying to use Grub4DOS with newer systems, with 64-bit Ext4 partitions, typically created when another newer Linux distro is installed. Grub4dos boot loader can not boot the other Linux operating system. Here is a way to fix this that needs to get into Puppy. This topic in the Puppy forum gives info on how to correct this.
GRUB4DOS also comes with some extra functions besides the innate ability to boot off through the Windows boot manager, DOS or Linux. More precisely, it allows booting directly from the MBR partition or from a CD and is equipped for BIOS disk emulation, carrying dedicated drivers for ATAPI optical units.
The boot manager or loader of GRUB4DOS can be triggered in a variety of ways. First off, from the DOS prompt or command-line, you can run the executable directly. Secondly, it can be integrated into the BOOT.INI file that describes the OS options to be displayed when starting up. Another method would be to incorporate the executable in the CONFIG.SYS file for older editions of Windows (up to Windows NT).
Since it is a highly specialized tool and on top of that one tailored for experienced users only, GRUB4DOS will surely need a bit of getting used to before using it to its full potential.
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GRUB4DOS was reviewed by Olivian PuhaGRUB4DOS 0.4.4
add to watchlistsend us an update- runs on:
- Windows 10
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP - file size:
- 800 KB
- filename:
- grub4dos-0.4.4.zip
- main category:
- System
- developer:
- visit homepage
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So I have Grub4Dos running pretty well after I used the diskpart, Grub4dos, Acronis TI ISO root to re-image vmdk files. Windows 7 64bit. May 14, 2013 - Grub4DOS Toolbox for Windows is a small utility that allows the user to install, uninstall and modify the Grub4DOS boot manager with great.
Grub help default default: default NUM ¦ 'saved' ¦ FILE set the default entry to entry number NUM (if not specified, it is 0, the first entry), or to the entry number saved by savedefault if the key word 'saved' is specified, or to the entry number previously saved in the specified file FILE. When FILE is specified, all subsequent 'savedefault' commands will save default entry numbers into FILE. Although the default NUM parameter works within a configuration file, using default saved does not. In addition the default FILE command only works with the default file included in the grub4dos download - e.g.
Default /default. The following (61) commands are all recognised by Grub4dos - version 0.4.3 (build 2008-03-14). Note that this command will be removed soon use utility bootlace.com instead.
Note that this command will be removed soon use utility bootlace.com instead. background. Grub help chainloader chainloader: chainloader -force -load-segment=LS -load offset=LO -load-length=LL -skip-length=SL -boot-cs=CS -boot-ip=IP -ebx=EBX -edx=EDX -sdi -disable-a20 FILE Load the chain-loader FILE. If -force is specified, then load it forcibly, whether the boot loader signature is present or not. LS:LO specifies the load address other than 0000:7C00. LL specifies the length of the boot image(between 512 and 640k).
CS:IP specifies the address where the boot image will gain control. EBX/EDX specifies the EBX/EDX register value when the boot image gets control. Use -sdi if FILE is a System Deployment Image, which is of the Windows XP RAM boot file format. Use -disable-a20 if you wish to turn off A20 when transferring control to the boot image. SL specifies length in bytes at the beginning of the image to be skipped when loading.
Grub help color color: color NORMAL HIGHLIGHT Change the menu colors. The color NORMAL is used for most lines in the menu, and the color HIGHLIGHT is used to highlight the line where the cursor points.
If you omit HIGHLIGHT, then the inverted color of NORMAL is used for the highlighted line. The format of a color is 'FG/BG'. FG and BG are symbolic color names.
A symbolic color name must be one of these: black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown, light-grey, dark-grey, light-blue, light-green, light-cyan, light-red, light-magenta, yellow and white. But only the first eight names can be used for BG. You can prefix 'blink-' to FG if you want a blinking foreground color. Grub help install install: install -stage2=STAGE2FILE -force-lba STAGE1 d DEVICE STAGE2 ADDR p CONFIGFILE REALCONFIGFILE Install STAGE1 on DEVICE and install a blocklist for loading STAGE2 as a Stage 2. If the option 'd' is present, the Stage 1 will always look for the disk where the STAGE2 was installed, rather than using the booting drive.
The Stage 2 will be loaded at address ADDR, which will be determined automatically if you don't specify it. If the option 'p' or CONFIGFILE is present, then the first block of Stage 2 is patched with new values of the partition and name of the configuration file used by the true Stage 2 (for a Stage 1.5, this is the name of the true Stage 2) at boot time. If STAGE2 is a Stage 1.5 and REALCONFIGFILE is present, then the Stage 2 CONFIGFILE is patched with the configuration filename REALCONFIGFILE. If the option '-force-lba' is specified, disable some sanity checks for LBA mode. If the option '-stage2' is specified, rewrite the Stage 2 via your OS's filesystem instead of the raw device. Grub help kernel kernel: kernel -no-mem-option -type=TYPE FILE ARG. Attempt to load the primary boot image from FILE.
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The rest of the line is passed verbatim as the 'kernel command line'. Any modules must be reloaded after using this command. The option -type is used to suggest what type of kernel to be loaded. TYPE must be either of 'netbsd', 'freebsd', 'openbsd', 'linux', 'biglinux' and 'multiboot'.
The option -no-mem-option tells GRUB not to pass a Linux's mem option automatically. Grub help map map: map -status -mem=RESERV -hook -unhook -rehook -floppies=M harddrives=N -memdisk-raw=RAW -a20-keep-on=AKO -safe-mbr-hook=SMH -int13-scheme=SCH -ram-drive=RD -rd-base=ADDR -rd-size=SIZE -read-only -fake-write -unsafe-boot -disable-chs-mode -disable-lba-mode -heads=H -sectors-per-track=S TODRIVE FROMDRIVE Map the drive FROMDRIVE to the drive TODRIVE. This is necessary when you chain-load some operating systems, such as DOS, if such an OS resides at a non-first drive. TODRIVE can be a disk file, this indicates a disk emulation. If TODRIVE is a disk file, it must be contiguous(i.e., no holes in it).
If -read-only is given, the emulated drive will be write-protected. If -fake-write is given, any write operations to the emulated drive are allowed but the data written will be discarded. The -unsafe-boot switch enables the write to the Master and DOS boot sectors of the emulated disk. If -disable-chs-mode is given, CHS access to the emulated drive will be refused.
If -disable-lba-mode is given, LBA access to the emulated drive will be refused. H and S specify the geometry of the emulated drive. M/N specify the floppy/harddrive count in the BIOS data area. If RAW=1, all memdrives will be accessed without using int15/ah=87h. If RAW=0, then int15/ah=87h will be used to access memdrives.
If one of -status, -hook, -unhook, -rehook, -floppies, -harddrives, memdisk-raw, -a20-keep-on, -safe-mbr-hook, -int13-scheme, -ram-drive, -rd-base or -rd-size is given, then any other command-line arguments will be ignored. They either report or change the int13 status, or change the floppy or hard drive count byte in the BIOS data area.
The -mem option indicates a drive in memory. If RESERV is used and 0, the memdrive will occupy the mem area starting at absolute physical address RESERV in 512-byte-sectors and ending at the end of this mem block(usually the end of physical mem). RD specifies the ramdisk number, and can be a BIOS drive number. ADDR specifies the base address of the ramdisk image.
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SIZE specifies the size in bytes of the ramdisk image. Grub help password password: password -md5 PASSWD FILE If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing control (menu entry editor and command line). If the password PASSWRD is entered, it loads the FILE as a new config file and restarts the GRUB Stage 2. If you omit the argument FILE, then GRUB just unlocks privileged instructions.
You can also use it in the script section, in which case it will ask for the password, before continueing. The option -md5 tells GRUB that PASSWD is encrypted with md5crypt. Grub help root root: root DEVICE HDBIAS Set the current 'root device' to the device DEVICE, then attempt to mount it to get the partition size (for passing the partition descripter in 'ES:ESI', used by some chain-loaded bootloaders), the BSD drive type (for booting BSD kernels using their native boot format), and correctly determine the PC partition where a BSD sub-partition is located. The optional HDBIAS parameter is a number to tell a BSD kernel how many BIOS drive numbers are on controllers befor the current one. For example, if there is an IDE disk and a SCSI disk, and your FreeBSD root partition is on the SCSI disk, then use a '1' for HDBIAS. Grub help serial serial: serial -unit=UNIT -port=PORT -speed=SPEED -word=WORD parity=PARITY -stop=STOP -device=DEV Initialise a serial device. UNIT is a degit that specifies which serial device is used (e.g.
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If you need to specify the port number, set it by -port. SPEED is the DTE-DTE speed. WORD is the word length, PARITY is the type of parity, which is one of 'no', 'odd' and 'even'. STOP is the length of stop bit(s).
The option -device can be used only in the GRUB shell, which specifies the file name of a tty device. The default values are COM1, 9600, 8N1. Grub help setkey setkey: setkey TOKEY FROMKEY Change the keyboard map. The key FROMKEY is mapped to the key TOKEY.
A key must be an alphabet, a digit, or one of these: escape, exclaim, at, numbersign, dollar, percent, caret, ampersand, asterisk, parenleft, parenright, minus, underscore, equal, plus, backspace, tab, bracketleft, braceleft, bracketright, braceright, enter, control, semicolon, colon, quote, doublequote, backquote, tilde, shift, backslash, bar, comma, less, period, greater, slash, question, alt, spcae, capslock, FX (X is a digit), and delete. If no argument is specified, reset key mappings. Grub help setup setup: setup -prefix=DIR -stage2=STAGE2FILE -force-lba INSTALLDEVICE IMAGEDEVICE Set up the installation of GRUB automatically. This command used the more flexible command 'install' in the backend and installs GRUB into the device INSTALLDEVICE.
If IMAGEDEVICE is specified, then find the GRUB images in the device IMAGEDEVICE, otherwise use the current 'root device', which can be set by the command 'root'. If you know that your BIOS should support LBA but GRUB doesn't work in LBA mode, specify the option '-force-lba'. If you install GRUB under the grub shell and you cannot unmount the partition where GRUB images reside, specify the option '-stage2' to tell GRUB the file name under your OS. Grub help terminal terminal: terminal -dumb -no-echo -no-edit -timeout=SECS -lines=LINES -silent console serial hercules graphics Select a terminal. When multiple terminals are specified, wait until you push any key to continue. If both console and serial are specified, the terminal to which you input a key first will be selected.
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If no argument is specified, print current setting. The option -dumb specifies that your terminal is dumb, otherwise, vt100-compatibility is assumed.
If you specify -no-echo, input characters won't be echoed. If you specify -no-edit, the BASH-like deiting feature will be disabled. If -timeout is present, this command will wait at most for SECS seconds. The option -lines specifies the maximum number of lines.
The option -silent is used to surpress messages.
BOOTICE is a powerful boot-related utility. It's desired to manipulate (install, backup, restore) the MBR and PBR of disks (or disk images), to partition and format disks, to edit disk sectors in hexadecimal, to erase all the data on your disk or logical drive (by filling with customizable characters), to edit Grub4DOS boot menu, and to edit BCD file of Windows NT 6.x. Version History for BOOTICE 64-Bit:. Fixed the bug that compacting VHD doesn't work on Windows 7.