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From: Van Chocstraw on 1 Dec 2009 18:07 What's the difference between booting from the MBR and root / drive? Which to choose during installation? Default is MBR.
From: Lew Pitcher on 1 Dec 2009 19:06 On December 1, 2009 18:07, in alt.os.linux.suse, Van Chocstraw (boobooililililil(a)roadrunner.com) wrote: > What's the difference between booting from the MBR and root / drive? On a PC, "booting" happens in 4 stages: 1) BIOS loads 1st sector of 1st hard disk (the "MBR") into memory, and executes it 2) the MBR code locates the OS loader on the first "bootable" partition of the first hard disk, loads it into memory, and executes it 3) the OS loader locates the OS kernel, loads it into memory, and executes it 4) the OS kernel locates all it's resources, and begins processing These stages were originally designed for the basic PC, booting PCDOS. In those days, stage 3 /was/ the OS. In these days of Windows and Linux, stage 4 is where the OS goes. There are two places where you can insert code to modify this process (i.e., to boot an operating system of your choice: in the MBR or in the beginning of your root partition. If you place your boot code in the MBR, it replaces the default code. So, your boot code must be able to locate and load any of the OS loaders that exist on the various partitions. If you have a Linux-only system, this is trivial, but if you have a dual-boot system, your new MBR loader must be able to not only locate the Linux boot code, it must also be able to locate the Windows boot code that the original MBR would have loaded. OTOH, if you place your boot code in the "root" partition, either the MBR, or the code that the MBR loads must be able to locate this boot code and execute it. Windows NT and followons have a stage 3 loader that can be customised to load either the Windows NT OS, or a "stage 4 loader" that then loads some other OS. If you place your boot code in the root partition, you *must* configure either the MBR boot code /or/ the Stage 3 loader (typically the WinNT loader) to load your code. > Which to choose during installation? Default is MBR. Whichever suits your needs best. If you primarily run Windows NT, with Linux "on the side", place your boot code in the root partition and configure the WinNT loader to recognize it. If you primarily run Linux, with or without Windows, place your boot code in the MBR, and configure it to load your operating systems. HTH -- Lew Pitcher Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576 Me: http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/ | Just Linux: http://justlinux.ca/ ---------- Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing. ------
From: paul_0090 on 1 Dec 2009 21:19 On 2009-12-01, Van Chocstraw <boobooililililil(a)roadrunner.com> wrote: > What's the difference between booting from the MBR and root / drive? > Which to choose during installation? Default is MBR. Both MBR & the root partition would be the safer choice; doesn't hurt & would be safer when windows changes the MBR. e.g. I had installed opensuse 11.2 on the weekend it became available & winxp was running in dual boot mode. Recently "upgraded" to win7 which was the required "clean install" from 32-bit winxp to 64-bit win7. The MBR got changed by the win7 install; still was able to get to linux as I had installed grub to boot from both the MBR & root /. "Minor problem" is that the Bootpart used in winxp to have multiple boots doesn't work on win7; & win7 changed the booting process so that it doesn't use the boot.ini directly but it is "modified" & appended to whatever the win7 bootmgr uses for booting (bootldr). Will be looking for a substitute for win7 multiple os booting so that grub can boot from the MBR again. hmmmm, haven't checked the windows option on grub to boot win7 as yet; more things to do to figure out some things about win7.
From: lurch on 1 Dec 2009 22:17 On Wed, 2 Dec 2009 02:19:32 +0000 (UTC), paul_0090 <guest(a)really.is.invalid> wrote: >On 2009-12-01, Van Chocstraw <boobooililililil(a)roadrunner.com> wrote: >> What's the difference between booting from the MBR and root / drive? >> Which to choose during installation? Default is MBR. > >Both MBR & the root partition would be the safer choice; doesn't hurt >& would be safer when windows changes the MBR. > >e.g. I had installed opensuse 11.2 on the weekend it became available >& winxp was running in dual boot mode. Recently "upgraded" to win7 >which was the required "clean install" from 32-bit winxp to 64-bit win7. > >The MBR got changed by the win7 install; still was able to get to linux >as I had installed grub to boot from both the MBR & root /. > >"Minor problem" is that the Bootpart used in winxp to have multiple >boots doesn't work on win7; & win7 changed the booting process so that >it doesn't use the boot.ini directly but it is "modified" & appended >to whatever the win7 bootmgr uses for booting (bootldr). Will be >looking for a substitute for win7 multiple os booting so that grub >can boot from the MBR again. > >hmmmm, haven't checked the windows option on grub to boot win7 as yet; >more things to do to figure out some things about win7. Use XOSL boot loader. You have to pre-partition the drive, though.
From: Van Chocstraw on 2 Dec 2009 11:44 paul_0090 wrote: > On 2009-12-01, Van Chocstraw<boobooililililil(a)roadrunner.com> wrote: >> What's the difference between booting from the MBR and root / drive? >> Which to choose during installation? Default is MBR. > > Both MBR& the root partition would be the safer choice; doesn't hurt > & would be safer when windows changes the MBR. > > e.g. I had installed opensuse 11.2 on the weekend it became available > & winxp was running in dual boot mode. Recently "upgraded" to win7 > which was the required "clean install" from 32-bit winxp to 64-bit win7. > > The MBR got changed by the win7 install; still was able to get to linux > as I had installed grub to boot from both the MBR& root /. > > "Minor problem" is that the Bootpart used in winxp to have multiple > boots doesn't work on win7;& win7 changed the booting process so that > it doesn't use the boot.ini directly but it is "modified"& appended > to whatever the win7 bootmgr uses for booting (bootldr). Will be > looking for a substitute for win7 multiple os booting so that grub > can boot from the MBR again. > > hmmmm, haven't checked the windows option on grub to boot win7 as yet; > more things to do to figure out some things about win7. I had to eliminate dual booting on my lap top because Win7 and Ubuntu would not coexist without destroying each other's booting. I could load win7 and it worked fine. Then install Ubuntu and it works fine with grub booting but win7 would no longer boot all the way. It keep rebooting after the pretty pulsating flower. Then I would fix win 7 and then Ubuntu would not boot even with super grub. Fix Ubuntu and win7 broke again. I gave up and have only win7 (as microshaft wants) and run Ubuntu and Opensuse as virtual machines on win7 host.
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