How to configure GRUB to boot from CD-ROM?

[Adalbert Prokop]

I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Is such configuration possible? And if it is, how does it look like?

I tried

title CD-ROM
rootnoverify (hd2)
chainloader +1

But it does not work. Searching the net resulted in many explanations how
to make bootable CD-ROM, but that's not what I'm looking for.

[Charles Curley]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Not what you asked for, but it might do what you want:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/.
--
Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign
Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards
and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email
http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email

Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070818/ecd4da90/attachment.bin

[Michael Klinosky]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I
want a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub. I usually do not want my system to
boot off a CD, in case I forgot to remove the bootable CD I burned
for something else. (Or someone else put a CD in the drive, and I
didn't notice. I have also been too slow on hotting the F12 key to
bring up the boot device menu. I also have a couple of old laptops
here that will not boot off of a CD.

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070818/d872e442/attachment.bin

[Adalbert Prokop]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs. I have only seen
it as an .exe file that burns a floppy under DOS/Windows. But you
could burn a floppy, use dd to copy the image to your hard drive,
and then chainload the image when you want to boot from a CD.

For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
and /boot is its own partition, something like:

title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img

You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/download/oldbios.exe

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070819/bd04fddb/attachment.bin

[Adalbert Prokop]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs.

Sounds very weird and therefor very interesting. :) I think I'll give it a
try unless someone can propose a direct method. :-)

[Aaron Konstam]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs. I have only seen
it as an .exe file that burns a floppy under DOS/Windows. But you
could burn a floppy, use dd to copy the image to your hard drive,
and then chainload the image when you want to boot from a CD.
For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img
You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

How did you manage to get the CD to be hd0?

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Aaron Konstam

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img
You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

How did you manage to get the CD to be hd0?

I didn't. The example shown chainloads a floppy image called
cd_boot.img that is on the hard drive in the /boot partition, and
the boot partition in the first partition on the drive. But the
example had a minor mistake - it should be:

title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload /cd_boot.img

Then it works. There should be a way to do it directly...

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070819/c466775b/attachment.bin

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Aaron Konstam

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img
You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

How did you manage to get the CD to be hd0?

I didn't. The example shown chainloads a floppy image called
cd_boot.img that is on the hard drive in the /boot partition, and
the boot partition in the first partition on the drive. But the
example had a minor mistake - it should be:

title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload /cd_boot.img

Then it works. There should be a way to do it directly...

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070819/c466775b/attachment-0002.bin

[Adalbert Prokop]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs.

Sounds very weird and therefor very interesting. :) I think I'll give it a
try unless someone can propose a direct method. :-)

[Aaron Konstam]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs. I have only seen
it as an .exe file that burns a floppy under DOS/Windows. But you
could burn a floppy, use dd to copy the image to your hard drive,
and then chainload the image when you want to boot from a CD.
For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img
You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

How did you manage to get the CD to be hd0?

[Les]

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

If the CD is the primary boot, but no cdrom is present, the system will
go to the next item on the list and boot from it. Doesn't this do what
you want? Knoppix works this way all the time on most users systems.

Regards,
Les H

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson
You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

I just had a strange thought - I don't know if it will work. There
is a floppy image called oldbios that will allow you to boot from a
CD on systems that do not support booting from CDs. I have only seen
it as an .exe file that burns a floppy under DOS/Windows. But you
could burn a floppy, use dd to copy the image to your hard drive,
and then chainload the image when you want to boot from a CD.

For example, if you have an image file called cd_boot.img in /boot,
and /boot is its own partition, something like:

title CD_Boot
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload cd_boot.img

You will probably have to play with it a bit, because this is off
the top of my head, and I am only on my second cup of coffee...

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/download/oldbios.exe

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070819/bd04fddb/attachment-0002.bin

[Les]

Post by Adalbert Prokop

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

If the CD is the primary boot, but no cdrom is present, the system will
go to the next item on the list and boot from it. Doesn't this do what
you want? Knoppix works this way all the time on most users systems.

Regards,
Les H

[Adalbert Prokop]

Post by Mikkel L. Ellertson

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub.

That's exactly my intention. :) I don't like to have CD-ROM as primary
boot device on my laptop all the time. But sometimes booting a CD is very
handy and I do not like fiddling within the BIOS all the time.
Unfortunately my BIOS does not offer a separate boot menu where you can
quickly select a boot device.

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Post by Michael Klinosky

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I
want a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

You may want to control when you boot off a CD - maybe even password
protect that menu option in grub. I usually do not want my system to
boot off a CD, in case I forgot to remove the bootable CD I burned
for something else. (Or someone else put a CD in the drive, and I
didn't notice. I have also been too slow on hotting the F12 key to
bring up the boot device menu. I also have a couple of old laptops
here that will not boot off of a CD.

Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070818/d872e442/attachment-0002.bin

[Tim]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I
want a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.
Is such configuration possible? And if it is, how does it look like?
I tried
title CD-ROM
rootnoverify (hd2)
chainloader +1
From what I've read, the current version of GRUB can't do that (I've

wanted to do the same thing, too). Anyway, the hd moniker only applies
to hard drives, it's not simply the drives that it finds on the IDE or
SCSI ports. If you've come across a CD-ROM that uses GRUB, itself, as
its boot menu (to boot it, or hand over to another drive), I think
you'll find it's GRUB 2. I seem to recall Ubuntu did it that way.

Info: <http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/>

[Adalbert Prokop]

I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Is such configuration possible? And if it is, how does it look like?

I tried

title CD-ROM
rootnoverify (hd2)
chainloader +1

But it does not work. Searching the net resulted in many explanations how
to make bootable CD-ROM, but that's not what I'm looking for.

[Charles Curley]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Not what you asked for, but it might do what you want:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/.
--
Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign
Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards
and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email
http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email

Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/attachments/20070818/ecd4da90/attachment-0002.bin

[Michael Klinosky]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I want
a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.

Perhaps I don't understand your situation; why you don't config your
BIOS to do that? Just make it the primary boot device.

[Tim]

Post by Adalbert Prokop
I would like to include an entry in my GRUB menu to let it boot from
CD-ROM. To make it clear: I do not want to install GRUB on CD-ROM. I
want a menu entry pointing to CD-ROM in my locally installed GRUB.
Is such configuration possible? And if it is, how does it look like?
I tried
title CD-ROM
rootnoverify (hd2)
chainloader +1
From what I've read, the current version of GRUB can't do that (I've

wanted to do the same thing, too). Anyway, the hd moniker only applies
to hard drives, it's not simply the drives that it finds on the IDE or
SCSI ports. If you've come across a CD-ROM that uses GRUB, itself, as
its boot menu (to boot it, or hand over to another drive), I think
you'll find it's GRUB 2. I seem to recall Ubuntu did it that way.

Info: <http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/>