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This utility is used to install GRUB4DOS to the MBR of hard disk or image file.
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grubinst.exe is a console mode program. It mimics the behavior of the DOS/Linux
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utility bootlace.com from TinyBit's GRUB4DOS package. But unlike bootlace.com,
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grubinst is writen completely in C and can be compiled to run in OSs like
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Windows NT/2K/XP, Linux and FreeBSD.
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grubinst_gui.exe is a GUI frontend to grubinst.exe. It provides a friendly
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interface to users who are not familiar whith the command line environment.
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Currently, grubinst_gui.exe only runs in Windows OSs.
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Please note that these utilities only install MBR, it DOES NOT copy GRLDR to
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your partition or configure menu.lst, neither does it modify boot.ini to enable
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booting from the NT boot manager. To know more about such things, please refers
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to README_GRUB4DOS.txt which contains information about the GRUB4DOS package.
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Also note that the current version of grubinst doesn't support modify the MBR
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of hard disk in Windows 95/98/ME. For those OSs, bootlace.com should be used
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2. Features of grubinst
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2.1 Use special name to represent devices
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In grubinst, you can use special filename to represent hard disks and floppies.
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Hard disk device N. In Linux, (hd0) - (hd3) equals to /dev/hda - /dev/hdd. In
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FreeBSD, (hd0) - (hd3) equals to /dev/ad0 - /dev/ad3. In Windows, (hdN) equals
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Partition P on hard disk N. Primary partition is 0-3, extended partition starts
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Floppy device N. In Linux/FreeBSD, (fdN) equals to /dev/fdN. In Windows, (fd0)
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and (fd1) equals to drive A: and B:.
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Partition P on floppy N.
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Note 1. bootlace.com use numbers to represent devices. Floppies starts with 0,
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and hard disks starts with 0x80.
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Note 2. In bash/csh shell, () have special meaning. So you need to wrap the
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device name with "" or ''.
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Note 3. The 6-series of FreeBSD doesn't allow you to access a hard disk device
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which has been open. This means you can't modify the MBR of your currently used
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hard disk. Older series of FreeBSD don't have this problem.
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2.2 Save/Restore function
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Normally, the original MBR is only one sector long, it's stored in the second
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sector of the new GRLDR MBR. You can restore it using --restore-prevmbr option.
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However, if the original MBR is longer than one sector, for instance, you have
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other boot manager installed, then GRLDR MBR dones't have room to hold it. In
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this case, you should use --save=FILENAME to save the original MBR to an
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external file, and use --restore=FILENAME to restore it.
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Starts from version 1.1, --save=FILENAME and --restore=FILENAME also works for
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partition boot sector. --restore-prevmbr doesn't work with partitions.
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Note 1. In version 1.0.1, --save=FN and --restore=FN are called --save-mbr=FN
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and --restore-mbr=FN, I remove the mbr part becase it now works for mbr and
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Example 1. Install GRLDR to MBR/BS, and save the original MBR/BS to an external
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grubinst --save=FILENAME DEVICE_OR_FILE
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Example 2. Restore MBR from previous one sector MBR
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grubinst --restore_prevmbr DEVICE_OR_FILE
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Example 3. Restore MBR/BS from external file
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grubinst --restore=FILENAME DEVICE_OR_FILE
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2.3 Partition and floppy support (New in version 1.1)
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You can use --list-part to list all partitions in device or file.
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grubinst --list-part DEVICE_OR_FILE
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This option is diagnostic, it won't actually install GRLDR.
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To install GRLDR to partition, just use the proper partition name, or use
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--install-partition=I option to set the partition number. You don't need to
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worry about file system type, as they are probed automatically. Support file
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system are FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and Ext2.
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To install GRLDR to floppy image, you need to use the --floppy option.
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Note 1. If you install GRLDR Boot Record to a floppy or a partition, the floppy
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or partition will boot solely grldr, and your original IO.SYS(DOS/Win9x/Me) and
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NTLDR(WinNT/2K/XP) will become unbootable. This is because the original boot
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record of the floppy or partition was overwritten. There is no such problem
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when installing GRLDR Boot Record onto the MBR. Update: Some NTLDR/IO.SYS/
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KERNEL.SYS files can be directly chainloaded in the latest GRUB4DOS.
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Note 2. You can use --start-sector=B option to specific the absolute address of
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the start sector of partition, but we don't recommend it, as grubinst can
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extract the information from the partition table in MBR.
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Note 3. You can use --verbose option to see more information about the
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partition on which you install GRLDR. It is good pratice to first use
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--read-only and --verbose to verify the partition before actually installing
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grubinst --read-only --verbose (hd0,0)
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Start sector: 1028160
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Note 4. Option --floppy=N do exactly the same thing as --install-partition=I.
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It's here just to improve the compatibility with bootlace.com.
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2.4 Short options (New in version 1.1)
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Some options have short counterparts.
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-p=I --install-partition=I
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Note 1. In order to achive compatiblility between gcc and vc6, I don't use the
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getopt function to parse options. Therefore, combining short options doesn't
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work. For example, -vl is not equal to -v -l.
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2.5 Key code translation (New in version 1.1)
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In option --hot-key=K, you can use symbol names instead of raw codes. Raw code
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is still accepted, but they need to start with the hexadecimal prefix 0x.
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Support key names are: A-Z, 0-9, F1-F12, - = [ ] ; ' . \ , / , BACKSPACE, DEL,
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DOWN, END, ENTER, ESC, HOME, INS, KEY-5, KEY-*, KEY--, KEY-+, KEY-/, LEFT,
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PGDN, PGUP, PRRTSC, RIGHT, SPACE, TAB and UP.
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Support prefix are: shift-, ctrl- and alt-.
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Note 1. You can't use more that one prefix. For example ctrl-alt-A is not
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Note 2. Some character have special meaning to shell, so you need to wrap them
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with "" or '' ('' can't be used in cmd.exe) . For example,
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grubinst "--hot-key=;" DEVICE_OR_FILE
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grubinst "--hot-key=ctrl-\\" DEVICE_OR_DEVICE
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Note 3. Key name is case insensitive. Therefore, ctrl-a, CTRL-A and Ctrl-A are
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Note 4. To see the raw code of a key name, you can use --verbose option. For
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grubinst --verbose --hot-key=ctrl-a
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grubinst: No filename specified
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You can ignore the error message as we are not actually installing GRLDR.
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2.6 Change boot file name and load segment (New in 1.1 beta6)
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2.7 Grub2 support (New in 1.1 beta6)
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2.8 Loading via NT boot manager
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grubinst [OPTIONS] DEVICE_OR_FILE
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--help,-h Show usage information
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--pause Pause before exiting (used by GUI)
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--version Show version information
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--verbose,-v Verbose output
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--list-part,-l List all logical partitions in DEVICE_OR_FILE
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--save=FN,-s=FN Save the orginal MBR/BS to FN
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--restore=FN,-r=FN Restore MBR/BS from previously saved FN
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--restore-prevmbr,-r Restore previous MBR saved in the second sector
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--read-only,-t do everything except the actual write to the
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specified DEVICE_OR_FILE. (test mode)
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--no-backup-mbr do not copy the old MBR to the second sector of
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--force-backup-mbr force the copy of old MBR to the second sector
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of DEVICE_OR_FILE.(default)
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--mbr-enable-floppy enable the search for GRLDR on floppy.(default)
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--mbr-disable-floppy disable the search for GRLDR on floppy.
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--mbr-enable-osbr enable the boot of PREVIOUS MBR with invalid
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partition table (usually an OS boot sector).
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--mbr-disable-osbr disable the boot of PREVIOUS MBR with invalid
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partition table (usually an OS boot sector).
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--duce disable the feature of unconditional entrance
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--boot-prevmbr-first try to boot PREVIOUS MBR before the search for
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--boot-prevmbr-last try to boot PREVIOUS MBR after the search for
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--preferred-drive=D preferred boot drive number, 0 <= D < 255.
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--preferred-partition=P preferred partition number, 0 <= P < 255.
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--time-out=T,-t=T wait T seconds before booting PREVIOUS MBR. if
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T is 0xff, wait forever. The default is 5.
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--hot-key=K,-k=K if the desired key K is pressed, start GRUB
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before booting PREVIOUS MBR. K is a word
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value, just as the value in AX register
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returned from int16/AH=1. The high byte is the
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scan code and the low byte is ASCII code. The
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default is 0x3920 for space bar.
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--floppy,-f if DEVICE_OR_FILE is floppy, use this option.
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--floppy=N if DEVICE_OR_FILE is a partition on a hard
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drive, use this option. N is used to specify
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the partition number: 0,1,2 and 3 for the
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primary partitions, and 4,5,6,... for the
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--sectors-per-track=S specifies sectors per track for --floppy.
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1 <= S <= 63, default is 63.
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--heads=H specifies number of heads for --floppy.
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1 <= H <= 256, default is 255.
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--start-sector=B specifies hidden sectors for --floppy=N.
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--total-sectors=C specifies total sectors for --floppy.
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--lba use lba mode for --floppy. If the floppy BIOS
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has LBA support, you can specify --lba here.
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It is assumed that all floppy BIOSes have CHS
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support. So you would rather specify --chs.
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If neither --chs nor --lba is specified, then
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the LBA indicator(i.e., the third byte of the
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boot sector) will not be touched.
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--chs use chs mode for --floppy. You should specify
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--chs if the floppy BIOS does not support LBA.
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We assume all floppy BIOSes have CHS support.
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So it is likely you want to specify --chs.
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If neither --chs nor --lba is specified, then
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the LBA indicator(i.e., the third byte of the
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boot sector) will not be touched.
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--install-partition=I Install the boot record onto the boot area of
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-p=I partition number I of the specified hard drive
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or harddrive image DEVICE_OR_FILE.
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--boot-file=F,-b=F Change the name of boot file.
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--load-seg=S Change load segment for boot file.
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--grub2,-2 Load grub2 kernel g2ldr instead of grldr.
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--output,-o Save embeded grldr.mbr to DEVICE_OR_FILE.
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Example 1: Install GRLDR MBR to the first hard disk
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Example 2: Install GRLDR MBR to the disk image disk.dsk
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Example 3: Install GRLDR to the first primary partition
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grubinst --install-partition=0 (hd0)
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grubinst --start-sector=63 --install-partition=0 (hd0)
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If the first partition starts from sector 63. This kind of usage is not
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recommended, as the value specified in --start-sector will overwrite the one
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extracted from the partition table.
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Example 4. Install GRLDR to a floppy device or image
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grubinst --floppy floppy.img
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If you use floppy device, you can omit the --floppy option.
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Example 5: Load GRUB only if you press CRTL-F1 in the first 10 second of
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grubinst --boot-prevmbr-first --hot-key=ctrl-f1 --time-out=10 (hd0)
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Example 6: Same as above, but use short options.
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grubinst --boot-prevmbr-first -k=ctrl-f1 -t=10 (hd0)
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3. Features of grubinst_gui
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a) Save/Restore operation
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The operation of save/restore boxes is described as follows:
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If neither "Restore from file" nor "Restore from PrevMBR" is cheked, the
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program would backup the original MBR/BS to FILENAME if it's set in the
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If "Restore from file" is checked, the program would restore the MBR/BS from
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FILENAME which is set in "Save File". FILENAME must not be empty, otherwise an
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error message is printed. In this case, the setting of "Restore from PrevMBR"
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If "Restore from file" is not checked, but "Restore from PrevMBR" is, the
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program would restore from previous MBR which is saved in the second sector
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of GRLDR MBR. If "Save File" box is not empty, it would be the name of file
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to store the currently used MBR, which in the case is the GRLDR MBR.
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b) Partition list (New in version 1.1)
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After you select a image file or disk/floppy device, you can press the
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"Refresh" button alongside the "Part List" dropdown list to get the partition
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information. For example, for disk image aa.dsk, the list will be something
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For FAT12 floppy image aa.img, the list will be something like this:
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Whole disk (FAT12/FAT16)
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You can choose the partition by selecting the corresponding item from the list.
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After you change the image/device name, the list will be reset. You need to
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press the button again if you want to get the partition list of the new
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c) Test run (New in version 1.1)
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You can use "Test" button to see the command line options that will be passed
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to grubinst.exe, without actually making the call. This can be handy if you
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want to know about the correspondence between grubinst options and the various
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checkboxes in the GUI.
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d) Chinese support (new in version 1.1)
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The GUI will display Chinese interface if your user locale is set to simplified
401
Chinese. But you can alter its behaviour by using a option:
403
grubinsi_gui --lang=eng
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Display English interface, regardless your user locale setting.
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grubinst_gui --lang=chs
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Display simplified Chinese interface, regardless your user locale setting.
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In order to display Chinese characters properly, your system locale must also
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be set to simplified Chinese.
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To compile the program, you need the GCC toolkit in Linux, FreeBSD or other
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unix platform, and mingw or Visual C++ 6.0 in Windows NT/2K/XP.
419
To compile using GCC toolkit:
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To compile using Visual C++ 6.0:
425
nmake -f Makefile.vc6
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Here are some notes when you are using the GCC toolkit.
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Note 1. If mingw is detected, make will build the GUI program grubinst_gui.
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Otherwise, it will only build the console mode program grubinst.
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Note 2. In Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, partition whose start address go beyond
433
the 4G limit is supported (However, some BIOSes may not boot from such
434
partitions). In other systems, the 4G limit issue depends on the size of
437
Note 3. Two internal utility, bin2h and ver2h, has two forms. This first is
438
a perl script, which can be used directly, but it requires the perl
439
interpreter. The other is a C program, which works in all circumstance, but it
440
needs compilation. Makefile can detect whether or not perl exists, and use it
441
if found. If you want to use the C program even if you have perl, you can set
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Note 4. You can compile the resource script grubinst_gui.rc in two way. One
447
is to use windres from mingw, the other is to use rc from vc6. By default, rc
448
is used if it's detected. However, if you want to use windres no matter what,
453
Also note that rc expects your INCLUDE environment variable being set to the
454
paths of vc6 include files.
456
Note 5. To compile the Chinese resource properly, you must use rc from vc6, and
457
your system locale must be set to simplified Chinese at the time of the
462
http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/
463
grubinst and WINGRUB homepage
465
http://grub4dos.jot.com/
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Latest GRUB4DOS package by TinyBit
468
http://www.znpc.net/bbs
469
Nice forum on GRUB4DOS, but it's in chinese
471
http://grub.linuxeden.com/
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Misc information by TinyBit, also in chinese
added
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src/grubutil/grubinst/.svn/text-base/README_grubinst.txt.svn-base
