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5.3 Multi-boot manual config

Currently autogenerating config files for multi-boot environments depends on os-prober and has several shortcomings. While fixing it is scheduled for the next release, meanwhile you can make use of the power of GRUB syntax and do it yourself. A possible configuration is detailed here, feel free to adjust to your needs.

First create a separate GRUB partition, big enough to hold GRUB. Some of the following entries show how to load OS installer images from this same partition, for that you obviously need to make the partition large enough to hold those images as well. Mount this partition on/mnt/boot and disable GRUB in all OSes and manually install self-compiled latest GRUB with:

grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

In all the OSes install GRUB tools but disable installing GRUB in bootsector, so you'll have menu.lst and grub.cfg available for use. Also disable os-prober use by setting:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

in /etc/default/grub

Then write a grub.cfg (/mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg): 

     
     menuentry "OS using grub2" {
        insmod xfs
        search --set=root --label OS1 --hint hd0,msdos8
        configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg
     }
     
     menuentry "OS using grub2-legacy" {
        insmod ext2
        search --set=root --label OS2 --hint hd0,msdos6
        legacy_configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst
     }
     
     menuentry "Windows XP" {
        insmod ntfs
        search --set=root --label WINDOWS_XP --hint hd0,msdos1
        ntldr /ntldr
     }
     
     menuentry "Windows 7" {
        insmod ntfs
        search --set=root --label WINDOWS_7 --hint hd0,msdos2
        ntldr /bootmgr
     }
     
     menuentry "FreeBSD" {
               insmod zfs
               search --set=root --label freepool --hint hd0,msdos7
               kfreebsd /freebsd@/boot/kernel/kernel
               kfreebsd_module_elf /freebsd@/boot/kernel/opensolaris.ko
               kfreebsd_module_elf /freebsd@/boot/kernel/zfs.ko
               kfreebsd_module /freebsd@/boot/zfs/zpool.cache type=/boot/zfs/zpool.cache
               set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=zfs:freepool/freebsd
               set kFreeBSD.hw.psm.synaptics_support=1
     }
     
     menuentry "experimental GRUB" {
               search --set=root --label GRUB --hint hd0,msdos5
               multiboot /experimental/grub/i386-pc/core.img
     }
     
     menuentry "Fedora 16 installer" {
               search --set=root --label GRUB --hint hd0,msdos5
               linux /fedora/vmlinuz lang=en_US keymap=sg resolution=1280x800
               initrd /fedora/initrd.img
     }
     
     menuentry "Fedora rawhide installer" {
               search --set=root --label GRUB --hint hd0,msdos5
               linux /fedora/vmlinuz repo=ftp://mirror.switch.ch/mirror/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/x86_64 lang=en_US keymap=sg resolution=1280x800
               initrd /fedora/initrd.img
     }
     
     menuentry "Debian sid installer" {
               search --set=root --label GRUB --hint hd0,msdos5
               linux /debian/dists/sid/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz
               initrd /debian/dists/sid/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz
     }

Notes: