distro testing

[donec]

I hope this is the proper place for this topic.

I am running Linux Mint 10 and want to keep using it while at the same time testing other distros. Every time I install a new distro to my testing partitions it overwrites the MBR and starts using the grub boot configuration of the new distro. Then when I decide I am not interested in that distro I have trouble getting the grub boot configuration back to Linux Mint 10.

Is there a way to install a distro that allows you to keep the configuration of the grub boot file with Linux Mint 10?

I hope that makes sense.

PS I want to test beyond using a live CD/DVD/USB by actually installing the distro as sometimes that makes it work differently.

[nunol]

Don't install the boot loader of the distro you want to test or once installed reinstall grub2 in Mint 10:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 ... ng%20GRUB2

As an example, once you have the test distro installed boot into Mint 10 and if the boot disk is sda run from the Mint 10:

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Now Mint 10 grub is again installed and you can use StartUp Manager to chose the Menu default choice and time.

If you find yourself in the most basic grub2 prompt use this:

1. set prefix=(hdX,Y)/boot/grub


Use the values determined earlier. Example: If the Ubuntu system is on sda5, enter: set prefix=(hd0,5)/boot/grub

2.* set root=(hdX,Y)


Example: set root=(hd0,5)

3. insmod normal


Attempt to load the normal module.

4. normal


Activate the normal module. If successful, the GRUB 2 menu may appear.

5. set


(Optional) Review the current settings.

6. ls /boot


(Optional) Check for a vmlinuz and a initrd.img entry.

7. insmod linux


An error message usually means the path is incorrect.

8.* linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdXY ro


Selects the latest kernel. Example: linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro

9. initrd /initrd.img


Selects the latest initrd image.

10. boot

Check the link above for more information.

[donec]

Thanks Nunol for your reply.

If I don't install the boot loader of the distro I want to test how will I boot into it?

[TBABill]

You don't need "the" boot loader for the distro you are installing. ONE grub or grub2 can handle all your installs. You simply are setting up grub to link to all of them and allow you to choose between distros (or distros AND windows) at startup. Grub is a boot loader that can handle having many distros installed at the same time and booting them all, plus it's not necessary to install it each time you install a distro. Just go back, as posted above, and setup grub to recognize the new install.

I just did this all today. I changed my HD config and reinstalled my distros I like to play with on separate partitions, one boot loader.

[nunol]

Yes, like TBABill said.

I use Mint Grub2, you have already installed the StartUp Manager (check the Administration menu) when you open the StartUp Manager it automatically looks for others distros (and Windows) and setups Grub2 to boot them. So when you install a new distro you have to go first into Mint, open StartUp Manager and only then can you see the new distro on the Grub2 menu.

[donec]

Cool I didn't know I could just run startup manager and it would find all the distros making it so I don't need to install the boot loader for the distro.

Do all distros offer the option to not install the boot loader?

[nunol]

Do all distros offer the option to not install the boot loader?

Not all. Usually I test them in a VM first to make sure they behave properly but most installers have a option where you have a choice to install none, LILO, grub or other boot loader.

[Matti L]

I test distros with with VirtualBox too and recommend it. Another good way is to use USB stick and Unetbootin to test distros.

[nunol]

If you install a new distro and use that distro boot loader and want to control with Mint StartUp Manager do this:
1) boot into Mint
2) run (where X is your disk, a or b, etc):

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sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

This will reinstall Mint Grub2 menu and you don't need to look for the boot loader on the other distro installer.

See here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 ... ng%20GRUB2

[donec]

If you install a new distro and use that distro boot loader and want to control with Mint StartUp Manager do this:
1) boot into Mint
2) run (where X is your disk, a or b, etc):

Code: Select all

sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

This will reinstall Mint Grub2 menu and you don't need to look for the boot loader on the other distro installer.

See here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 ... ng%20GRUB2

I tried

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda

and the results were that grub quit working at all just gave me the grub prompt. The way I got back into Linux Mint 10 was to reinstall Linux Peppermint 2 and using grub from it. I also tried to use the Boot-Repair Graphical Tool found through the link you posted and while it ran it did not seem to change anything.

[nunol]

Do you have enough free disk space in the /boot partition?

[donec]

Do you have enough free disk space in the /boot partition?

How can I find out?

[nunol]

Run:

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df -h

And check if the boot partition is full.

[donec]

Run:

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df -h

And check if the boot partition is full.

Results

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5 14G 4.9G 8.3G 38% /
none 1.8G 336K 1.8G 1% /dev
none 1.9G 372K 1.9G 1% /dev/shm
none 1.9G 316K 1.9G 1% /var/run
none 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /var/lock
/dev/sda7 41G 15G 24G 39% /home
/dev/sdb1 16G 2.8G 13G 18% /media/16GSDHC

So which portion tells if the boot partition is full or not?

[nunol]

If that "df -h" was made from Mint and your "/boot" is on "/" it's not full, you only use 38% of the available space.

If sda5 is your Mint partition (and /boot) the command

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Should install Mint grub2 Menu on that disk, don't know why didn't work.

From a Grub2 prompt is possible to boot most linux OS but for some reason Grub2 is not playing nice with that Mint install.

[donec]

I'm feeling confused. I have tried using the code

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sudo grub-install /dev/sda

sudo update-grub

and what I have is when I boot I get some text and no menu unless I hit esc and then I get a menu of just Linux Mint 10 as the only available OS.

However! I have Mint 11 and Win 7 on the computer.

If I reinstall Mint 11 I will get the complete (including Win 7) Grub that is packaged for Mint 11 (my testing distro) but the MBR will look at the files in Mint11 instead of Mint 10 (my working distro).

I want to be able to reliably to install a test distro and then do a couple easy things and have it so if I delete the testing distro partition, I can just reboot and go into Linux Mint or Win 7.

[nunol]

Hit Esc to get the Menu was Grub Classic way, not Grub2 that uses the "Shift" key. That's odd. Are you using mint4win?

If you reinstall Mint 11 or other Grub2 distro you should get a nice boot menu to chose the OS you want to start.

That code should work if your boot drive is sda.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

[donec]

Hit Esc to get the Menu was Grub Classic way, not Grub2 that uses the "Shift" key. That's odd. Are you using mint4win?

I don't even know what mint4win is, I think it may be something like Wine but I know I have not loaded it and it does not show up in Software manager.

If you reinstall Mint 11 or other Grub2 distro you should get a nice boot menu to chose the OS you want to start.

Yes that is what happens but when I try to get grub to use the configuration I have setup in Mint 10 grub quites working. I can setup the grub configuration in Mint 11 but then if I delete Mint 11 I have to boot from a live USB stick to try and get booted up again. So I want to keep my grub configuration running from Mint10.

That code should work if your boot drive is sda.

My boot drive is sda.

[nunol]

Mint4win is used to install Mint inside Windows.

For some reason Grub2 from Mint 10 doesn't work properly. That means your best bet is to use StartUp Manager from Min 10 to create a Rescue Floppy from the advance Menu. I never used that feature in Mint or Ubuntu but used to use that a lot a decade ago. After making that rescue disk or floppy you should test it to make sure it works.

[donec]

Mint4win is used to install Mint inside Windows.

For some reason Grub2 from Mint 10 doesn't work properly. That means your best bet is to use StartUp Manager from Min 10 to create a Rescue Floppy from the advance Menu. I never used that feature in Mint or Ubuntu but used to use that a lot a decade ago. After making that rescue disk or floppy you should test it to make sure it works.

I don't own a floppy drive anymore or any floppy disk.