[SOLVED] LM11 Installation - Bootloader location

[skambale]

I need to install LM11 on one of my partitions but I had one query regarding a new option during installation; we need to select "BOOTLOADER LOCATION". This seems to be a new option that was not present in earlier versions. I had tried installing the beta version of Ubuntu 11.04 and that resulted in booting problems. The grub itself would not load. I had to install LM9 over it again to fix the grub and the boot.

Right now, my LM9 partition is broken due to some upgrade and want to move to LM11. So i need to be sure of this option before proceeding with the install and killing my grub again.

Setup - 2 HDDs

HDD1 = Win 7
HDD 2 = 3 partitions (LM9 working, LM9 broken, NTFS)

Please suggest what option should i select during installation for the bootloader location. How is this determined?

[xenopeek]

Normally, the BIOS in your computer loads the MBR from the first harddisk and the code in the MBR loads the operating system. If you want Windows 7 to do the dual-booting, install GRUB on /dev/sdb (second harddisk MBR), and configure the Windows to chainload to the second harddisk for Linux. If you want Linux to do the dual-booting, install GRUB on /dev/sda (first harddisk MBR).

[AlbertP]

Please set /dev/sdb as bootloader location (please confirm that sdb = HDD 2). Then configure your BIOS to boot from HDD 2. If your BIOS does not support booting from HDD 2, you can set /dev/sda. But I recommend to keep all Grub / bootloader related stuff off the Windows disk whenever possible.

[skambale]

Thanks for the suggestions. I would preferably keep away from HDD1 (sda) which has Win 7.
I will try to point the bootloader to sdb but a couple of questions on that

1. Do i need to point it to a certain partition in sdb. I don't remember the options for the location, but i guess partition needs to be specified.
2. Out of curiosity - How does this differ from earlier installations where this option need not be specified?

[AlbertP]

1. Please do not point to a partition, just to /dev/sdb. It's true that there are also partitions in the list, but you have to select the disk itself. Warning: also do NOT point to a /boot partition, if there exists one.
2. When there are already partitions (and you can't just create a new one at the end due to too many primary partitions), you get to the advanced partitioning screen instead of the normal partitioning.

[skambale]

Great. This worked. Solved by pointing bootloader to /dev/sdb.
Although had to perform additional step of logging into the other LM9 partition and running grub-update since the GRUB wasn't updated automatically and still showed LM9 although it was a broken link.

Thanks