restore grub-seperate partion?

[Mumia W.]

On 08/16/2008 09:31 PM, Linda Vest Castanos wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-08-16 at 15:59 -0300, Derek Broughton wrote:
>> Mumia W. wrote:
>>
>>> I think a smart policy is to never install Grub to the MBR on dual-boot
>>> systems. Microsoft wants the MBR, so let them have it. Grub should be
>>> installed into the Linux partition's bootsector, and the NT-Loader
>>> should be configured to provide an option to boot Linux.
>> I tend to agree - but last time I tried that, there wasn't any easy way to
>> modify the NT loader unless you were running Vista Pro or something else
>> costly.  I would assume that as part of "wubi", we have a simple tool that
>> can do that, now - is it easily accessible even for those not using Wubi?
> I like that smart policy, you would think if the grub ever goes, you
> still would have a different set commands to fix the problem.  I wish it
> could be install on a DEDICATED PARTITION (Linux or Windows).  I don't
> have a problem with restoring a partition (Acronis). Next time it
> happens, I will try Derek way first.  I do like simple. The only thing I
> use Windows for is backup and my scanner. I wish I was a Ubuntu Guru but
> I'm not.
> 

Derek, IIRC the NT-loader is configured by (carefully) editing 
C:\boot.ini under Windows XP. I have no experience with Vista; it would 
be nice if Vista provided a GUI tool for editing boot.ini, because one 
wrong character in boot.ini can make the system unbootable.

Linda, I think you've already installed Linux to a partition because 
WUBI probably has no need for Grub. If that's so, then you're free to 
install grub to that partition[0], and I recommend creating a Grub 
bootable CD-ROM too. One change you would make to the information 
provided in your initial post[1] would be to specify the Linux partition 
in the setup command, e.g.:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
Outputs ===> (hd0,14)
grub> root (hd0,14)
grub> setup (hd0,14)

The find command will tell you the true partition name to install to. 
After doing the above commands, you'll have to copy the bootsector from 
(hd0,14 [/dev/sda15]) to a place where Windows can see it and configure 
the NT-Loader[2].

However, if you don't wish to deal with the complexity of copying a 
bootsector (and modifying boot.ini), just install to the MBR of the 
first hard disk:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
Outputs ===> (hd0,14)
grub> root (hd0,14)
grub> setup (hd0)

In short, the method given you by [1] is correct once you've figured out 
where your Linux partition is located (in Grub terminology).

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[0] http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Installation
[1] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows
[2] http://tldp.org/HOWTO/text/Linux+NT-Loader