Re: install grub2 to root partition
>> When I installed Debian (6.07) on a new partition I wanted to install
>> grub for that partition but was unsuccessful.
>> Used the "Advanced Install" process and reached the "Grub install"
>> options but kept getting a red screen saying it was unsuccessful.
>
> What was the error? At that point press Alt-F4 and look at the
> installer console screen. Hopefully there will be some clue there as
> to the problem.
Sorry. Didn't copy that down. But I don't think it was informative.
Something to the effect "error installing to ..."
No reason or code was given.
>> During the partition stage I gave Debian 2 partitions ('/' and
>> '/home') and made '/' bootable.
>
> The "bootable" flag is legacy and AFAIK no longer used nor relevant.
> It was an old MS-DOS thing.
Good to know.
> You should be able to boot this partition manually by booting grub
> from the MBR installed by Ubuntu. Then stop the countdown and enter
> command line mode.
>
> Unfortunately at that point the instructions are completely different
> depending upon whether it is grub 1 or grub 2. So I will just say
> that it is possible to enter the commands manually and boot either
> system. There is even TAB completion of the filenames.
>
> Grub 1 is simple. Just enter the commands. Simple. Grub 2 is much
> more complicated and really too complicated to enter everything by
> hand. But editing the configuration on the fly is quite reasonable.
> Select edit and modify one of the existing entries. Works well enough.
>
> Having booted the system itself you should be able to run the
> grub-install command from the command line and debug it further.
This I should have been clearer with. The grub2 install of the MBR
was fine. I can boot into either OS. But I can't boot into a second
"chain-loaded grub" of the Debian install itself.
When I boot into Debian and do "grub-install /dev/sda6"
sudo grub-install /dev/sda6
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Attempting to install GRUB to a
partition instead of the MBR. This is a BAD idea..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible.
GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.
However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: if you really want blocklists, use --force.
Which was where I was at one point earlier. I mention this because I
then used the "--force" option and altered the grub2 config file installed
in '/etc/default/grub' of Debian. To force a menu to display if the chain
loading worked. But it just boot straight into Debian without any
involvement from the grub install - because (I believe) grub was not
successfully installed in the the root partition of Debian.
-Skippy
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