please post examples of GRUB used as bootloader for Windows + Linux

x509 · 04 Jul 2019

I must be thick-headed,

because I can't seem to learn how to set up GRUB right to use as a bootloader.

If someone can post an actual example of their GRUB code and the description of their setup, that would be much appreciated. I would be most interested in an example of multi-booting Windows + Linux .

Hey, if someone has a Hackintosh boot in there, please post the details.

I know that there are different versions of GRUB, but I can't seem to get my head around these differences.

SoFine409 · 04 Jul 2019

x509 said:

I must be thick-headed,

because I can't seem to learn how to set up GRUB right to use as a bootloader.

If someone can post an actual example of their GRUB code and the description of their setup, that would be much appreciated. I would be most interested in an example of multi-booting Windows + Linux .

Hey, if someone has a Hackintosh boot in there, please post the details.

I know that there are different versions of GRUB, but I can't seem to get my head around these differences.

I used EasyBCD, It’s free. You can try different versions of GRUB and when you find the one that works then save a backup copy. The program is very easy to use and enderstand.

Megahertz · 04 Jul 2019

Grub has a configuration file (grub.cfg). This configuration file is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub.
On /etc/grub.d you will find some sub configuration files:
00_header
05_debian_theme
...
...
30_os-prober
30_os-prober is the sub configuration file that looks for Windows boot loader and insert a option to load windows. So by default, when you update Linux it will run 30_os-prober and rebuilt the grub.cfg You can modify the files on grub.d and on terminal run sudo update-grub to rebuild grub.cfg.
Is your Linux disk a Legacy-mbr or UEFI- GPT disk?

EasyBCD is for Legacy-mbr and EasyUEFI is for UEFI- GPT disk and it modify the windows boot loader, not Grub.

SoFine409 · 04 Jul 2019

Megahertz said:

Grub has a configuration file (grub.cfg). This configuration file is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub.
On /etc/grub.d you will find some sub configuration files:
00_header
05_debian_theme
...
...
30_os-prober
30_os-prober is the sub configuration file that looks for Windows boot loader and insert a option to load windows. So by default, when you update Linux it will run 30_os-prober and rebuilt the grub.cfg You can modify the files on grub.d and on terminal run sudo update-grub to rebuild grub.cfg.
Is your Linux disk a Legacy-mbr or UEFI- GPT disk?

EasyBCD is for Legacy-mbr and EasyUEFI is for UEFI- GPT disk and it modify the windows boot loader, not Grub.

i used it to add Linux to my multi boot menu. It let me select between different versions. Isn’t that what the OP wanted to do?

Megahertz · 04 Jul 2019

x509 said:

I must be thick-headed,

because I can't seem to learn how to set up GRUB right to use as a bootloader.

If someone can post an actual example of their GRUB code and the description of their setup, that would be much appreciated. I would be most interested in an example of multi-booting Windows + Linux .

Hey, if someone has a Hackintosh boot in there, please post the details.

I know that there are different versions of GRUB, but I can't seem to get my head around these differences.

There are many manners to do a multi boot Windows & Linux.
- On a UEFI-GPT the best is by boot menu
- On a Legacy-MBR you can add a Linux option to Windows boot loader or add a Windows option to Grub boot loader.
Op asked how to configure Grub boot loader.

x509 · 04 Jul 2019

SoFine409 said:

I used EasyBCD, It’s free. You can try different versions of GRUB and when you find the one that works then save a backup copy. The program is very easy to use and enderstand.

I'm using EasyBCD now. But when I read on their website about GRUB, I got totally lost in the weeds. OK, so it's probably becuase I'm a Boomer, but in my defense, I was working with AT&T Unix System/3 in the mid-1980s.

x509 · 04 Jul 2019

SoFine409 said:

i used it to add Linux to my multi boot menu. It let me select between different versions. Isn’t that what the OP wanted to do?

Yes, I want to somehow add Linux to my multi-boot menu. Right now I have UEFI-GPT setup for my production and my scratch/experimental partions. All Win 10 Pro 64. And if possible I would like to keep using EasyBCD, because it is so easy and seems to be reliable and robust.

x509 · 04 Jul 2019

SoFine409 said:

i used it to add Linux to my multi boot menu. It let me select between different versions. Isn’t that what the OP wanted to do?

Megahertz said:

Grub has a configuration file (grub.cfg). This configuration file is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub.
On /etc/grub.d you will find some sub configuration files:
00_header
05_debian_theme
...
...
30_os-prober
30_os-prober is the sub configuration file that looks for Windows boot loader and insert a option to load windows. So by default, when you update Linux it will run 30_os-prober and rebuilt the grub.cfg You can modify the files on grub.d and on terminal run sudo update-grub to rebuild grub.cfg.
Is your Linux disk a Legacy-mbr or UEFI- GPT disk?

EasyBCD is for Legacy-mbr and EasyUEFI is for UEFI- GPT disk and it modify the windows boot loader, not Grub.

@SoFine409. Yes that is what I want to do.
@Megahertz. Are you saying that I should first install Linux, then run grub-mkconfig? Will it detect multiple Windows 10 partitions?

I don't have Linux installed yet, but my idea so far is Mint Linux on a UEFI-GPT disk. A good friend runs that as his main OS.

x509 · 05 Jul 2019

SoFine409 said:

i used it to add Linux to my multi boot menu. It let me select between different versions. Isn’t that what the OP wanted to do?

Megahertz said:

Grub has a configuration file (grub.cfg). This configuration file is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub.
On /etc/grub.d you will find some sub configuration files:
00_header
05_debian_theme
...
...
30_os-prober
30_os-prober is the sub configuration file that looks for Windows boot loader and insert a option to load windows. So by default, when you update Linux it will run 30_os-prober and rebuilt the grub.cfg You can modify the files on grub.d and on terminal run sudo update-grub to rebuild grub.cfg.
Is your Linux disk a Legacy-mbr or UEFI- GPT disk?

EasyBCD is for Legacy-mbr and EasyUEFI is for UEFI- GPT disk and it modify the windows boot loader, not Grub.

@SoFine409. Yes that is what I gnat to do.

@Megahertz. Are you saying that I should first install Linux, then run grub-mkconfig? Will it detect multiple Windows 10 partitions?

I don't have Linux installed yet, but my idea so far is Mint Linux on a UEFI-GPT disk. A good friend runs that as his main OS.

jimbo45 · 05 Jul 2019

Hi there
@x509

A really good way to learn Linux and try several different distros is to run them as Virtual Machines -- use VBOX or VMWare player both Free software--just download an iso of the distribution you want, set that as the boot device in the Virtual Machine configuration and then just follow the usually very easy "Virtual Machine Wizards" for installing an OS as a Virtual machine.

Advantage of this is that it avoids things like hosing up your main "C" drive with Grub etc, you don't need to dual boot --a Virtual machine (or any number of them) can run at the same time as your main (I assume Windows) OS and you won't have to worry about finding any drivers -- eg sound which is often the thing Newbies in Linux come unstuck on. VM's also consume very few resources these days - VM software has improved almost beyond belief in the last few years as has computer hardware - it's not unusual to get a VM to perform around 90 - 95% at the rate it would be at if running as a physical (non VM) machine - most users wouldn't notice the difference !!. Also on errors you don't need to reformat HDD , re-partition , etc etc -- just delete the VM and start again - no Windows re-boot needed.

Learn it first and then when you feel confident you can then be in a much better position to run it as a dual boot or even a main OS.

I usually run Centos Linux on a laptop as my main OS with Windows as VM's --I haven't bothered dual booting for YEARS !!!!!. I have several versions of W10 as Virtual machines including the latest insider builds as well as earlier versions of Windows such as XP and Windows 7. Even on a laptop with i5 processor 512 GB SSD and 16GB RAM I've easily run 4 concurrent Virtual machines --- on a decent NAS you can run a load more concurrently.

Another advantage of VM's --they can be stored anyway - external devices etc etc and can easily be moved between machines etc etc.

IMO the only reason for NOT using a VM these days is if you really have to test specific real hardware or if you need to run extreme games with specialized graphics cards --these days VM's are perfectly capable of handling multi-media streaming etc etc. I don't have any problem running Photo shop or doing some video editing on a Windows Virtual Machine.

BTW also don't forget you can also install any Linux system to an external device and boot and run totally from that too if you really want to "dual boot" -- To me these days Dual booting is really old "Dinosaur Technology" unless you really are say a leading edge dgames develope --say doing something like Stem --but in this case you'd probably have a dedicated machine anyway.

Cheers
jimbo