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does grub4dos work with Win 7 64 bit?

X

x509

2[H]4U
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Sep 20, 2009
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Any of you guys using this setup?

I started playing with the grub built in to BCDEasy, which is grub4dos. I had the usual issues with the script not working OK, so I did some searching.

I found a LOT of threads in lots of forums about how Win 7 breaks grub4dos, especially if you install to the MBR, and how grub4dos only works with 32 bit versions of Win 7.

[H] is my trusted, go-to forum, I trust you guys to know the real scoop.

As much as I like open source, etc, at some point, I'd rather pay for a commercial multi-boot manager that also hides logical partitions, boots Windows off any drive, and doesn't trash entire partitions in my system. (That last point rules out the multi-boot tools in Acronis Disk Drive Suite ! :mad: :mad: :mad:)
 
If it's actually a DOS app, then likely not. 64-bit versions of Windows don't run 16-bit apps (Win <=3.1, DOS). Never have, never will.
 
GRUB4DOS isn't actually a DOS application, it's just capable of booting to/from DOS-based operating systems. Either way, it's not actually required for a modern system. If you are dual-booting Windows and Linux, you can either install the Windows Boot Loader (BOOTMGR on Win7) to the MBR and then chainload GRUB installed to your Linux partition, or do the reverse (GRUB on MBR, chainloads BOOTMGR on your Windows drive). I don't use EasyBCD so I can't help you with that specifically. How do you have it set up right now, and what exactly are you trying to accomplish?

Also, even if GRUB4DOS was a DOS application, it runs before Windows loads, not inside of it, and would be unaffected by the inability of 64-bit Windows to run 16-bit apps.
 
CEpeep said:
GRUB4DOS isn't actually a DOS application, it's just capable of booting to/from DOS-based operating systems. Either way, it's not actually required for a modern system. If you are dual-booting Windows and Linux, you can either install the Windows Boot Loader (BOOTMGR on Win7) to the MBR and then chainload GRUB installed to your Linux partition, or do the reverse (GRUB on MBR, chainloads BOOTMGR on your Windows drive). I don't use EasyBCD so I can't help you with that specifically. How do you have it set up right now, and what exactly are you trying to accomplish?

Also, even if GRUB4DOS was a DOS application, it runs before Windows loads, not inside of it, and would be unaffected by the inability of 64-bit Windows to run 16-bit apps.
Click to expand...

Here is my setup, and my "target" configuration.

I have Windows installed without the extra SYSTEM partition. I found a description of how to do that on "mydigitallife" website. This is my "production" system.

I also keep all my data, photos, and music, backups etc., in logical partitions on two separate drives. That way if Windows goes south, and I have to re-format and re-install, I don't lose my data.That also meant that when I built up a new system recently, I simply installed my data drives into the new system

What I want to do is have 1 or maybe 2 Win 7 "test installs" for trying out new drivers, "free trial" software, major upgrades, and the like. Each Win 7 install would be completely independent and self-contained in one primary partition. I also need the ability to hide partitions, to maintain that complete independence, so that if I boot up "test 1" it doesn't assign drive letters for "production" and "test 2." Downstream, I may want to install Win XP, and who knows, Linux or even a "hackintosh." But the primary goal is multibooting Win 7 installs.

Depending on some specific tests, I might want to either hide or unhide my various data partitions.

I could be wrong, but I think the only way to maintain that complete independence is to install an app that is linked to the MBR, and that's why I was interested in grub4DOS.

Does this make sense?
 
x509 said:
Does this make sense?
Click to expand...

Yes. Check out the Chameleon bootloader, it might be close to what you are seeking. It was designed for booting Mac OS on non-Macs but it has excellent autodetection of multiple OSes and leaves them completely untouched. It can boot off a partition or USB drive of its own and doesn't alter your MBR unless that's what you want.

Have you tried using Virtual Machines for any of this stuff? I had a setup resembling your target many years ago (3-5 installations of XP/2003/Vista on separate drives for our software testing) and my life was made so much easier by VMs. You would still have a Windows install that you use as your everyday OS installed to a drive, but all of your sandboxes and testing machines are just VMs that run in a window (securely separated from your host OS).
 
CEpeep said:
Yes. Check out the Chameleon bootloader, it might be close to what you are seeking. It was designed for booting Mac OS on non-Macs but it has excellent autodetection of multiple OSes and leaves them completely untouched. It can boot off a partition or USB drive of its own and doesn't alter your MBR unless that's what you want.
Click to expand...

I'm using Burg4DOS to boot between three Win 7 x64 OS' on my workstation. Would love to use Chameleon but seemed to need a MAC first. Any tutorials or guides that you have to setting this up without a MAC / HackMAC would be great.
 
haileris said:
I'm using Burg4DOS to boot between three Win 7 x64 OS' on my workstation. Would love to use Chameleon but seemed to need a MAC first. Any tutorials or guides that you have to setting this up without a MAC / HackMAC would be great.
Click to expand...

Guys,

I just checked out Burg4DOS. It puts its files in the C:\ partition. So one thing I'm curious about. Let's say you have 3 primary partitions, for Win 7, Win XP, and let's say some Linux distro.

And let's say that you want to boot into Win XP and you also want to hide the Win 7 and the Linux partitions. So How does Burg4DOS (or even grub4DOS) know that the config file is located in a hidden partition? And, do you have to have BURG4DOS installed in each boot partition? What about the Linux partition?

Am I explaining myself well enough?
 
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