Install GRUB on other partition

[dabster]

I hve heard tht many people don't keep the Grub in the MBR itself, They Create the separate GRUB partition and install it on this separate 100MB partition, So that if they install the Linux again or the Windows XP crashes they don't have to install the GRUB again as reinstalling XP will Remove the GRUB, Has anyone heard of it ??? or tried it, Though the doing it will be great but don't know hoe to do do it exactly ...

[Vishal Gupta]

I don't think it work?
If u reinstall windows, it'll definitely overritw the GRUB loader.
Pls correct if I'm wrong?

[dabster]

No, Before installing XP again, the boot flag for GRUB partition should be set 0, and set for the primary c: partition,
And after installing XP boot flag can be set again as 1 for the GRUB partition, the guy who told me this said that he used fdisk utility of a slackware CD to change the boot flags,
Though I have never tried this so I can't say more...

[e-freak]

You dont need to reinstall anything. After u have formatted the GRUB, just use [i]fdisk /mbr[i] thru a windows bootable disk. Or boot from your windows installation disc and from recovery console, use the command fixmbr.

[dabster]

Originally Posted by e-freak

You dont need to reinstall anything. After u have formatted the GRUB, just use [i]fdisk /mbr[i] thru a windows bootable disk. Or boot from your windows installation disc and from recovery console, use the command fixmbr.

What is this Mr e-freak, somewhat different discussion is going on here...

[ujjwal]

Even if you have GRUB installed in a seperate partition, you will need a third party boot loader to start it. This can be the Windows NT boot loader (NTLDR) or any other. There is a guide in the tips & tricks thread on doing this.

If you have two hard drives, you can install the Windows loader on the MBR of one, and GRUB on the second one. This way you can safely reinstall windows without over writing the grub loader.

I however have not tried/found the need for such a method, as it is pretty easy to restore GRUB/LILO after a windows reinstall.