m.karthikeyan Tips

Add Multiple Boot Menu in Fedora

Editing Linux boot menu and adding multiple boot menu in Linux(Fedora) operating system. This post is purely on experimental done with old PC Desktop.

Let us consider 2 Hard Disk

  • 250 GB SATA (Master –  hd0)
  • 80 GB SATA (Secondary Master Slave – hd1)

hd0 – Consist of Fedora and Windows XP.

hd1 – Consist of Ubuntu 7.10 and Windows 7.

Assume hd0 is your first booting hard disk and after booting into hd0 select fedora and login to the operating system.

Before editing boot menu in primary hd0 confirm that you know the hd1 partition number and boot path. If you do not have idea about partition number and boot path then boot your secondary slave hd1 and login to Ubuntu 7.10

Steps to Add  Multiple Boot Menu

1. Go to Applications — > Accessories –> Terminal

Note: you should have administration privileges to modify boot menu

2. Type the following code  in the terminal

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

3.  You can find information on the boot path and partition number by as shown below code

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=1e4cdea3-ebac-4a42-a60d-3955d19e489d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

4. Copy this information in a text file, which is accessible by Fedora operating system or keep written in a paper.

5. Change root (hd0,2) to root (hd1,2) because hd0 denotes Fedora here.

6. Now boot into hd0 (Fedora operating system)

7. Go to Applications–>System Tools–>Terminal

Type the below code:

[tothetech@tothetech ~]$ su
Password:(Enter Your Password)
[root@tothetech tothetech]# gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

8. Now grub.conf file will be opened in a text editor

9. You get the following hd0 boot information

#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,5)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=e0de8aca-bd6b-4138-b344-df16bb3445bd rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img
title other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

10. Now you have to add hd1 boot information into hd0 boot file.

11. Finally, the File should have the following information

#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,5)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=e0de8aca-bd6b-4138-b344-df16bb3445bd rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img
title Master - Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
title Microsoft Windows 7
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd1,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=1e4cdea3-ebac-4a42-a60d-3955d19e489d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

12. You change the title and timeout options for your enhancement.

13. Save the grub.conf file with the above information, you can also edit boot information in menu.lst

14. Reboot your machine, with hd0 you can boot into your choice of operating system.