Jun
19
2010

Install Grub4Dos to your Hard Disk

Grub4dos it is a versatile bootloader capable of dual/multi-booting DOS, Windows, Linux and other operating systems. It can be used to select which operating system to load when multiple operating systems are available.It is one of the most common bootloader used to boot USB Drives.It has many features such as iso emulation ,memory mapping etc.The full list of features and a detailed guide on using them can be found at Grub4Dos Guide

In this article I will show you how to Install Grub4Dos to your Hard Disk using a tool called Bootice .Bootice is a utility to modify or backup/restore your MBR(Master Boot Record) or PBR(Partition Boot Record).Bootice supports a lot of bootloaders including Grub4Dos.

I have used grub4dos bootloader and bootice  in Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 Bootable USB Creator .

Install Grub4dos to MBR (Master Boot Record) in Windows 7

Video Tutorial

Text Instructions.

  1. Download Bootice and the latest version of Grub4Dos .
  2. Extract the contents of the downloaded archives using archiving tools such as 7-zip.
  3. Copy grldr and menu.lst from the extracted contents of the Grub4Dos archive to the root of your C Drive
  4. Open menu.lst with notepad and delete the contents of the file.Copy and paste the following code.Booting Windows 7
    timeout 10
    default 0title Windows 7
    find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
    chainloader /bootmgr

    title Reboot
    reboot

    title Shutdown
    halt

    If you want to boot Windows XP use the following code

    timeout 10
    default 0

    title Windows XP
    find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
    chainloader /ntldr

    title Reboot
    reboot
    title Shutdown
    halt

    Code for Dual Booting Windows XP and Windows 7

    timeout 10
    default 0

    title Windows 7
    find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
    chainloader /bootmgr

    title Windows XP
    find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
    chainloader /ntldr

    title Reboot
    reboot

    title Shutdown
    halt
  5. Run Bootice with Administrator Privileges.
  6. Select your  Hard Disk and Click on Process MBR
  7. Now select Grub for Dos and click on Install/Config.
  8. Click on Save to Disk

Screenshot of Grub4Dos menu

Grub4Dos Menu

Restoring Original MBR

  1. Run Bootice with Administrator Privileges.
  2. Select your Hard Disk and Click on Process MBR
  3. Select Windows NT 6.x MBR and click on Install/Config

Installing Grub4Dos without modifying MBR or PBR

You can install Grub4Dos without modifying the MBR or PBR by just renaming GRLDR to NTLDR or BOOTMGR.

  1. Rename NTLDR( if XP ) or BOOTMGR (if 7/8) to WINLDR in your C Drive
  2. Copy GRLDR to the root of your C Drive and rename it to NTLDR or BOOTMGR
  3. Copy and edit menu.lst
    timeout 10
    default 0
    title Windows
    find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /winldr
    chainloader /winldr

You can visit the Grub4Dos Forums at Reboot.Pro for more advanced information such as booting iso files etc.

Check grub4dos-chenall for latest version of Grub4Dos with additional features.

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About the Author: Bharat Balegere

Bharat Balegere is a 27 year old blogger from Bengaluru. He is a technology enthusiast and loves tinkering with computers and usb drives.

10 Comments + Add Comment

  • Bootice is a great tool that can access all the partitions on a USB drive – even in Windows.

  • Step 3 should say ‘… to the root of your hard drive C:\’

  • step 7 clicking on grub 4 dos wasn’t available for me to click on. only UltraISO USB HDD+ UltraISO USB-ZIP+ Windows NT 5.x MBR and Windows NT 6.x MBR was selectable. What do i do?

    • Which operating system are you using?
      Try logging in as Administrator.

  • RMPrepUSB will install grub4dos at the click of a button and will clean/partition/format/test/make bootable your USB drive too as well as test them for size and speed and make backup/restore images, etc.

  • i make it all of them but understand what should i do noww.. i guess its missing something.

  • bootice link is dead

  • Thanks for this. Spent hours with Hirens boot CD and various MBR editors trying to get a system to boot after a power spike reset the BIOS settings. While the data on the boot drive was intact, every effort resulted in ‘BOOTMGR missing’ and ‘Operating system not found’ errors.

    This worked first time and it booted straight into Windows 7.

    Thanks again

  • THANKS!!! for your motivation to install bootloader again.

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