0 The Boot Loader Grub - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 11 - ADMINISTRATION GUIDE 17-03-2009 Administration Manual

The Boot Loader GRUB
This chapter describes how to configure GRUB, the boot loader used in SUSE® Linux
Enterprise Desktop. A special YaST module is available for configuring all settings. If
you are not familiar with the subject of booting in Linux, read the following sections
to acquire some background information. This chapter also describes some of the
problems frequently encountered when booting with GRUB and their solutions.
NOTE: No GRUB on machines using UEFI
GRUB will routinely be installed on machines equipped with a traditional BIOS
and on UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) machines using a Compat-
ibility Support Module (CSM). On UEFI machines without enabled CSM, eLILO
will automatically be installed (provided DVD1 booted successfully). Refer to
the eLILO documentation at /usr/share/doc/packages/elilo/ on your
system for details.
This chapter focuses on boot management and the configuration of the boot loader
GRUB. The boot procedure as a whole is outlined in
a Linux System (page 77). A boot loader represents the interface between the machine
(BIOS) and the operating system (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop). The configuration
of the boot loader directly impacts the start of the operating system.
The following terms appear frequently in this chapter and might need some explanation:
Master Boot Record
The structure of the MBR is defined by an operating system–independent conven-
tion. The first 446 bytes are reserved for the program code. They typically hold
Chapter 9, Booting and Configuring
The Boot Loader GRUB
10
93