up vote 4 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

where should i install GRUB? MBR or Partition Boot Sector?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Also, if we install the GRUB in the Partition Boot Sector then how the boot process works?

link|improve this question
77% accept rate
related, possible duplicate: superuser.com/questions/107235/… ... it explains how boot sectors work; not so much a direct answer to the "where to install Grub" question. – quack quixote Apr 16 '10 at 10:54
feedback

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Read through the first half of this answer to understand the basics of MBRs, VBRs (aka partition boot sectors) and boot managers.

Now that you've read that, you understand that you need some boot loader in the MBR, or the BIOS can't boot from the drive. The BIOS loads code from the MBR, which then loads code from a VBR (or sometimes provides a menu of VBRs to choose from).

If you install Grub to a VBR but not the MBR, you'll need something else in the MBR capable of chainloading the Grub bootloader. If you have something else in mind (for example, Win7's boot manager, or another version of Grub, or some other boot manager), it's certainly possible to do, but specifics will depend on the other boot manager's capabilities.

Any analysis of advantages vs. disadvantages will have to compare Grub's features to those of other specific bootloaders. You will need to be more specific as to what your options might be.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.