Use grub2 (PXE) to boot local OS

Question

I have set up a tftp server and put grub2 essentials generated by grub-mknetdir to the root of the tftp server.

What I want is just to boot the local OS from the grub2 on the server because I can change the config file on server to alter the boot sequence of my PC.

But when I entered the remote grub2 by PXE and switched to the grub minimal bash mode, it seemed that "ls" command shows empty line and I couldn't use identifier like "hd0,msdos0" etc. It turned out that grub2 (pxe) can't recognize my harddisk.

And if I use my local grub2, it of course can recognize my disks.

So I'd asked whether the grub2 (pxe) is born without the ability of booting local os? or I have to do something else?

Answer 1

The question is asked by me, and finally solved by myself. :)

After comparing the local grub2 and the remote one, I found that module biosdisk wouldn't be loaded automatically in the remote grub2.

I think it's a feature, cause grub2 assumes you will boot(or chainload) a remote system(or image) since you use grub-mknetdir to generate PXE-supported grub2.

So the solution is to add insmod biosdisk to grub.cfg in the remote grub2.

UEFI users won't need such steps.