Note the first partition starts 1MB from the first sector. I've seen some
mentions that this sort of thing is standard for multi-boot loaders. I've
also read that some GPT partitioning schemes are using a BIOS Boot
Partition type (EF02) for that space while most MBR tools don't know or
care about it or expect an unallocated space. Seems safer to reserve as
long as OSes like FreeDOS, MS-DOS, Windows95/98, etc. respect and support
that well.
On Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 10:29 AM Louis Santillan <lpsan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Awesome! Thanks Tony!
>
> On Wed, Jun 29, 2022 at 4:52 PM Tony Richardson <richardson.t...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Louis,
>> Sure. The output is:
>>
>> Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
>> /dev/sda1 * 2048 1023999 1021952 499M e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
>>
>> Regards,
>> Tony
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 29, 2022 at 1:07 AM Louis Santillan <lpsan...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Tony,
>>>
>>> In your Linux VM, could you give the output to `fdisk -l /dev/sda`?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jun 4, 2022 at 7:54 AM Tony Richardson <
>>> richardson.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I wanted to use GRUB to boot FreeDOS. (I wanted to use it so that I
>>>> could dual-boot FreeDOS and RTEMS, but others may have different reasons.)
>>>> It is a relatively short procedure so I thought I would contribute it to
>>>> the mailing list in case others might be interested. I installed FreeDOS in
>>>> a VirtualBox virtual machine, but the procedure should work on other
>>>> virtual or physical machines. The FreeDOS fdisk does not leave enough space
>>>> before the first partition to install GRUB, so I used a Linux SystemRescue
>>>> CD (system-rescue.org) to partition the (virtual) disk. This CD has
>>>> all of the tools necessary to partition the drive, format the disk and
>>>> install GRUB.
>>>>
>>>> 1) In VirtualBox create a new 64-bit Linux machine with a 500 MB
>>>> vdi-type drive (FreeDOS.vdi). Configure the machine to boot off of the
>>>> SystemRescue CD image. (I had to give the machine 2 GB of memory to boot
>>>> the CD. The default 512 MB would not allow the machine to boot.)
>>>>
>>>> 2) Boot the new machine and create a new maximum size primary partition
>>>> on the virtual drive (/dev/sda). Change the partition type to 0x0E (a
>>>> Win95 LBA mapped partition).I use Linux fdisk (enter "fdisk /dev/sda") to
>>>> do this, but you can use any of the other disk partitioning tools on the CD
>>>> (gparted is a graphical partitioning tool).
>>>>
>>>> 3) Format the new partition by entering "mkfs.msdos /dev/sda1" (You
>>>> can alternately format the partition as part of the FreeDOS installation.)
>>>>
>>>> 4) Halt the Linux machine. (Choose the "Power off the machine" option.)
>>>>
>>>> 5) Create a new FreeDOS virtual machine. Choose to use an existing
>>>> virtual hard disk and attach the FreeDOS.vdi disk. Boot the machine from
>>>> the FreeDOS live image. Choose the "Install to Harddisk" option from the
>>>> boot menu. Install FreeDOS. You should be able to boot off the harddisk
>>>> into FreeDOS at this point.
>>>>
>>>> 6) Halt the FreeDOS virtual machine.
>>>>
>>>> 7) As part of the installation the FreeDOS master boot loader is
>>>> installed. We need to rewrite this with GRUB, so restart the Linux
>>>> machine.
>>>>
>>>> 8) Mount the new partition using "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt"
>>>>
>>>> 9) Install Grub by entering "grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot
>>>> /dev/sda"
>>>>
>>>> 10) Create a file named "grub.cfg" in the /mnt/boot/grub directory with
>>>> the following contents:
>>>> menuentry "FreeDOS" {
>>>> insmod chain
>>>> set root=(hd0,1)
>>>> chainloader +1
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> 11) Halt the Linux machine.
>>>>
>>>> You should now be able to boot the FreeDOS machine off of the hard
>>>> disk. You should see the GRUB boot menu first now. You can modify the
>>>> GRUB menu by editting the grub.cfg file in the C:\boot\grub directory. You
>>>> can delete the Linx machine, but do not delete the files associated with
>>>> the machine or you will lose your FreeDOS drive. You can move the
>>>> FreeDOS.vdi file if you want but you will need to play around with the
>>>> VirtualBox Media Manager to make it available to FreeDOS after the move.
>>>>
>>>> Tony Richardson
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
>>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>>>>
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