Chainloading Grub4DOS from NeoGrub Menu

sambul12

Distinguished Member
Can someone present a Menu.lst code sample allowing to chainload latest Grub4DOS from NeoGrub's Menu?

The need for this occurs since NeoGrub appears to be a fork of stable 2009 Grub4DOS release. But since that release many serious bugs were fixed in Grub4DOS. As an example, one important bug fixed was inability to boot from memory larger ISOs located closer to the end of a larger drive on a Logical Partition. Of course, its desirable to update NeoGrub to current Grub4DOS beta version (which is very stable). But in any case, there should be a way to boot that version from NeoGrub's Menu, assuming required latest Grub4DOS files are manually added to HD by the user.
 
Thanks!

Its kind of strange, since I recently updated to EasyBCD 2.1 (I love this program), but the above problematic behavior didn't change. May be its because I didn't change previous NeoGrab files created by earlier EasyBCD version - can it be? Would you suggest to recreate them?

If not relevant, what feedback do you need to investigate the issue. The bug of not booting to larger ISOs on a Logical partition was originally reported by me, and later fixed in new Grub4DOS betas. It was fixed by Karionix, but I assume, tinybit incorporated that fix in his latest builds - I tested it OK a few months ago with somewhat earlier G4D beta build installed on a different drive. But on my prime drive I want to leave EasyBCD & NeoGrub, yet can't boot to memory defragged Acronis and Paragon ISOs from a logical partition. Same ISOs are booting fine directly from HD (not --mem) via NeoGrub.
 
You definitely need to re-create the entries, they will not be updated by simply upgrading EasyBCD to a newer version due to the difficulties in re-creating the identical properties. Go ahead and give that a shot, I'd be surprised if it didn't fix the problem.

Question: why do you use the memory and not the disk option?
 
I updated NeoGrub, and now the ISOs boot perfect from memory. :| Of course it makes sense to update NeoGrub entry automatically when a user updates EasyBCD. Btw, newer Grub4DOS releases contain more powerful commands useful at direct Windows install from an unmodified ISO and other tasks. See examples in this and that threads.

It looks like booting service ISOs to memory allows to perform repartitioning, defragmenting and backup tasks faster than booting ISOs from the same hard drive where the service tasks are expected to be performed. Am I wrong?

May I suggest you to offer an option to add some background picture to NeoGrub Menu, or make a graphical boot menu. I use gfxboot package for that, and the only file I need to add to NST folder is "message" file, which is easy to prepare.
 
Thanks for that info. I'll look into adding advanced ISO options and the graphical boot options.

Loading from memory will not result in an improved operation speed, it will just make the program itself turn on faster. However, loading from memory will take *forever* for larger ISOs immediately upon selection from EasyBCD's menu.
 
I assume, after booting service ISOs from memory their work can be done faster and more efficiently, since there are no hooks to HD that might limit and slow down defragging and repartitioning tasks. In fact, for that reason Paragon and Acronis recommend boot to their CDs as primary service method, despite also providing option to work from within Windows.

That's nice if EasyBCD & NeoGrub will offer graphical menus. Interested EasyBCD users can learn more about such possibilities, and Grub4DOS & NeoGrub Menu creation rules and commands from GRUB4DOS TUTORIAL - How to use grub4dos and make pretty menus, and also looking through Diddy's Grub4dos Guide - Gfxmenu Section. When it comes to Windows Boot Menu, I found available options to change its background and color scarce. Users can catch some ideas on approaching the issue from Colorful boot menu with ansi escape code in Boot.ini (directly works in WinXP now), and generally on manually editing Windows BCD from BCDEdit Reference Guide For Windows Vista And Windows 7 (though MS BCDEdit tool doesn't offer background change or other graphical Boot Menu menu options).
 

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I don't really care for a fancy boot screen - the last time I did that was for Vista Hide 'n Seek, a beta NeoSmart program we never actually released, since I was making it for other people to look at.

But for my self, I don't see the point... But to each his own :smile:

Sambul, yes Acronis and the like are faster when you boot into them. I'm talking about whether you boot into them with EasyBCD's "from memory" or "from disk" options - *that* won't make a difference.
 
If not a secret, would you care to share, how to manually add a background image and possibly format Boot Menu text in Windows 7 Boot Menu? :tongueout:
 
I haven't done it, but I know that it can be done by hacking the mui files. You'll probably have to bypass the checksum verification routines in bootmgr, too.
 
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