China DOS Union

Asking friends, to boot GRUB via MBR, but when inserting a protection card and powering on, it can't enter the system. Is there a solution?

Originally posted by guanhai at 2007-3-16 03:18:
Asking BuDian and friends, when booting GRUB via MBR, the protection card can't boot into the system when inserted. Is there a solution?

What kind of protection card?
If you want to install GRUB to MBR, it's best not to use a protection card.
You can use the method of protection card plus NTLDR+GRUB;
You can also use software like GRUB+DeepFreeze (without modifying MBR) to protect the system partition.

Originally posted by cchessbd at 2007-3-15 04:16 PM:


What is a protection card?
If you want to install GRUB to the MBR, it is best not to use a protection card.
You can use the method of protection card plus NTLDR + GRUB;
You can also use software like GRUB + DeepFreeze (without modifying the MBR) to protect the system partition.

Thanks for the reply. I tried what you said about GRUB + DeepFreeze today, and it seems to work.

My application is like this: The hard drive is divided into 2 primary partitions and an extended partition. Each primary partition has an installation of Windows 98. The desired effect is that when entering any of the Windows 98 systems, only its own partition and that extended partition's contents can be seen, that is, the other primary partition should be automatically hidden.

I have tried Boot Magic and System Commander, and I think GRUB is more convenient and beautiful. However, the Hua Chao protection card we use will make the GRUB installed on the MBR invalid, which is really frustrating. There are materials saying that GRUB can be booted without going through the MBR. I tried using device=grub.exe in config.sys, but it didn't achieve the original effect - the Chinese couldn't be displayed, the background picture was gone, and it couldn't boot the Windows 98 on the primary partition.

The GRUB I use is the Chinese version of Grub4dos from Buding.

If using DeepFreeze, I need to open the case and pull out the restore card for more than 60 machines, which is very troublesome. Is there a way to achieve the effect I need while continuing to use the restore card?

Originally posted by guanhai at 2007-3-16 10:25:


Thanks for the reply. The GRUB + DeepFreeze you mentioned, I tried it today, and it seems to work.

My application is like this: the hard drive is divided into 2 primary partitions and an extended partition, and each primary partition has installed ...

Did you partition within the protection card or insert the protection card after partitioning? I haven't used Huachao's, so I don't know.
If it's partitioned within the protection card, it's impossible for GRUB to recognize all of them. The protection card generally gains control after BIOS boot and then modifies the MBR. According to what you described, I think it's the partitioned by the protection card.

If it's not partitioned by the protection card, it's impossible to protect each of the primary partitions you divided.
If that's the case, you can only use logic disk protection methods like deepfreeze.

Or you can use the hard disk protection card produced by Nanjing Kebiao, which supports multiple systems and doesn't need GRUB. The only protection card I've come across in school computer labs is this one. Sorry.

If you don't use a protection card, you can use deepfreeze + NTLDR + grub. First, you need to ensure that the partitions can be recognized by grub.

The method is to install an XP;
or save a boot record that activates the primary partition as bootsect.dos.
Use bootpart.exe to rebuild the NT boot record of the FAT primary partition, then copy NTLDR, BOOT.INI, NTDETECT.COM, GRLDR, menu.lst to this primary partition.
Add in boot.ini

c:\bootsect.dos="Win9X"
c:\grldr="GRUB"

Then you need to edit a menu.lst as the GRUB boot menu. Examples can be searched in this forum.
The commands you might use:
hide,unhide
(hd0,0)~hd(0,3) correspond to 4 primary partitions respectively.
(hd0,5)... are logical partitions.

Our computer lab was built in 2002. At that time, the installed protection cards were Nanjing Huachao 4.1 and 5.1. Our application is to make the system well and then install the protection card. It seems that we didn't use the protection card to partition.