Recipe 12.17. Booting Linux with LILO
12.17.1 Problem
You
want to use LILO and need to know how to configure it to boot a Linux
system.
12.17.2 Solution
Use liloconfig to generate a basic
lilo.conf, then edit
lilo.conf to add comments, titles, and any
additional options you want.
Make sure you have the latest version of LILO, and as always, have a
current backup of your data and bootable rescue disks at hand:
# /sbin/lilo -V
LILO version 22.4.1
After installing/upgrading, run liloconfig:
# liloconfig
It asks many questions, and gives many instructions. In this example,
the root filesystem is on /dev/hda3. Say yes to
these four questions:
Install a partition boot record to boot Linux from /dev/hda3?
Use LBA32 for addressing big disks using new BIOS features?
Install a master boot record on /dev/hda?
Make /dev/hda3 the active partition?
Run lilo to write the changes to the MBR:
# /sbin/lilo -v
Reboot to test it. When the system comes back up,
you'll probably want to edit
/etc/lilo.conf, because
liloconfig does a rather barebones job on the
boot stanzas. Here is a sample lilo.conf, first
generated by liloconfig, then edited:
# Specifies the boot device
boot=/dev/hda3
# Location of the map file. This is a binary
# file generated by lilo, don't touch it
map=/boot/map
# Video resolution for the boot screen
vga=normal
# the LILO boot screen
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
# Show the LILO prompt for ten seconds
# before booting the default
prompt
timeout=100
# Access large disks beyond cylinder 1024
lba32
# Boot menu #
# default boot entry
default="Libranet-hd3"
# Stable 2.4 kernel
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21
label="Libranet-hd3"
root=/dev/hda3
read-only
# Test 2.6 kernel
image=/boot/bzImage-2.6.3
label="2.6-test-hd3"
root=/dev/hda3
read-only
There is a limit of 16 different images that can be configured in
lilo.conf.
12.17.3 Discussion
This is what the original liloconfig-generated
boot stanzas looked like:
# These images were automagically added. You may need to edit something.
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="DEB 0"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21
label="DEB 1"
read-only
image=/boot/bzImage-2.6.3
label="DEB 2"
read-only
liloconfig is good for setting up your first
lilo.conf; after that, it is easier and better
to edit it manually. Let's take a look at the four
liloconfig questions you answered yes to:
- Install a partition boot record to boot Linux from /dev/hda3?
-
This refers to where the /boot directory is
located, and it must be a primary partition.
- Use LBA32 for addressing big disks using new BIOS features?
-
Definitely say yes to this, unless you are using a system BIOS that
does not support large-block addressing. Mainboards built in 1998 and
after should support LBA32. This is the option that lets LILO boot
partitions that are beyond the 1024-cylinder limit. The 1024-cylinder
limit is a limitation of the x86 architecture; see
"The Large Disk Howto" on
tldp.org for details.
- Install a master boot record on /dev/hda?
-
LILO stores the first-stage bootloader in the MBR; this bootloader
then points to your other partition boot records.
- Make /dev/hda3 the active partition?
-
This marks the partition as bootable, which Linux does not care
about, but Windows does.
Any time you make changes to /etc/lilo.conf, you
must re-run LILO to write the changes to the MBR:
# /sbin/lilo -v
The -v flag turns on verbosity, with levels
ranging from 1 to 5:
# /sbin/lilo -v5
Another useful flag is -t, for test. Use this
with -v to see what will happen before actually
writing the changes to disk:
# /sbin/lilo -t -v2
12.17.4 See Also
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