Bootloading with GRUB2
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GRUB2 is the latest version of GNU GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader. A bootloader is the first software program that runs when a computer starts. It is responsible for loading and transferring control to the operating system kernel. In Fedora, the kernel is Linux. The kernel then initializes the rest of the operating system.
GRUB2 is the follower of the previous version GRUB (version 0.9x). The original version is available under the name GRUB Legacy.
Since Fedora 16, GRUB2 has been the default bootloader on x86 BIOS systems. For upgrades of BIOS systems, the default is also to install GRUB2, but you can opt to skip bootloader configuration entirely.
Discovering the firmware type
To discover what firmware your machine uses, run the following command:
$ [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOSThe output returns only UEFI or BIOS, depending on the firmware your machine runs.
Installing GRUB2 on a BIOS system
Normally, GRUB2 will be installed and set up by the installer, Anaconda, during the installation process. You will probably never have to deal with manual installation of GRUB2. However, in certain situations , you will want to install GRUB2 manually, especially if you need to repair the existing GRUB2 installation or you want to change its configuration.
This procedure shows the steps to install GRUB2 on your Master Boot Record (MBR) of your primary hard disk.
- Make sure you have the the GRUB2 packages and the os-prober package installed in your system.
$ dnf list installed | grep grub