GRUB boot floppy
Here is a floppy image of a universal
bootfloppy for x86-based machines, containing the
grub boot loader and
nothing else.
Except, I should perhaps mention, a nice menu for pleasure
and quicker operation, memtest.bin so you can check whether
your RAM is intact, the grub files for accessing file
systems and a few additional primary bootloaders (512-byte blocks)
e.g. for MacOSX, which can be chainloaded when necessary.
If an important bootloader is missing which
you think should be included, please send it to me. Error reports
are also welcome.
This floppy is a brilliant tool to have around when you can't load your
operating system, or when your boot loader is broken.
Download
Simply download bootgrub.gz (115 kb).
How to get the image onto a floppy
Unzip the image, and copy it to a floppy disk, sector by sector.
On Linux, you can simply type (with appropriate privileges):
Alternatively, if you need to impress someone:
gzip -d < bootgrub.gz | dd of=/dev/fd0u1440
On almost all Unix systems (including MacOSX), you can use:
dd if=bootgrub of=floppy_device bs=1k
On DOS or Windows systems rawrite.exe, dd.exe
or similar tools exist.
PS:
Thank you, GRUB developers out there!
My contact details can be found on my
home page.