The easiest way to configure the boot loader in your SUSE Linux Enterprise system is to use the YaST module. In the YaST Control Center, select Figure 21.1, “Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST”, this shows the current boot loader configuration of your system and allows you to make changes.
+ . As inUse the Section 21.2, “Booting with GRUB” first.
tab to edit, change, and delete boot loader sections for the individual operating systems. To add an option, click . To change the value of an existing option, select it with the mouse and click . If you do not want to use an existing option at all, select it and click . If you are not familiar with boot loader options, readUse the
tab to view and change settings related to type, location, and advanced loader settings.Set the boot loader type in
. The default boot loader in SUSE Linux Enterprise is GRUB. To use LILO, proceed as follows:Procedure 21.1. Changing the Boot Loader Type
Select the
tab.For
, select .In the dialog box that opens, select one of the following actions:
Have YaST propose a new configuration.
Have YaST convert the current configuration. When converting the configuration, some settings may be lost.
Write a custom configuration. This action is not available during the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Load your own /etc/lilo.conf
. This action is not
available during the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Click
to save the changesClick
in the main dialog to apply the changes.During the conversion, the old GRUB configuration is saved to disk. To use it, simply change the boot loader type back to GRUB and choose
. This action is available only on an installed system.![]() | Custom Boot Loader |
---|---|
If you want use a boot loader other than GRUB or LILO, select . Read the documentation of your boot loader carefully before choosing this option. |
To change the location of the boot loader, follow these steps:
Procedure 21.2. Changing the Boot Loader Location
Select the
tab then select one of the following options for :This installs the boot loader in the MBR of a disk. X identifies the hard disk, for example, a, b, c, or d:
hda => ide0 master hdb => ide0 slave hdc => ide1 master hdd => ide1 slave
The boot sector of the /boot
partition. This
option is the default if you have several operating systems installed
on your hard drive. The Y stands for the partition (1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
etc.) as in:
/dev/hda1
The boot sector of the /
(root) partition. Unless
a /boot
partition is necessary or the MBR needs to
be used, this is the preferred default.
Use this option to specify the location of the boot loader manually.
Click
to apply your changes.The boot loader does not boot the default system immediately. During the time-out, you can select the system to boot or write some kernel parameters. To set the boot loader time-out, proceed as follows:
Procedure 21.4. Changing the Boot Loader Time-Out
Open the
tab.Click
.Check
.In
, change the value of by typing in a new value, clicking the appropriate arrow key with your mouse, or by using the arrow keys on the keyboard.Click
.Click
to save the changes.Set for the boot menu should be displayed permanently without timing out by disabling
.Using this YaST module, you can also set a password to protect booting. This gives you an additional level of security.
If your computer has more than one hard disk, you can specify the boot sequence of the disks to match the BIOS setup of the machine (see Section 21.2.2, “The File device.map”). To do so, proceed as follows:
Procedure 21.6. Setting the Disk Order
Open the
tab.Click
.If more than one disk is listed, select a disk and click
or to reorder the displayed disks.Click
to save the changes.Click
to save the changes.Using this module, you can also replace the master boot record with generic code, which boots the active partition. Click
in . Enable to activate the partition that contains the boot loader. Click to save the changes.