HD install boot floppy

[eco2geek]

Well, I apologize for the flippant answer. Here's a better one.

The question was: I didn't make a boot floppy when I installed Knoppix to my hard drive. Can I make one while running the live CD?

The answer is: Yes, if you know which partition you installed Knoppix on. (And if your version of Knoppix -- 3.3? -- includes GRUB...dunno that much about LILO.)

An icon to your Knoppix hard disk partition should be on your desktop when running from the live CD. If you still don't know which partition it's on, find out using QTParted. For the purposes of this example, I'm using "hdb2" as the partition Knoppix is installed on. Replace "hdb2" in this example with yours. Do this as root.

1. Format a floppy: mke2fs /dev/fd0

2. Create some directories and copy some GRUB files to the floppy:
cd /mnt/floppy
mkdir boot
cd boot
mkdir grub
cd /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc
cp stage1 /mnt/floppy/boot/grub
cp stage2 /mnt/floppy/boot/grub

3. Create a text file named "menu.lst" and save it to the /boot/grub directory on your floppy. Mine looks like this (I'm using the latest version of Knoppix, so if you're using an earlier one, edit as necessary -- examine the files in your hard disk's /boot directory to find the right kernel and initrd names -- as noted above, you should be able to mount it while running the live CD):

# ---------------------------------
# GRUB boot menu configuration file
# ---------------------------------

# Pretty colors
color cyan/blue white/blue

# Boot automatically after 20 secs.
timeout 20

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

# Fallback to the third entry.
fallback 2

# For booting Knoppix (kernel 2.6.5)
title Knoppix v3.4 (kernel 2.6.5)
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5 root=/dev/hdb2 vga=773 ro hdc=ide-scsi
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.5
boot

# For booting Knoppix (kernel 2.4.26)
title Knoppix v3.4 (kernel 2.4.26)
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.26 root=/dev/hdb2 vga=773 ro hdc=ide-scsi
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.4.26
boot

# For booting Windows XP
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader  +1

Note: GRUB refers to hard disk partitions a bit differently than Linux does. It starts numbering at 0. For example, hda1 would be (hd0,0). hda2 would be (hd0,1), and so on. hdb1 is (hd1,0), hdb2 is (hd1,1), and so on. In my example, Knoppix is installed on hdb2, or (hd1,1) in GRUB parlance. Windows is installed on hda1, or (hd0,0) to GRUB.

<edit>
The "hdc=ide-scsi" part tells the kernel to see my CD-RW drive, hdc, as a SCSI device. If you don't have one, omit that part. Or if yours is really hdb, edit it to read "hdb=ide-scsi".
</edit>

4. Now, make the floppy boot to GRUB:

/sbin/grub --batch >>EOT
root (fd0)
setup (fd0)
quit
EOT

Now you should be able to boot to Knoppix with your new boot floppy.

Clear as mud? This is all straight from the GRUB manual.