RE: Cannot boot from dual bios/uefi boot CD

[John Frankish]

> >> >> >> > On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 10:30 AM, John Frankish <address@hidden> 
> >> >> >> > wrote:
>> > >> >> > Hi,
>> > >> >> >
>> >> > >> > I'm trying the create a dual bios/uefi boot iso to burn to 
>> >> > >> > CD/DVD and boot both bios and uefi.
>> >> >> > >
> >> >> >> And your grub version is?
> >> >> >>
> >> >> > 2.00
> >> >> >
> >> >> Current is 2.02~beta2.
> >
> > I tried 2.02~beta2 and no matter what I do, I end up at the grub 
> > prompt with the message:
> >
> > Error: no server is specified
> >
> > ..seems like a bug?
> >
>
> It is hard to tell without seeing your exact prefix and embedded config.
> "No server specified" sounds like something related to network which could be 
> if you include networking drivers ...
>
> Which is one of reason why grub-mkrescue is recommended - we know what it 
> does :)

I've gone back to grub 2.00 since that seems to almost work.

> >> >> >> > The bios boot works fine
> >> >> >> > On two different machines, the uefi boot gets to the grub menu 
> >> >> >> > list:
> >>
> >> I say that you should be using grub-mkrescue command. This is  supported
> > > tool to build bootable standalone hybrid ISO image that can > be used 
> > > to boot both from CD as well as USB (although to boot from USB in case 
> > > of EFI you probably need recent fix). This command > > builds correct 
> > > image and allows you to add arbitrary files to it, including grub.cfg, 
> > > kernels and such. It needs xorrisofs and in case of EFI > - mtools 
> > > (mformat/mcopy).
> >>
> > OK, but I'm trying to make an iso that is bootable both by legacy BIOS 
> > and UEFI, the above doesn't sound like it will do this?
> >
>
> grub-mkrescue creates ISO that is bootable by all platforms for which grub 
> support is installed. If your system has grub for i386-pc and > x86_64-efi 
> (and may be i386-efi) installed under standard directory, grub-mkrescue will 
> build ISO that includes support for all three
> and is bootable on all three platforms. If not, this is a bug. Which is one 
> more reason to use it :)
>
> Normally grub boot time code is located under /usr/lib/grub or 
> /usr/lib/grub2. It should have subdirectories /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc etc. > If 
> you build grub yourself, you need to build and install it two or three times 
> for each individual platform.
>
> If you are using grub from your distribuion, it should have packets for each 
> one (at least those I know have).

It is not sure that all users of the iso would have grub installed hence 
grub-mkrescue would not work

I tried again without gfxterm and the result seems to be the same - I get "no 
suitable video mode found. Booting  in blind mode", but grub sounds to be 
booting the kernel and initrd.

So, with and without gfxterm, grub boots the kernel and initrd from the CD, but 
does not appear to hand control to the OS at the end of booting.

At the moment, various grub modules and a simple grub.cfg are embedded in 
BOOTX64.EFI, which is in turn copied into efiboot.img, which is loaded from the 
CD at /EFI/BOOT/efiboot.img by my laptop UEFI BIOS.

Do any more grub files need to be present on the CD? I've tried with and 
without an additional grub.cfg on the CD at /EFI/BOOT/grub/grub.cgf and fonts 
at /EFI/BOOT/grub/fonts/unicode.pf2 

It feels like this is almost working, but I'm missing something...