Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s10 beta 5 is here.
Super GRUB2 Disk is a live cd that helps you to boot into most any Operating System (OS) even if you cannot boot into it by normal means.
A new beta release
The former Super Grub2 Disk stable release was 2.02s9 version and released on May 2017 (6 months ago) . New features or changes since previous stable version are:
- Modify sg2d_directory and sg2d_dev_name variables so that SG2D is more portable
- ‘Enable all native disk drivers’ option was improved. It no longer crashes.
- Now devices are cached and Super Grub2 Disk is faster
- Other minor improvements
- Standalone images are no longer broken and show main menu
We are going to see which are the complete Super Grub2 Disk features with a demo video, where you can download it, the thank you – hall of fame and some thoughts about the Super Grub2 Disk development.
Please do not forget to read our howtos so that you can have step by step guides (how to make a cdrom or an usb, how to boot from it, etc) on how to use Super Grub2 Disk and, if needed, Rescatux.
Tour
Here there is a little video tour in order to discover most of Super Grub2 Disk options. The rest of the options you will have to discover them by yourself.
Features
Most of the features here will let you boot into your Operating Systems. The rest of the options will improve the Super Grub2 Disk operating systems autodetecting (enable RAID, LVM, etc.) or will deal with minor aspects of the user interface (Colours, language, etc.).
- Change the language UI
- Translated into several languages
- Spanish / Español
- German / Deutsch
- French / Français
- Italian / Italiano
- Malay / Bahasa Melayu
- Russian
- Finnish / Suomi
- Chinese
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 rc2 Spanish Main Menu
- Detect and show boot methods option to detect most Operating Systems
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 – Everything menu making use of grub.cfg extract entries option functionality
- Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* to detect most Operating Systems also in special devices or filesystems
- Boot manually
- Operating Systems
- grub.cfg – Extract entries
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 grub.cfg Extract entries option - grub.cfg – (GRUB2 configuration files)
- menu.lst – (GRUB legacy configuration files)
- core.img – (GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))
- Disks and Partitions (Chainload)
- Bootable ISOs (in /boot-isos or /boot/boot-isos
- Extra GRUB2 functionality
- Enable GRUB2’s LVM support
- Enable GRUB2’s RAID support
- Enable GRUB2’s PATA support (to work around BIOS bugs/limitation)
- Mount encrypted volumes (LUKS and geli)
- Enable serial terminal
- Extra Search functionality
- Search in floppy ON/OFF
- Search in CDROM ON/OFF
- List Devices / Partitions
- Color ON /OFF
- Exit
- Halt the computer
- Reboot the computer
Supported Operating Systems
Excluding too custom kernels from university students Super Grub2 Disk can autodetect and boot most every Operating System. Some examples are written here so that Google bots can see it and also to make more confident the final user who searchs his own special (according to him) Operating System.
- Windows
- Windows 10
- Windows Vista/7/8/8.1
- Windows NT/2000/XP
- Windows 98/ME
- MS-DOS
- FreeDOS
- GNU/Linux
- Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
Super Grub2 Disk – Detect any Operating System – Linux kernels detected - vmlinuz-*
- linux-*
- kernel-genkernel-*
- Debian / Ubuntu / Mint
- Mageia
- Fedora / CentOS / Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
- openSUSE / SuSE Linux Enterpsise Server (SLES)
- Arch
- Any many, many, more.
-
- FreeBSD
- FreeBSD (single)
- FreeBSD (verbose)
- FreeBSD (no ACPI)
- FreeBSD (safe mode)
- FreeBSD (Default boot loader)
- EFI files
- Mac OS X/Darwin 32bit or 64bit
- FreeBSD
- Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
Support for different hardware platforms
Before this release we only had the hybrid version aimed at regular pcs. Now with the upcoming new EFI based machines you have the EFI standalone versions among others. What we don’t support is booting when secure boot is enabled.
- Most any PC thanks to hybrid version (i386, x86_64, i386-efi, x86_64-efi) (ISO)
- EFI x86_64 standalone version (EFI)
- EFI i386 standalone version (EFI)
- Additional Floppy, CD and USB in one download (ISO)
- i386-pc
- i386-efi
- x86_64-efi
Known bugs
- Non English translations are not completed
- Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* crashes Virtualbox randomly
Supported Media
- Compact Disk – Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) / DVD
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices
- Floppy (1.98s1 version only)
Downloads
Recommended download (Floppy, CD & USB in one) (Valid for i386, x86_64, i386-efi and x86_64-efi):
EFI x86_64 standalone version:
EFI i386 standalone version:
CD & USB in one downloads:
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s10-beta5 [i386-pc] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s10-beta5 [x86_64-efi] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
- Super Grub2 Disk (Floppy, CD & USB in one) 2.02s10-beta5 [i386-efi] (ISO)[Mirror #1]
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. bfree has helped on this matter and with his help we might have those builds in next releases. If you want such builds drop a mail in the mailing list so that we aware of that need.
Source code:
Everything (All binary releases and source code):
- Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s10-beta5 Everything (ZIP)(MD5)[Mirror #1]
- Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s10-beta5 Everything TORRENT
Hashes
In order to check the former downloads you can either check the download directory page for this release
or you can check checksums right here:
MD5SUMS
74710bd747a32e1b8b8be7800329aaf5 super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5_source_code.tar.gz df2ae8e455eec3214a8e8442a2ce4d3b super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s10-beta5.iso 5c693e788d82b32f6485163956636fd4 super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso d7b4a0127a7a1afaa78bf2ea75d4fb77 super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s10-beta5.iso b50709fadf5c7981c335652b0be0aa01 super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI 4572e26065bb8a35920c5b506b9ab702 super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI 3793dbca3a0531c7ecdabf952e107053 super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso 051ac1e54b03e1da3827e75530654d2a super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5.zip
SHA1SUMS
bfcc73fa719ca5d51f18bae50e60f29904e6934a super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5_source_code.tar.gz 069334163333c7c98564b954748d52b5a7ef74c9 super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s10-beta5.iso 1eda352925905f7e5178fa7be1bb0baca965d998 super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso 8cac71f411a6ca92e770c7e8afd3dda7e1bb8b0c super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s10-beta5.iso 15a47aa4dca5d1e2879d8bcb659e98d28834a7f1 super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI 0af49222ff459a963dfd0394c5d04aed4c603080 super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI dad28f36810ea509554fcf1dbfb03eb6a7fd5b7f super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso 55afdd21b2506c9f3c13faeaf91982338dda2cb6 super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5.zip
SHA256SUMS
9b453587228a45af79252691eb7960dc5bad1b4343dc59fc22f8fcd458a9fa3b super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5_source_code.tar.gz 94d72c78ac1e2d60f9793ce25a4dbb956235f8ddf31ed10f3bcfc171e873007a super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s10-beta5.iso 1d0ccb963b474c56467a89462b893d93d4de4e2e8f0fbd683670467b5431cd16 super_grub2_disk_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso cb761f8ada9b429945d47126f85ba11d7174e6a0444a855b7f914ba7413dc465 super_grub2_disk_i386_pc_2.02s10-beta5.iso e961653b25b276fc29bcb54bef168888d0fc1b16fe363a5db29b4093aea512de super_grub2_disk_standalone_i386_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI 6840d154a43a66e11c40c84dc71ae488a814cbe626070c4bdded8581cf6b2969 super_grub2_disk_standalone_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.EFI 77789a719e04066cba964962d74a31875724c00d38b68d4351534d0196bdd171 super_grub2_disk_x86_64_efi_2.02s10-beta5.iso bdd032f2efad3761869aaaf4135b79c5407aac263a8967ac91e76673a3cddd75 super_grub2_disk_2.02s10-beta5.zip
Changelog (since former 2.00s2 stable release)
Changes since 2.02s9 version:
- Modify sg2d_directory and sg2d_dev_name variables so that SG2D is more portable
- ‘Enable all native disk drivers’ option was improved. It no longer crashes.
- Now devices are cached and Super Grub2 Disk is faster
- Other minor improvements
- Standalone images are no longer broken and show main menu
Changes since 2.02s8 version:
- (Devel) supergrub-release-news helps release team to generate a template for its news. Initial implementation.
- (Devel) Added supergrub-release-changes to help with the release team.
- (Devel) INSTALL: Improved explanation about what release scripts and file outputs.
- Rename ‘(GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))’ to: ‘(GRUB2 installation)’
- Use grub-2.02 upstream grub2 tag (Stable version)
- Added Chinese (zh-cn) translation
- Added Finnish translation (Thanks to tavallinenvirtanen7)
Changes since 2.02s7 version:
- Use grub-2.02-rc2 upstream grub2 tag
- Default theme starfield is no longer included. This will make images smaller.
- (Devel) Make sure normal isos and standalone images have hash files without its full path.
- (Devel) File hashes generation has been rewritten to work from the single supergrub-mkcommon generate_filename_hashes function
- (Devel) Now MD5SUMS, SHA1SUMS and SHA256SUMS files are generated as part of the official build.
Changes since 2.02s6 version:
- Updated grub 2.02 build to tag: 2.02~rc1
Changes since 2.02s5 version:
- Added Russian language
- Improved Arch Linux initramfs detection
- Added i386-efi build support
- Added i386-efi to the hybrid iso
- Grub itself is translated when a language is selected
- Added loopback.cfg file (non officially supported)
- (Devel) sgrub.pot updated to latest strings
- (Devel) Added grub-build-004-make-check so that we ensure the build works
- (Devel) Make sure linguas.sh is built when running ‘grub-build-002-clean-and-update’
- (Devel) Updated upstream Super Grub2 Disk repo on documentation
- (Devel) Move core supergrub menu under menus/sgd
- (Devel) Use sg2d_directory as the base super grub2 disk directory variable
- (Devel) New supergrub-sourcecode script that creates current git branch source code tar.gz
- (Devel) New supergrub-all-zip-file script: Makes sure a zip file of everything is built.
- (Devel) supergrub-meta-mkrescue: Build everything into releases directory in order to make source code more clean.
- (Devel) New supergrub-official-release script: Build main files, source code and everything zip file from a single script in order to ease official Super Grub
2 Disk releases.
Changes since 2.02s4 version:
- Stop trying to chainload devices under UEFI and improve the help people get in the case of a platform mismatch
- (Devel) Properly support source based built grub-mkfont binary.
- New options were added to chainload directly either /ntldr or /bootmgr thanks to ntldr command. They only work in BIOS mode.
Changes since 2.02s3 version:
- Using upstream grub-2.02-beta3 tag as the new base for Super Grub2 Disk’s grub.
- Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on BCD) Windows Vista, 7, …
- Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on ntldr) Windows XP, 2000, …
Changes since 2.02s2 beta 1 version:
- (Devel) grub-mkstandalone was deleted because we no longer use it
- Updated (and added) Copyright notices for 2015
- New option: ‘Disks and Partitions (Chainload)’ adapted from Smx work
- Many files were rewritten so that they only loop between devices that actually need to be searched into.
This enhacement will make Super Grub2 Disk faster. - Remove Super Grub2 Disk own devices from search by default. Added an option to be able to enable/disable the Super Grub2 Disk own devices search.
2.02s2 beta 1 changelog:
- Updated grub 2.02 build to commit: 8e5bc2f4d3767485e729ed96ea943570d1cb1e45
- Updated documentation for building Super Grub2 Disk
- Improvement on upstream grub (d29259b134257458a98c1ddc05d2a36c677ded37 – test: do not stop after first file test or closing bracket) will probably make Super Grub2 Disk run faster.
- Added new grub build scripts so that Super Grub2 Disk uses its own built versions of grub and not the default system / distro / chroot one.
- Ensure that Mac OS X entries are detected ok thanks to Users dir. This is because Grub2 needs to emulate Mac OS X kernel so that it’s detected as a proper boot device on Apple computers.
- Thanks to upstream grub improvement now Super Grub2 Disk supports booting in EFI mode when booted from a USB device / hard disk. Actually SG2D was announced previously to boot from EFI from a USB device while it only booted from a cdrom.
2.02s1 beta 1 changelog:
- Added new option: “Enable all native disk drivers” so that you can try to load: SATA, PATA and USB hard disks (and their partitions) as native disk drives. This is experimental.
- Removed no longer needed options: “Enable USB” and “Enable PATA”.
- “Search floppy” and “Search cdrom” options were moved into “Extra GRUB2 functionality menu”. At the same time “Extra Search functionality” menu was removed.
- Added new straight-forward option: “Enable GRUB2’s RAID and LVM support”.
- “List devices/partitions” was renamed to “Print devices/partitions”.
- “Everything” option was renamed to “Detect and show boot methods”.
- “Everything +” option was removed to avoid confusions.
- Other minor improvements in the source code.
- Updated translation files. Now most translations are pending.
- Updated INSTALL instructions.
Finally you can check all the detailed changes at our GIT commits.
If you want to translate into your language please check TRANSLATION file at source code to learn how to translate into your language.
Thank you – Hall of fame
I want to thank in alphabetical order:
- The upstream Grub crew. I’m subscribed to both help-grub and grub-devel and I admire the work you do there.
- Necrosporus for his insistence on making Super Grub2 Disk smaller.
The person who writes this article is adrian15 .
And I cannot forget about thanking bTactic, the enterprise where I work at and that hosts our site.
Some thoughts about Super Grub2 Disk development
Super Grub2 Disk development ideas
I think we won’t improve Super Grub2 Disk too much. We will try to stick to official Grub2 stable releases. Unless a new feature that it’s not included in official Grub2 stable release is needed in order to give additional useful functionalities to Super Grub2 Disk.
I have added some scripts to Super Grub2 Disk build so that writing these pieces of news is more automatic and less prone to errors. Check them out in git repo as you will not find them in 2.02s8 source code.
Old idea: I don’t know when but I plan to readapt some scripts from os-prober. That will let us detect more operating systems. Not sure when though. I mean, it’s not something that worries me because it does not affect too many final users. But, well, it’s something new that I hadn’t thought about.
Again, please send us feedback on what you think it’s missing on Super Grub2 Disk.
Rescatux development
I want to focus on Rescatux development on the next months so that we have an stable release before the end of 2017. Now I need to finish adding UEFI features (most finished), fix the scripts that generate Rescatux source code (difficult) and write much documentation.
(adrian15 speaking)
Die letzte Rettung