A boot loader is a small program that reads
and launches the operating system. Fedora uses the
GRUB boot loader by default. If you have
multiple operating systems, the boot loader allows you to choose
which operating system to boot.
The GRUB boot menu
Please note that beginning in Fedora version 10, the GRUB menu
defaults to being hidden, except on dual-boot systems.
To show the GRUB menu during system boot, press and hold the
Shift key before the kernel is loaded. (Any other
key works as well but the Shift key is the safest to use.)
If there are no other operating systems on your computer, or you are
completely removing any other operating systems the installation
program will install GRUB as your boot
loader without any intervention. In that case you may continue on to
Chapter 14, Software Selection.
You may have a boot loader installed on your system already. An
operating system may install its own preferred boot loader, or you
may have installed a third-party boot loader.If your boot loader
does not recognize Linux partitions, you may not be able to boot
Fedora. Use GRUB as your boot loader to
boot Linux and most other operating systems. Follow the directions
in this chapter to install GRUB.
Installing GRUB
If you install GRUB, it may overwrite your existing boot loader.
13.1. Keeping Your Existing Boot Loader Settings
By default, the installation program installs GRUB in the
master boot record,
or MBR, of the device for the root
file system. To decline installation of a new boot loader, unselect
Install boot loader on /dev/sda.
Boot Loader Required
Your computer must have GRUB or
another boot loader installed in order to start, unless you
create a separate startup disk to boot from.
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