Installing Solaris 11.1

User discussion and information resource forum for BootIt Bare Metal and BootIt UEFI
eldiener
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:37 am

Re: Installing Solaris 11.1

Post by eldiener »

DrTeeth wrote:
> eldiener wrote:
>
> > Running a virtual machine under Windows installs it in the Windows partition ( I
> > assume ). Installing Solaris installs it in its own partition I assume.
> Therefore I
> > am more distrustful of the software messing up in the former case than in the
> latter
> > case.
>
> You are so wrong in your assumptions. Nothing messes up anything except operator
> error (been there loads of times myself). Do yourself a favour and read the
> Virtualbox manual and see what you are missing - SAFE experimenting on a massive
> scale :D .

I have no doubt that using a VM technology might work. I will read the doc on VirtualBox but currently I do not see how it would allow me to test the installation of Solaris 11.1 safely. After all installing Solaris 11.1 is done from a boot CD and whatever VM is installed would not be in effect when I boot my computer.

>
> DrT
TeraByte Support(TP)
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:22 pm

Re: Installing Solaris 11.1

Post by TeraByte Support(TP) »

eldiener wrote:
> TeraByte Support wrote:
> > Sure, if that's all it did. However If it altered other things in the
> > first
> > track then it probably be nice to have a backup somewhere just in case.
> > (always make sure you have control over where the OS will be installed so
> > it
> > doesn't just overwrite everything).
>
> Is there a FAQ on how to copy and restore sectors with BIBM ? I did not see anything
> in the documentation on how to do this. I agree that I do want a backup of the mbr
> and embr so that I can restore them if necessary.

The copy sectors command is covered in the table on page 12 of the tbosdt manual, which is included with BIBM. You would want to create the backup before starting the install, but after creating the partition that you're installing to. That way, restoring the backup afterwards wouldn't delete the Solaris partition. To start, you click on the Scripting" icon on the BIBM desktop, which takes you to a tbosdt command prompt. From there, you would use the 'copy sectors' command as described below:

syntax: COPY SECTORS phyhdnum lba numsectors file [/w][/y] (run 'help copy sectors' at prompt for syntax)
example: copy sectors 0 0 63 first63.bin

phyhdnum = 0 (copy sectors from drive HD0)
lba = 0 (start copying at first sector of the drive, which is lba 0)
numsectors = 63 (copy 63 sectors)
file = first63.bin (arbitrary file name to save the backup to)

Type 'dir' to list files to verify your file was written, and 'exit' to end the session.

By default, the file will be written to the BIBM partition. To save it to another location, you could mount a drive or partition from the tbosdt prompt before running the copy command. For example, if you wanted to save the file to a partition on HD1 (which could be a UFD), you could run the following commands at the prompt:

list hd 1 (list partitions and partition IDs on HD1 - also helps to ensure it's the correct drive)
open fs 0: 1 0x1 (mount partition with ID 0x1 (01) on HD1 as tbosdt drive 0: - run 'help mount' at prompt for syntax)
copy sectors 0 0 63 0:first63.bin (writes file to the root of tbosdt drive 0: which is the mounted partition on HD1)
dir 0: (list files on the mounted partition)
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Installing Solaris 11.1

Post by DrTeeth »

On Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:22:14 PDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
eldiener disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>but currently I do not see how it would allow me to test the installation of Solaris 11.1 safely.

You would be able to see where the install program offers to store
GRUB and what changes you can make to that.

>After all installing Solaris 11.1 is done from a boot CD and whatever VM is installed would not be in effect when I boot my computer.

You will just get a feel for the install so you will know what you are
doing when you install for real. From what I have read, Solaris is no
different from other Linux distros. The thing I have NOT been able to
find out is the options for installing GRUB.

When one is installing to a VM, it is like installing on a virgin PC.
You cannot FUBAR your own PC if making a mistake on a VM.
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose whether or not
to dance in the puddles (Jewish proverb).
Post Reply