How can I start Busybox at boot time, from GRUB, or even before GRUB?

Posted by Andrei on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Andrei
Published on 2012-06-11T21:20:35Z Indexed on 2012/06/11 22:47 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 398

Filed under:

boot

|

grub2

|

bootloader

|

busybox

Most Busybox questions are related to the fact that users are dropped to a Busybox shell due to some unknown issues at boot time. This must make Busybox one of the most hated pieces of software.

My problem is the opposite. I want to deliberately start Busybox at boot time either from GRUB, or even before GRUB. Is this possible? How can I do it? The purpose is to execute some commands before the boot sequence is reinitiated. So basically I want to execute some commands to make some hardware available to the bootloader.

© Ask Ubuntu or respective owner

Related posts about boot

Dual Boot issues with Windows 7 and Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I'm finding myself in a rather unique situation. I've read through just about every resource I can find about this and while things have helped me understand some background, I haven't yet been able to find a solution. So I'm asking here. I originally had just a Windows 7 64-bit OS installation on… >>> More
Windows 7 wont boot from any boot loader except for 'Windows Boot Manager' after partition resize

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a triple boot system on a single SSD. OSX, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. I use Chimera (basically another version of Chameleon) as my boot loader. Usually I can boot all 3 without any issue, but after using GParted to make my Ubuntu partition 2 Gigs larger, Windows 7 throws me an error when trying… >>> More
Unable to boot Windows 7 after installing Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have Windows 7 on my machine and then installed Ubuntu 12.04 using a live CD. I can see both Windows 7 and Ubuntu in the grub menu, but when I select Windows 7 it shows a black screen for about 2 seconds and the returns to the Grub menu. But if I select Ubuntu it's working fine. This is the contents… >>> More
12.04 upgrade broke grub? (not wubi related)

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I just updated from 11.10 to 12.04, with no major problems (it took a while to get past a request to restart ssh, mysql and some other services, but I did no fiddling by myself, everything was done by the installer). However, after restarting, grub can't do anything. Picking the new linux installation… >>> More
Another "Windows 7 entry missing from Grub2" Question

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Like many before me had the following problem that after installing Ubuntu (with windows 7 already installed), the grub boot loader wouldnt show windows 7 as a boot option, though i can boot fine if I use the "Choose Boot Device" options on the x220. The difference is that I try using UEFI only so… >>> More

Related posts about grub2

How to enable boot timeout in Grub2?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm am trying to enable the boot timeout selection in grub2 on Ubuntu 9.10. I modified /etc/default/grub: GRUB_DEFAULT=0 #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false GRUB_TIMEOUT=2 GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian` GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash quiet" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" and… >>> More
Windows 8 changes GRUB2 in every boot!

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've installed Win8 and Ubuntu 12.10 both UEFI style (win8 first then ubuntu). GRUB2 shows me Both Ubuntu and Win8 entries. If I boot into Ubuntu is fine. I could reboot anytime I will see GRUB2 unchanged. The story changes when I Boot into Win8. When I boot to Win8 using GRUB2 it takes me to the… >>> More
How to install Grub2 under several common scenarios

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I feel the community has long needed a clean guide on how to install Grub2 under a a few extremely common scenarios. I will accept answer as solved when it has one section per scenario and assumes nothing other than what is specified. Please add to the existing answer, wiki style, keeping to the original… >>> More
Make bootable iso with grub chainloading

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
My parents' pc has windows 7's boot manager installed at MBR and grub2 is installed on /dev/sda2 (booting linux on /dev/sda2). I want to make a bootable cd so that when booted from it just chainloads into the boot manager on the second partition. I assume using grub rather than grub2 for this will… >>> More
So HERE'S how you get into grub2 if there's no boot menu in Ubuntu Lucid 10.04

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
<b>Click:</b> "I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid from a daily build yet couldn't boot into my fresh new desktop because I needed to add nomodeset to the grub2 boot line and didn't know how to do that because there was no boot screen visible." >>> More