q: grub2 what where how when

[Chan Kar Heng]

hi all!

i've got some questions on grub2, would anyone here know answers for 
them? i've been searching over 30 sites in the net & can't seem to find 
the answers...

- i know grub2 installs boot.img to the mbr.
does grub2 install anything else to any other place? eg:
    - boot sector for the linux partition (non-active).
    - boot sector for a windows 7 partition (active).
        (i'm setting up multiboot)

- is core.img read directly from where it resides in the hdd? or is it 
written to some location (ie: a boot sector) where it gets read+executed 
after boot.img?

- is grub.cfg read directly from where it resides in the hdd? or is it 
written to some location where it gets read+executed after core.img?

- does it matter to grub whether a partition is marked active or 
otherwise? i've got sda2 (linux boot) & sda4 (ntfs windows 7 c:, marked 
as active partition). grub2's boot.img would happily load core.img from 
some place & grub.cfg from some place & proceed on...

- if the boot sector of a linux partition isn't written in any way by 
grub2, what's it used for then & what does it contain?

while setting up ubuntu 10 & windows 7 multiboot, i'm trying to find out 
what's the best/correct way to configure stuff. am therefore asking 
those questions to set up my system correctly. am also curious whether 
installing grub2 overwrites any other configuration already placed in by 
windows.

i know for a fact that windows 7/vista:
- has the mbr search for the current active partition & invokes code 
from the boot sector of that partition (assumes boot sector code is the 
code that boots win7/vista).
- boot sector code starts window's boot manager (bootmgr), which 
consults it's bcd database (equivalent of boot.ini) & starts up 
winload.exe accordingly after that.

so, am just trying to figure out remaining details between windows & 
ubuntu...

thanks in advance & best regards,

KarHeng