Ok, It got it this time...
I'm not up to speed on how windows does its multiple boot stuff. Can you post the c:\boot.ini file? |
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[boot loader] I guess it must be referring to hda5, but I'm not sure how exactly it thinks of it as the 3rd partition. Perhaps since hda2 is extended it doesn't count it, so hda3 would be number 2 and hda5 number 3? |
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If I had to guess, I'd say your boot.ini arcpath to the default boot configuration looks something like this: Code:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3) Code:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) Chances are your boot.ini file has two arcpaths defined. One pointing to /dev/hda5 (the default boot) and the other pointing to /dev/hda1. This is the way Windows does multi-booting. Different from everybody else on the planet. An astute observer will now notice, "Hey, doesn't Micorosft's multi-booting make these two Windows installations dependent on each other (because they share a boot.ini file)?" YES IT DOES! And this will create problems if you decide to remove one of these Windows installations. Surprise! Now the OTHER one won't boot!!! So now you decide to manually edit your boot.ini file and change things around. Sorry, not from within Windows. It's a protected file. Boot into DOS or Linux to do this editing. Luckily your boot.ini is on a FAT partition, otherwise you'd run into additional headaches trying to use NTFS from within DOS. You can edit NTFS with Linux ... due caution advised. Back to your boot sequence. You are asking grub to boot the first partition, and it DOES. But then Microsoft multi-booting takes over. It finds that boot.ini file on the first partition and grabs the default arcpath, and continues booting to /dev/hda5 since that's what the default in boot.ini tells it to do. Quote:
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Correct, Windows does not count the extended partition. So you need to add another line for your hda1 windows which will be partition(1) and select the default as desired in your boot.ini file
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Anyway, you boot.ini explains it all. Exactly what I expected you'd find. Since you're actually booted into /dev/hda5, you MAY be able to edit boot.ini on /dev/hda1 from within a running Windows. You can certainly try. MAKE A BACKUP OF BOOT.INI, and then try changing it to something like what I have below. Note I increased the "timeout" so that you have a little more time to choose which OS installation to boot. Code:
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"/dev/hda1" (primary, FAT) -> arcpath "partition(1)" |
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To whom it may concern - |
Wow, Microsoft's way of multi-booting is disgusting (not surprisingly- it is MS).
Thanks a ton for your help, michaelk and haetig. Thanks especially for showing me what I should put in my boot.ini. I'm sitting on linux, so I can edit the file from here. I've changed my boot.ini to what you suggested, haetig. I've also, for the hell of it, changed the entry for (hd0,1) to (hd0,4) in grub's menu.lst to see if that'll boot it, out of curiosity. Of course, I'm leaving in the entry for (hd0,0), as that's the one I'll probably be using to get at both windows installs. Oh, I also found a boot.bkk on hda1 that has this: Code:
[boot loader] After I test this out, I'll report back. |
haertig, thanks for saving me a LOT of typing (& thinking). Pretty much exactly what I thought when I re-read the OP. Extremely well put; &, as far as I remember, exactty right.
I have the same problem w/ forgetting "Winders" "stuff" -- I/m expecting my one year chip in mid-May. ;) |
All is well and good. Using the boot.ini that haertig provided I was able to access both installs.
As for trying to have grub boot hda5, no luck. It told me: "Error 12: Invalid device requested." But I didn't really expect it to work, based on what I now know of how windows handles booting multiple installs of itself. So there's no problem there and no need for that entry on my menu.lst anymore. |
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Hey, I knew how to tell grub to boot hda5 the whole time, I just didn't know to tell it to boot hda5. I didn't think the windows installer would decide to make an extended partition, and I obviously hadn't double-checked with fdisk to make sure it did what I thought it did until a while later. ;)
I'll try playing around to make hda5 boot from grub a bit later to see what I come up with. If, no, when I make it boot hda5 on its own, I'll post what I had to do to make it so. |
I would have expected a few differences in what you observed about your WIndwos #1 and Windows #2 incestual relationship.
First, when Windows #2 saw Windows #1 during Windows #2 installation, I would have expected #2 to have added itself to #1's boot.ini file. In your case, it appears #2 just replaced #1's boot.ini down there on #1's partition and took #1 totally out of the picture as far as being a selectable boot item. Now this is just the most unfriendly thing I can imagine. A normal user would think #1 was toast at this point, and that #2 was the only bootable OS. So why not format #1's partition and make use of it? That's what I'd want to do. But holy crap Batman. Now #2 won't boot anymore. Who would have known #2 had a hidden dependancy on #1's boot.ini file. Especially when the average user would think #1 was totally blown away. I'd love to hear Microsoft's thinking on how to rationalize this behavior. Second, I would have expected #2 to notice that #1 already had a "C drive". And thus #2 would have installed itself on the next available drive, probably "D". You didn't mentioned this behavior, but I would have expected that when you previously booted into hda5 your booted OS would have actually been your D drive, and any time you looked at your C drive you would have been actually viewing the old #1 installation. Maybe not even realizing it. Holy crap Batman! You didn't mention this unfriendly behavior having happened to you, but it's what I would have expected. Maybe I'm remembering wrong about this scenerio in the Microsoft multi-boot world. But if I'm remembering correctly, it gets even worse. Say Joe-average somehow managed to determine he had incestuous C and D drives. No problem, just wipe out C and rename D to C (ignoring for the moment that pesky little boot.ini down on C-#1). Guess what? Windows will let you rename drives, EXECPT for your boot drive. So you can't rename D to C. This sounds bad, but I'm sure Microsoft had a reason for it. Imagine the hell that would break loose in your registry were the boot drive letter to change on the fly. This is why we have Knoppix, Kanotix, Slax, etc. To referee and repair Windows when it pees all over itself. |
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No one has mentioned systems backups yet, but I'm sure you've already got the notion that some of these might be a real good idea (tm) before you embark on this little "I'll get it to boot out of hda5" adventure... |
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Again, I'm not trying to exlain why it happened that way, I'm just telling you that it did. ;) I've been reading that page you posted about multibooting and using it as reference and I try to decide how to go about making hda5 boot. It hurts my brain a little bit but I think I'm learning quite a bit. |
Shifting drive letters has long been the "Winders Way".
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