Help me remember name of dual boot utility
 

I have a Windows 7 laptop which I've also installed Kubuntu 13.04 onto. However, it still only boots to Windows 7 without giving you any option to choose Kubuntu. (You can see my conversation about my install here: http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...766#post330766 )

Some years back, I set up a tri-boot desktop PC with Ubuntu 8.04, Windows 7, and Windows XP. Ubuntu was installed on the primary drive and was the only OS on it while 7 and XP were installed on a secondary drive. On the primary drive I edited Grub to give the user a choice between Ubuntu or 7. If the user chose Windows, it went to the secondary drive and gave the user the choice of 7 or XP. For the secondary drive, I used a utility to edit some kind of boot file to give the person that choice.

That's where my problem comes in. I don't remember the name of the utility. I remember you could use it to give users the choice of Windows or Linux. I think it's likely what I need here because I don't think this bootup is seeing Grub.

Or should I wipe this install of Kubuntu and install again, doing some things differently? You can see the details of what I did in the link above.

It's frustrating that I don't remember the name of that utility or have a copy of it. It's been a few years since I used Linux. I remember you ran it under Windows and selected operating systems and what order you wanted them shown on the list. Or should I be pursuing a way to do this via Grub?

Edit:
I went to sleep and then woke up in the middle of the night remembering the name of the utility. It's Easy BCD. Gonna go back to sleep. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get this thing to work.

My utility to dual or triple boot or any other boot is GRUB .
I am not ever of a special utility to do the trick

I'm not having much luck with Easy BCD. I've been looking up dual boot info, and it seems everything says to either edit Grub or the Windows bootloader. Do you know if there are advantages to either?

I think this Easy BCD utility edits the Windows bootloader. When I put in my Ubuntu/Kubuntu (I've tried both) install, I get the option of Windows or Linux on bootup. If I choose Windows, no problems. Win 7 loads. If I choose Linux, I get a command line prompt called Grub4DOS.

I'm googling info on how to edit both Grub and the bootloader.

There are loaders for both windows and linux. There are boot managers for both. Some can do both.

To start with, we might need to know exactly how you installed kubuntu. If you installed it from windows we need to know that.

I used the Gparted live boot disk to take space from the one physical drive the laptop has and to create available space that Kubuntu could use. I then ran the Kubuntu install program, choosing "manual" and used it to create partitions. The whole process, including screen shots, is documented here:

http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...d=1#post330775

However, since that thread, I tried again. I used Gparted to wipe out all the Linux partitions. Then I installed Ubuntu (13.04), opting for the "side by side" option that is designed to create all your partitions for you and set up the dual boot for you (or so I thought). I ended up with a similar situation where the computer would simply boot up to Windows 7 without offering to let you choose anything else. Like before, the OS apparently was on the PC. You could boot to the K/ubuntu live disk and see it all there.

When I used the Easy BCD tool, I was able to create a menu that came up offering Windows or Linux. If you chose Windows, Win 7 would boot up just fine. If you chose Linux, you would not get Kubuntu (or later Ubuntu when I tried that). Instead, you would get a command line named Grub4DOS.

The option I chose in Easy BCD was "Grub2". That's what both Kubuntu and Ubuntu 13.04 use, right?

Later another utility trashed the system. Not a disaster. I have this thing ghosted. That ghost is being restored as I type this. So pretty soon I'll have my Lenovo laptop back as just a Windows 7 PC with no other OS installed. I'll be able to proceed any way I see fit. It seems to me maybe I should be concentrating on learning how to edit Grub2 with a Windows 7 and a Kubuntu entry, right? Or would I be better off learning how to accomplish this via the Windows boot loader?

Both times, Kubuntu or Ubuntu apparently installed and was there waiting to run, but I just could not access it. I've found a Grub2 tutorial video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDf_fRAophc
However, that one does not show you how to put in a Windows 7 entry.

Or would I be better off trying to do this with the Windows bootloader?

If anyone knows of any relevant Grub and/or Windows bootloader articles or tutorials that I should be reading, I will definitely read them.

Grub2 tutorials, the first one specific to Ubuntu and derivatives with explanation of installing, reinstalling by different methods:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing

http://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-...ntu-wont-boot/

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

Using Grub2 will be easier. If you can't get EasyBCD to work, I think you would need to somehow manually configure whatever the boot files windows 7 uses. If this is a new computer with a warranty, that is probably the best if not only reason to use a windows bootloader. A sample entry for windows with Grub2 which worked for me shown below. You would need to change the uuid after set=root to whatever it is on your machine:

The entro below should also work:

If you have one hard drive and selected the option under: Device for boot loader installation as '/dev/sda' it should have installed part of the Grub files to the mbr and given you the option to boot either Ubuntu or windows.

I'd have used Windows to resize for linux.

Ubuntu normally doesn't mess up the install so I am still wondering what is wrong.


Did you boot to the Linux cd/dvd to start install?

The problem is now solved. Turns out this Lenovo laptop has an obnoxious EFI boot system that resists allowing any operating system to install other than the Windows Home Premium that it came with. Nice one, Lenovo. Anyway, I found the blog of a guy who owns the exact same model and was going through the same problems as mine. He documented all his solutions here:

http://jacobfogg.blogspot.com/2012/0...novo-z570.html

Problem solved! I'm online now in Linux.

Thanks for the update and solution.


I would have thought that both uefi and secure boot would have not been an issue with Ubuntu 13. Some live cd's say some choice on boot option like dvd drive efi and some exact dvd drive normal choice.