LinuxQuestions.org - boot two windows version with grub

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boot two windows version with grub

I have a multi boot system, 3 version of linux & two version of windows. I had only one, winME on hda1 but I have just installed Win 2000 on hdb1. Win 2000 installation appears to have added a boot.ini file to hda1:

Code:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

so now when I boot "windows" with Grub it starts win 2000 instead of WinME.

Grub entry is:

Code:

title Windows 

rootnoverify (hd0,0)

makeactive

chainloader +1

Question is...how do I start winME?

Win 2000 bootloader appears to be able to give a choice so I edited the boot.ini file:

Code:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINME="Microsoft Windows ME"

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

but then I get the following error if I select WinME:

Code:

<windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe not found

Any ideas?

Thanks

try to add an entry for WinME as your grub entry...

title Windows ME
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I am not sure but hdb should be hd1... and the first primary partition shall be (hd1,0)

Any windows that does not reside on the first hard disk needs to be mapped; if not, it will usually refuse to boot.

title Windows ME
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

It may also be wise to hide your windows partitions from one another, for example:
hide (hd0,0)
That would hide your win2k (providing it is 1sp partition of 1st disk) from winME.

No problem hiding win 2000 from winme, win 2000 is on ntfs which winme can't see.

Already tried the above, but it seems to be much more complicated than that.

What happened was when I installed win 2000 on hdb1 (second hard drive) the first hard drive (containing winme) was still set as the boot active drive. Win 2000 installs a windows bootloader capable of booting more than one system but it installs it on the boot active drive. It is supposed to have detected the other operating system (winme) but it didn't, perhaps because winme might be the newer of the two systems so win 2000 can't identify it. So, win 2000 is on hdb2 but has no bootloader (thus can't be directly started from grub) and winme has had its bootloader overwritten by win 2000 thus when it is started it just transfers to win 2000. For a winme entry in the windows bootloader to work it needs a file 'bootsect.dos' in the root dir; I have d/l'd a program which is supposed to make this file but doesn't seem to be able to make one that will work.

Next alternative maybe is to manually delete the win 2000 bootloader stuff from winme (found some info on this but so far haven't got it to work) so winme will boot then physically disconnect hda & reinstall win 2000 on hdb so it puts its bootloader there. Then set everything up to direct boot from grub without using the windows bootloader.

Maybe you could make or download a windows boot floppy? That might help - no guarantees offered.

What you should have done was remove hda0 and installed the second drive as primary to install Win 2000. Then re-install hda0 as primary and the Win 2k drive as slave after editing grub menu.lst. Add the entry in grub for Win 2k as such:

Code:

title Windows 2000

      hide      (hd0,0)

      unhide    (hd1,0)

      map      (hd0,0) (hd1,0)

      map      (hd1,0) (hd0,0)

      rootnoverify    (hd1,0)

      makeactive

      chainloader +1

This is not written in stone, but probably would work, some say you don't need the hide part on the second drive but it doesn't hurt. Here is more reference which I think tells you to re-set the boot order in the bios or something.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hlight=windows

OK, I got it sorted out.

First, I had to sys c: from winME boot disk to restore win ME. I had not used the win me boot disk for years, it would not work at first but once I had read it from win 2000 (Linux would not read it either) it worked OK. Maybe it had accumulated some dust or something???

Then I did like Junior Hacker suggested, disconnected the first hd & reinstalled win 2000 to force it to put its bootloader on hdb1.

The grub entry suggested worked but if you hide hda it it remains hidden & win 2000 cannot access it. There is a data partition on it I wanted to be able to access.

So I tried it without the hide (with just the remapping entries) & that works OK also. Oddly, win 2000 can see the data partition (which it calls D:) but cannot still see the partition with winME on it.

Anyway,it's now working

Thanks.

Really!

I don't use grub, I use bootitng which has some "rich" features. But I do read allot, I think I learned about this "swap" drives thing in saikee's "how to boot 100+ operating systems" blog. Not sure, but if you do find that thread and confirm, give credit to saikee.

Quote:

I don't use grub, I use bootitng which has some "rich" features

Lol! Why don't you check out Linux in a Nutshell from O'Reilly? Grub gets at least twice as many pages as Lilo... Which would be the "richest"?

I make compressed images of my partitions with bootitng that are 1.4GB in size, stored on my data partition. I wipe a 10GB Linux partition and make a new one in it's place and load the updated fresh installation image, all those steps take 8 minutes. That's like doing a fresh "updated" install on a new drive in less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee. Grub don't do that.

I resize partitions with bootitng, grub don't do that.

I slide partitions to manage free space with bootitng, grub don't do that.

I have 9 primary partitions and can have over 200 of them, and put the same OS image as many times as I want "anywhere" on the drive, and boot it up without editing configuration files, grub don't do that.

There is no chain-loading involved in my system, screwing up an OS does not bring the whole system down, and it only take a few minutes to fix the problem, you don't have that luxury with grub.

After repairing a customer's computer who has a bad habit of screwing it up, I make an image of it and store it on a DVD, when the computer comes back, I restore the image in very little time, but charge the same price, grub don't usually put money in your pocket does it?, what do you think I mean when I say "rich"?.

I use 30 day trial software forever for free because it only take a few minutes to install a fresh operating system and get another 30 days over and over again, can grub help you do that?.

I don't spend money on anti-virus, because all my data is in a shared NTFS partition, it only takes a few minutes to deal with a virus, grub don't help you with viruses, viruses take grub down. Viruses have to go through bootitng to get to the MBR, and bootitng has it's own unique file system, which means "that won't happen" unless you make it happen.

If I were to list all the other advantages associated with bootitng, this thread would be a few pages worth. Take a look at how many threads I have and check them out, I've solved some problems nobody else could thanks to the fact bootitng takes the fear out of hacking your system, two of my three threads had 100's of views, meaning there were 100's of people with the same problem, but no responses, yet the fix to the problem is there.

Grub don't help you like that.

Oops, me stands corrected. Then again I thought we were talking grub vs lilo. It seems that Booting is way more than a simple bootloader.
Btw, I do remember reading one of your earlier posts about that software but I was unable to google it down - where on earth did you find it? Is that something that is only available from shops (I mean the physical kind of shop)?

lol...

well i thought grub is the most powerful among bootloaders... but wait.. this bootitng is not just a bootloader... its also a partition manager... so would it be wise to compare it with GRUB?

My question, exactly. Still waiting for a reply...

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

Takes a little playin' to get to know it, but multi-booting is just one of it's simple tools. And it does that part well. Just woke up from a 9 hour power snooze.

In my post in this thread are some quick tips in using bootitng with existing partitions:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=542996