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Old 01-19-2012, 02:41 AM   #1
Hammett
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Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Barcelona, Catalunya
Distribution: Gentoo
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Grub2 + Windows 7 = Invalid signature


Hi all,

I just recently upgraded grub from 0,97 to 1,99 to be able to boot EFI Windows 7, but I am having issues with it

I have 3 hard drives:
Code:
/dev/sda, primary disk where Linux is and where Grub2 is installed
/dev/sdb, Data disk (Music, Pictures, etc)
/dev/sdc, Where Windows is installed
/dev/sda is a MBR disk while /dev/sdc is a GPT disk

I have read numerous articles and wikis on how to configure grub2. I post relevant info for grub2

/etc/default/grub
Code:
# Copyright 1999-2011 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/sys-boot/grub/files/grub.default,v 1.2 2011/08/30 06:45:04 scarabeus Exp $
#
# To populate all changes in this file you need to regenerate your
# grub configuration file afterwards:
#     'grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg'
#
# See the grub info page for documentation on possible variables and
# their associated values. 

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal.
# Note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE.
# You can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'.
GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x800

# Background image used on graphical terminal.
# Can be in various bitmap formats.
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/boot/grub2/mybackground.png"

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to kernel
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_msdos"
/etc/grub/40_custom
Code:
#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

...
menuentry "Microsoft Windows 7" {
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod search_fs_uuid
	insmod chain
	search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root fc98-f796 
	chainloader (${root})/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}
/boot/grub2/device.map
Code:
(hd0)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-00VYA0_WD-WCARW0001527
(hd1)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD501LJ_S0MUJ1FPA78508
(hd2)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_HD501LJ_S0MUJ1FPA78200
I do not post the /boot/grub2/grub.cfg as I do not have issues with booting Linux, but when I try to boot Windows. I always get the "Invalid Signature" error.

Os-prober does not find my Windows 7 installation on /dev/sdc even though I have EFI/GPT support enabled in the Kernel and can mount partitions.

I searched a lot trying to get Windows to boot using Grub2, Windows boots fine if I change the disk boot order in the BIOS. I know mixing MBR with EFI is causing issues, but cannot find a solution and I am running out of ideas.
 
Old 01-19-2012, 11:04 AM   #2
bigrigdriver
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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: East Centra Illinois, USA
Distribution: Debian stable
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Here is a tutorial for adding win7 to grub2 on Ubuntu. Since the steps involve creating a file in /etc/grub.d and a few commands in terminal, the procedure should work for any distro using grub2.
 
Old 01-19-2012, 11:25 AM   #3
Hammett
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Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Barcelona, Catalunya
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 1,074

Original Poster
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Thanks for the tutorial, but is only valid when Windows 7 is installed in a MBR disk. My Windows 7 is installed in a GPT disk, as it is a requirement from Windows for EFI motherboards. The instructions on that tutorial do not work.
 
Old 12-25-2012, 06:39 PM   #4
meatbooks
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Registered: Dec 2012
Posts: 1

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RE:

Yes! I'm having exactly the same issue. I have two hard drives: /dev/sda (Windows 7) and /dev/sdb (Linux Mint 14).
Anyone know why we're having trouble booting a Windows operating system on a GPT disk from GRUB2?
 
Old 12-27-2012, 08:18 PM   #5
fpmurphy
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Location: /dev/ph
Distribution: Fedora, Ubuntu, Redhat, Centos
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An MBR-based GRUB cannot boot an EFI image unless it was build with EFI support enabled.
 
Old 12-28-2012, 04:48 AM   #6
arubin
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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Middx UK
Distribution: Slackware64 15.0 (multilib)
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To boot windows 7 with grub you need to make sure that grubx64.efi is installed to the efi boot partition. I wrote a howto for this for slackware which might be of help. http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...based_hardware

Personally, have found that rEFInd is the easiest of the dual boot managers to set up and the most reliable.
 
Old 12-28-2012, 01:32 PM   #7
business_kid
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Location: Ireland
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meatbooks View Post
Yes! I'm having exactly the same issue. I have two hard drives: /dev/sda (Windows 7) and /dev/sdb (Linux Mint 14).
Anyone know why we're having trouble booting a Windows operating system on a GPT disk from GRUB2?
As I understand it, and fpmurphy has mentioned, GPT is for EFI systems. You need MBR for 'legacy' systems.
There is no operational gpt legacy boot on my UEFI box here. I grabbed an ssd, formatted MBR, and gave the middle finger to UEFI for the moment.
Grub-2.0 doesn't work because it's a pile of <expletive deleted> that even Fedora, with the might of Red Hat programmers can't get to work. If they can't make it work, that's really bad. Fedora hacked & patched grub-0.97 - which doesn't do much either.

If you guys had done a search, you might have spotted THIS or THAT thread which have a load of relevant urls.

Windows 8 is a different ball game since the store of acceptable signatures is in nvram on those boxes. M$ insist on that, and you have to change that store with an m$ signed binary. Dual boot isn't really possible unless m$ release a binary, or someone cracks the m$ key.
 
  


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