Vista, Xp & Ubtu 7.10 (grub doesn't list XP)

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 01:19 PM

I just installed Vista 64 bits, then Xp SP2 32bits (Dell official). When I installed Xp I couldn't access Vista anymore wouldn't be listed in the boot. Then I though maybe the grub in linux would do the job (I also wanted linux on it) so I make my third and fourth partition in manual 2GB swap and 23GB ext3 linux, it was taken from a free space I left for that purpose. I forgot to said that after I installed Xp I did the recover on vista and then only Vista would load then after that, I installed Unbutu. I have a max of 4 partitions in my HDD, linux installed good and vista is there, but I don't see Xp in the grub neither I have experience to edit commands and functions, I know there other issues like this but since we dealing with partitions in different ways I wouldn't do something without knowing what I'm doing and if is correct to do so. I just want some help and understanding so I don't experience this anymore in the future.

Thanks.

BTW, if is relevant I have a:

Dell Vostro 1500 (laptop)
120 HDD

Ty again.

paulsm4 · 01-12-2008, 01:25 PM

Hi -

Vista has a new, incompatible boot loader. Grub is smart enough to take whatever OS you give it (and however many OS's you give it!), but Windows pre-Vista (XP, NT, Win9x and DOS) and Vista bootstraps can still conflict with each other.

I got dual-boot Linux/XP working fine (so did you), and dual-boot Linux/Vista also working (so did you) ... but multiple boot Linux + XP + Vista might be a bit of a challenge.

Have you considered just running one of them under VMWare?

Brian1 · 01-12-2008, 01:26 PM

Need to post contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf. Requires root to access.
Also output of the command ' /sbin/fdisk -l '. Needs to be done as root.
Tell us which partition is what as in Vista and XP.

Brian

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsm4

Hi -

Vista has a new, incompatible boot loader. Grub is smart enough to take whatever OS you give it (and however many OS's you give it!), but Windows pre-Vista (XP, NT, Win9x and DOS) and Vista bootstraps can still conflict with each other.

I got dual-boot Linux/XP working fine (so did you), and dual-boot Linux/Vista also working (so did you) ... but multiple boot Linux + XP + Vista might be a bit of a challenge.

Have you considered just running one of them under VMWare?

I can run it on whatever u give me lol I just want to fix it. I mean be able to have all 3 installed and working.

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian1

Need to post contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf. Requires root to access.
Also output of the command ' /sbin/fdisk -l '. Needs to be done as root.
Tell us which partition is what as in Vista and XP.

Brian

In going to check that but I believe its:

1. vista
2. Xp
3. swap
4. linux

brb

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 01:39 PM

I have:

D: Part1 NTSF 60000MB - XP
C: Part2 NTFS 30000MB - Vista
F: Part3 Unkwn 1953MB - Swap
G: Part4 Ext3 22513MB - Unbutu

Those are all of em.

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 02:05 PM

Do i have to edit something in the menu.lst file on the grub folder?

like the hd(x)s orders/commands?

I'm sorry, I don't know a lot about this environment.

Brian1 · 01-12-2008, 03:02 PM

Yes you need to edit /boot/grub/menu.1st if no grub.conf exist. Distros differ on naming of some files. But I need to see the contents of the file menu.1st and also the output from the command ' /sbin/fdisk -l '. It will help on knowing if the drive is seen as /dev/sda or /dev/hda and what partition type each are. Drive letters are useless under Linux.

Brian

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian1

Need to post contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf. Requires root to access.
Also output of the command ' /sbin/fdisk -l '. Needs to be done as root.
Tell us which partition is what as in Vista and XP.

Brian

Sorry I couldn't understand what u meant but know I acquired a lil more knowledge.

Ok the grub conf file in the grub dir is called "menu.lst" I tried to edit it but I can't, not even with super user permission ( I activated the "su" and still access denied).

And for /sbin/fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd0f4738c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 7649 61440561 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 7650 11474 30720000 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 11475 11723 2000092+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 11724 14593 23053275 83 Linux

XP is on (hd0,0) I believe and is not listed as a Other OS in the conf file of grub, but since can't edit it I cant add it.

I don't know what to do.

Edit--

Heres the content:

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=fa3959d6-0158-4ef5-a240-a5f685bb4391 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=fa3959d6-0158-4ef5-a240-a5f685bb4391 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

syg00 · 01-12-2008, 03:27 PM

Generally you wouldn't be able to do what you want - it's a M$oft problem not a grub problem.
That shouldn't be surprising at all to you.

When you install a later M$soft product to dual boot an earlier Windoze, it updates the boot-loader of the earlier version. So there is one one loader - the boot.ini lists both versions. Hence from grub you can only chainload to one partition to get to Windoze.
In your case you messed this up a bit - try adding this to the end of menu.lst

Code:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Merely running "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" (without the quotes) from a terminal should allow you to update the menu.

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Generally you wouldn't be able to do what you want - it's a M$oft problem not a grub problem.
That shouldn't be surprising at all to you.

When you install a later M$soft product to dual boot an earlier Windoze, it updates the boot-loader of the earlier version. So there is one one loader - the boot.ini lists both versions. Hence from grub you can only chainload to one partition to get to Windoze.
In your case you messed this up a bit - try adding this to the end of menu.lst

Code:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Merely running "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" (without the quotes) from a terminal should allow you to update the menu.

yep, it is listed now, I got a new error but at least I can see the XP now.

When I try to get in says "NTLDR is missing". But thats a diff matter I think I can fix it. Just wondering what is the NTLDR....

Nelx · 01-12-2008, 03:51 PM

Heres the fix:

Quote:

# If steps 1 and 2 do not apply,then it is time to pull out the big guns. Follow steps 4 through 10.
# Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
# When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
# Once in the Windows XP setup menu, press the “R” key to repair Windows.
# Log into your Windows installation by pressing the “1″ key and pressing enter.
# You will then be prompted for your administrator password; enter that password.
# Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter “E.” This letter may be different on your computer.
copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
# Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/200...how-to-repair/

That wouldn't interfere with my boot configuration? I don't want to fix something and mess up everything.

Edit:

Well I see what u were saying, MS replaced NTLDR in vista so i'm not going to be able to do it. Theres any other way though? can I just install any other loader apart?

paulsm4 · 01-13-2008, 12:15 AM

Hi, again -

As I said in my post above, your central problem is that Vista made it much harder to multi-boot (even multi-booting other Microsoft OS's like XP). Linux is the easy part - Vista and XP is the hard part.

I also suggested you might want to consider a virtualization tool like VMWare. I use both multi-booting and VMWare - and, in general, VMWare is by far the more convenient, more flexible solution in most day-to-day situations.

Having said all that - yes, you should be able to triple boot XP|Vista|Linux - it'll just take some effort ;-)

I'd strongly suggest installing in this order:

a) XP first
b) Vista second
c) Linux (grub) last

Here's one good link:
http://apcmag.com/node/5162/

Here are some other informative links:
http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista
http://lifehacker.com/software/top/w...sta-179906.php

You might also wish to look into "EasyBCD":
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD

Good luck!

Nelx · 01-13-2008, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsm4

Hi, again -

As I said in my post above, your central problem is that Vista made it much harder to multi-boot (even multi-booting other Microsoft OS's like XP). Linux is the easy part - Vista and XP is the hard part.

I also suggested you might want to consider a virtualization tool like VMWare. I use both multi-booting and VMWare - and, in general, VMWare is by far the more convenient, more flexible solution in most day-to-day situations.

Having said all that - yes, you should be able to triple boot XP|Vista|Linux - it'll just take some effort ;-)

I'd strongly suggest installing in this order:

a) XP first
b) Vista second
c) Linux (grub) last

Here's one good link:
http://apcmag.com/node/5162/

Here are some other informative links:
http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista
http://lifehacker.com/software/top/w...sta-179906.php

You might also wish to look into "EasyBCD":
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD

Good luck!

I tried that life hacker way but It didn't worked for me so now I'm trying the other way around.

Thanks for the guides!

syg00 · 01-13-2008, 04:11 PM

If you really want to have separate entries in grub, you'll have to do some planning - and use hidden partitions to fool the M$oft loaders.
Go look for user saikee - in his sigline he has a link to some doco he did that will allow you to set this up.