Multiboot two Fedora systems?

ChesterHemmer · 01-23-2005, 12:40 AM

Hi all,

I'm having trouble doing a multiboot with two Fedora Core 3 installs. I have Fedora and 3 Windows installations booting just fine using grub. However, I'm trying to install another copy of Fedora 3 so I can have a 'test' system to screw with, but grub won't let the second one boot. Even when I select the second Fedora OS in the grub menu, it still boots up the first Fedora install.

Theoretically, if each Fedora install has its own /boot & root partitions, all I have to do is configure grub correctly and this should work, right? Below I've included my grub.conf file.

BTW, when I install the 2nd OS, I choose NOT to install the boot loader. I just go into the old grub.conf and add the menu item.

My setup:

Asus a8v, athlon 3500+, 2000GB RAM, 2 IDE drives.
hda: 120GB, 3 primary partitions to boot my 3 different windows installs. Grub is on MBR.
hdb: 250GB, along with lots of data, this drive has my linux partitions on it:

Disk B info from fdisk:

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Disk /dev/hdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 26 208813+ 16 Hidden FAT16 (for future OS)
/dev/hdb2 27 51 200812+ 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS (for future OS)
/dev/hdb3 52 76 200812+ 83 Linux (Fedora 2nd boot)
/dev/hdb4 77 30401 243585562+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb5 * 77 152 610438+ 83 Linux (Fedora 1st boot)
/dev/hdb6 153 3900 30105778+ 83 Linux (Fedora 1st /)
/dev/hdb7 3901 4155 2048256 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb8 4156 5175 8193118+ 83 Linux (Fedora 2nd /)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Does anyone know what the asterisk is next to /dev/hdb5 above? I've read online that there is a pointer in the MBR to the "bootable" partition. I assume this reflects that. But how do you set / change that? Can it be done with grub in grub.conf?

Here is the grub.conf I'm using (stored on hdb5):

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
default=0
timeout=7
splashimage=(hd1,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
# First Fedora install - works fine.
title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667) #1-Stable
root (hd1,4)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
# 2nd Fedora install: same Core 3 install, different partitions.
# For some reason this boots the first install!
title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667) #2-Experimental
root (hd1,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
title Windows - XP 1
unhide (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive
hide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,2)
title Windows - XP 2
unhide (hd0,1)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
makeactive
hide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,2)
title Windows - XP 3
unhide (hd0,2)
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
makeactive
hide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,1)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks in advance!.....

-Chester

homey · 01-23-2005, 12:47 AM

The second OS needs a different line in the grub.conf so grub can tell which one it's looking at. That also needs to be set correctly in the second system /etc/fstab.

Code:

So the grub entry would look like this ..
root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet

And the /etc/fstab in the second OS would look like this
LABEL=/1                /                       ext3    defaults        1 1

jollyjoice · 01-23-2005, 05:55 AM

* is default if i remember correctly...

ChesterHemmer · 02-01-2005, 12:12 PM

Thanks, homey. You led me in the right direction.

I fixed it by using e2label to change the label on the first Fedora partition to something other than "/". Of course, I edited fstab and grub.conf to reflect this. Then I installed the 2nd Fedora on another partition and it dual booted fine. I went ahead and renamed this 2nd partition's label too, just to be on the safe side.

Granted, I could probably have just edited fstab & grub.conf to use absolute devices (eg. /dev/hda5), but I liked the idea of labels because I might be messing with the partitions later and didn't want to screw stuff up if their numbers changed.

-Chesterhemmer

archtoad6 · 06-06-2005, 07:31 AM

My post
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...43#post1680143
may be man -k