Grub Loading 2 Windows Xp and 1 Suse problem

northfly · 09-25-2007, 10:38 AM

I have windowsxp installed in sda1 and another windowsxp installed in sda5, and opensuse installed in sda7. The problem is I can't start windows directly from grub, instead, I have to use the boot.ini.

so what I do right now is: create three entries in grub, they are windows xp, opensuse, opensuse fail/safe. when I choose windows xp, system load the boot.ini and prompt me another list of two choices, which are windows@sda1 and windows@sda5, I choose one of them and go to windows finally.

what I want to do is, infact, loading them directly, four entries, directly from grub.

I write the /boot/grub/menu.lst as

title windows@sda1
unhide (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainload (hd0,0)+1

title windows@sda5
hide (hd0,0)
unhide (hd0,4)
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainload (hd0,4)+1

title linux
....

but when I select the second entries, I got error message.

somebody could help me out? Thanks too much!

bigrigdriver · 09-25-2007, 11:55 AM

Try this in your menu.lst:

itle windows@sda1
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainload (hd0,0)+1

title windows@sda5
root (hd0,4)
makeactive
chainload (hd0,4)+1

title linux
...

northfly · 09-25-2007, 03:24 PM

Thanks,

I tried that,

when I choose the sda5 one, the error message is:

requesting invalid device.

seems makeactive can only be used on primary disk, so sda1 is ok with that.

northfly · 09-25-2007, 03:26 PM

anyway, i can't not use root, got error message too,

seems... does it related with my ntfs file system? shall I change to fat32?

syg00 · 09-25-2007, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by northfly

what I want to do is, infact, loading them directly, four entries, directly from grub.

You can't - the ntldr isn't compliant with the multiboot specifications.
You can't just "get at" the kernel like you can on Linux. For your two XP installs you still have only one "system" partition - where ntldr and boot.ini reside. This is the partition you must chain-link to - the bootsector record finds ntldr and boot.ini, and presents the (second) menu. Nothing you can do about it as far as I'm aware.
Same going the other way - if you were to use ntldr, you have to link to a grub/lilo bootsector record,which will locate the loader - and present a (Linux) secondary menu.

northfly · 09-25-2007, 03:47 PM

Thanks, what you said is right, now I think! I just give up this effort. hehe....