Windows in grub.

RoxFox64 · 01-14-2009, 11:13 PM

I wanted to know if it is possible to have grub boot windows without me installing windows on the Hard drive(From CD)?
The thing is I have two windows CD's. One blue screens(Yet another flaw of Win...) when I try to run it. The other just doesn't run.
I have windows on my laptop so what I did was I made a crossover cable, booted into puppy linux, and sent the windows directory over using PureFTP(I figure that because linux doesn't hide windows specific files it should copy everything.) I also copied over the windows bootloader, and other files needed.
How could I have grub load the windows boot loader without it checking the boot sector?

John VV · 01-15-2009, 01:31 AM

Quote:

without me installing windows on the Hard drive(From CD)?

no

so you coped the windows files ( from a ntfs drive) on to a ?? ext3 ?? drive . windows will never boot

Cottsay · 01-15-2009, 10:47 AM

Grub can't boot windows directly. It has to chainload to the windows bootloader. So no, you can't do that. Windows will need its own NTFS or FAT32 partition with its own bootloader.

--scott

RoxFox64 · 01-15-2009, 03:25 PM

The partition it was copied to is FAT16. This is a usable file system right?
Is it possible for me to mount an ISO of a Win CD on a partition of my hard drive and have it install Windows to a new partition?

RoxFox64 · 01-15-2009, 03:25 PM

The partition it was copied to is FAT16. This is a usable file system right?
Is it possible for me to mount an ISO of a Win CD on a partition of my hard drive and have it install Windows to a new partition?

Cottsay · 01-15-2009, 03:32 PM

Is it just a normal windows CD? Why don't you just boot from it and install?

--scott

John VV · 01-15-2009, 03:50 PM

FAT16 this is xp we are talking about ,not win 95 or 3.31

xp WILL not work on a 16 bit file system

PTrenholme · 01-15-2009, 04:27 PM

But if you can reformat that partition as FAT32 or NTFS and do the copy again, you can have GRUB boot the partition. All you need to do is identify the name GRUB will use for the partition. If it's, say, (hd1,3), you can add a stanza in grub.conf like this:

Code:

title XP from copy
  root (hd1,3)
  makeactive
  chainloader +1

Note that you can use the built-in GRUB editor to experiment with changes.

If you really have your heart set on using a DVD, you might be able to do it with a DVD-RW and the newest GRUB available from gnu.org. I think (but have never tried it) that the latest test code supports booting from DVDs. (On the other hand, XP will probably not be able to deal with a DVD-RW file system, so the exercise is, mot likely, futile.)

As a DVD alternative, putting XP on a USB drive or memory stick should work with no problem. I bought a cheap HP desktop last year that came with "Vista" pre-installed. The box only had space for three drives inside it, so I yanked the Vista drive and filled the box with Linux stuff. Then I bought a cheap USB box, put the "Vista" drive in it, and it's been booting fine in that configuration - when I have any need for "Vista."

RoxFox64 · 01-15-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Is it just a normal windows CD? Why don't you just boot from it and install?

--scott

No, I have a TinyXP ISO. I can't burn it because I don't have a Burner to use(The desktop only has a reader, and my laptop's a Compaq...)

Quote:

But if you can reformat that partition as FAT32 or NTFS and do the copy again, you can have GRUB boot the partition. All you need to do is identify the name GRUB will use for the partition. If it's, say, (hd1,3), you can add a stanza in grub.conf like this:

Code:

title XP from copy
  root (hd1,3)
  makeactive
  chainloader +1

Note that you can use the built-in GRUB editor to experiment with changes.

Thanks! I'll be trying this now. I've already reformatted, so I just gotta re-transfer.

PTrenholme · 01-16-2009, 03:08 PM

Just a thought: Rather than a simple copy, you could use the XP backup/restore package to back up the whole XP system (making sure that you include the registry and system files, since they're excluded by default). That way any problems should be laid to Windows door instead of Linux or GRUB. I think a simple copy should work, but Microsoft may include "special features" in their system, with which the backup application can deal, to "adjust things" for a "different" environment.

Of course, by the time you've read this, you will, presumably, know if the straight copy worked.

RoxFox64 · 01-16-2009, 03:28 PM

IT wouldn't matter much anyway. I'm using TinyXP Rather than a traditional copy of windows. If there were some "Special Features" They were removed by experience to save space and RAM.