Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-08 10:39:16

I have a netbook that I'd like to put windows on. I reserved a primary partition (sda4) for it (boot flag/ntfs), and since I have no other way to install it but through flash memory, I made a small, clean install onto disk and used dd to copy everything over to the flash drive. Normally I'm able to just copy all the data over (dd if=/dev/sdam of=/dev/sdbn), and the mbr stuff over (dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=446 count=1), and everything is good, but I can't get the windows partition to boot after I copy it over. I've tried fiddling w/ grub and the boot.ini file (different partition numbers), and copying the mbr to the beginning of sda (hosed grub) and the beginning of sda4 (hosed the windows partition), but when I try to boot windows grub hangs w/ the boot information and a flashing cursor. Any ideas as to what needs to be done to get windows to boot?

Last edited by omgwtfbyobbq (2011-03-10 01:42:44)

IncredibleLaser · 2011-03-08 11:02:19

Windows bootloader expects to be on the first harddisk. The wiki has all the information you need.

BTW, this does not belong in GNU/Linux Discussion as it is a support request.

Last edited by IncredibleLaser (2011-03-08 11:06:11)

Inxsible · 2011-03-08 15:01:51

moving to newbie corner....

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-08 19:14:36

Windows is on the first (only) hard disk, does it have to be on the first partition too?

Last edited by omgwtfbyobbq (2011-03-08 20:07:41)

sriracha · 2011-03-08 20:07:07

Windows usually won't boot if you just copy the partition over, as it messes with some of it's settings. Have you tried to insert the windows cd and tried to do a startup repair from there?

Worst case scenario: If the drive is accessible from within linux, you could copy all the needed information over to either your linux partition or to another drive, reinstall windows, reinstall grub, and copy it all back. It's some work, but it would probably do the job.

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-08 20:08:29

There is only one drive and no CD drive on the netbook.

bohoomil · 2011-03-08 20:10:12

Somewhere between September and October, I was asked to setup a couple of netbooks to dualboot with Windows (previously both were running Linux Mint exclusively). After messing around for a while I realized that the easiest and most effective method to do so is to 1) rsync existing Linux install to a new partition, 2) install Windows on the first main partition using memory stick, 3) reinstall and update Grub. If there's no special reason for you to look for a different method, I'd do it this way.

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-08 21:03:20

Do you happen to have any good links to installing windows via a USB stick? I though about it, but everything I've found seemed to be convoluted, so I figured I would just copy everything over like I have in the past. Unfortunately something isn't quite right (my guess is the windows MBR file but who knows).

bohoomil · 2011-03-08 21:55:37

Kill me -- I can't find the one I eventually used. However, the good news is there are tones of websites where various methods are described, like this one:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions … ux-762229/

Give it a go -- hope it works.

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-09 04:08:08

I found another couple utilities (nlite and something called winsetupfromusb), and everything went well, but the end result is the same, a blinking cursor when I try to boot windows.

bohoomil · 2011-03-09 11:52:50

Are you going to put your WIndows ISO on /dev/sdb or /dev/sdb1 (assuming sdb is the correct USB device)? Take a look at

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/create-b … drive.html

-- and possibly

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/windowsxpusb (mentioned in the same article).

IncredibleLaser · 2011-03-09 17:43:02

Would you mind posting your menu.lst?

omgwtfbyobbq · 2011-03-10 01:41:48

It wasn't a menu.lst or boot.ini issue as far as I can tell. I tried just about every partition permutation I could in both files and nothing worked. I eventually bit the bullet and deleted boot and swap so I could just install XP on the first partition and everything was fine after that.

My best guess is that the MBRs, both the one written through the USB stick version of the XP install and the versions I pulled off of other windows installs, weren't correct, and wouldn't point to the correct partition. I can't remember exactly, but odds are when I encountered this in the past I probably just dropped the XP install CD again so it would write the correct data to the MBR and reinstalled grub, but since I couldn't do that in this case I was kinda hosed. The only thing that I didn't try and could have worked was making a clean XP install on the third partition of a hard drive and using that MBR.

Last edited by omgwtfbyobbq (2011-03-11 03:14:53)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-08 10:39:16

Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#2 2011-03-08 11:02:19

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#3 2011-03-08 15:01:51

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#4 2011-03-08 19:14:36

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#5 2011-03-08 20:07:07

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#6 2011-03-08 20:08:29

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#7 2011-03-08 20:10:12

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#8 2011-03-08 21:03:20

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#9 2011-03-08 21:55:37

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#10 2011-03-09 04:08:08

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#11 2011-03-09 11:52:50

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#12 2011-03-09 17:43:02

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

#13 2011-03-10 01:41:48

Re: Getting windows to boot from grub [Resolved]

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