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#1 2013-04-12 16:50:35

soulrainX
Member
Registered: 2013-03-20
Posts: 48

[SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

So here is my set-up:

fdisk -l output:

Disk /dev/sda: 300.1 GB, 300069052416 bytes, 586072368 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69f496d3

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048    67110911    33554432   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 240.1 GB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006216b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048    31459327    15728640   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2       449777662   468860927     9541633    5  Extended

lsblk output:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
fd0      2:0    1     4K  0 disk 
sda      8:0    0 279.5G  0 disk 
└─sda1   8:1    0    32G  0 part /home
sdb      8:16   0 223.6G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0    15G  0 part /
└─sdb2   8:18   0     1K  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom 

sda is a 300GB WD Raptor HD
sdb is a 240 GB OCX SSD

So I recently setup Arch and I put root (/) on the SSD(sdb) and /home on the WD (sda)

When I install windows apparently my grub bootloader will get overwritten so what info do I need to rebuild it?

From research, I see you need a live cd and then you chroot into arch but I get lost after that.

Partitions and hdds stuff always confuses me so sorry if I am being unclear.

Also when I do fdisk -l I thought there was supposed to be an * indicating my boot partition which there isn't...

Thanks for advance and if I missed something let me know.

Last edited by soulrainX (2013-04-25 00:44:39)


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#2 2013-04-12 17:00:18

nomorewindows
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Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

I think once you chroot, probably just running grub-install /dev/sda should work.  Your boot will be on the root partition. seeing you have no separate /boot.


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#3 2013-04-12 18:40:33

soulrainX
Member
Registered: 2013-03-20
Posts: 48

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

nomorewindows wrote:

I think once you chroot, probably just running grub-install /dev/sda should work.  Your boot will be on the root partition. seeing you have no separate /boot.

I think you meant sdb as my / is on sdb... burning cd now see how it goes big_smile

Thanks for the help.

Messing with this stuff always causes me anxiety


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#4 2013-04-12 19:33:11

teateawhy
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From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

In this situation you do not need to chroot,  assuming you mounted /dev/sdb1 to /mnt before, only running 'grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb' is necessary.

Last edited by teateawhy (2013-04-12 19:35:28)

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#5 2013-04-12 19:50:31

alphaniner
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From: Ancapistan
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 2,810

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

On which drive is the GRUB bootcode installed? FYI, this has nothing to do with which drive is sda, or which drive contains /boot; it should be determined by which drive your computer is set to boot from.

Regarding the * indicating boot partition: that's strictly for use by the bootloader, and not all bootloaders need it.

And re: anxiety: before you mess with partitions or bootloaders, save the output of fdisk -l to a file and dd the first 2048 sectors to an image (on a drive other than the ones you're messing with). With these, you can most likely recover from any partitioning or bootloader-installing mistake.


But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

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#6 2013-04-12 19:58:33

soulrainX
Member
Registered: 2013-03-20
Posts: 48

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

alphaniner wrote:

On which drive is the GRUB bootcode installed? FYI, this has nothing to do with which drive is sda, or which drive contains /boot; it should be determined by which drive your computer is set to boot from.

Regarding the * indicating boot partition: that's strictly for use by the bootloader, and not all bootloaders need it.

And re: anxiety: before you mess with partitions or bootloaders, save the output of fdisk -l to a file and dd the first 2048 sectors to an image (on a drive other than the ones you're messing with). With these, you can most likely recover from any partitioning or bootloader-installing mistake.

I was just reading a post about the point you make about the BIOS hdd priority and where my MBR is. I just checked BIOS and I am booting from the OCZ SSD (sdb).

dd the first 2048 sectors to an image (on a drive other than the ones you're messing with).

so this would be capturing my MBR?

Thanks for the tips gonna go look up 'dd' and see how to write the first 2048 secors to an image on a USB.


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arch + lxde

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#7 2013-04-12 20:43:33

alphaniner
Member
From: Ancapistan
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 2,810

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

so this would be capturing my MBR?

That actually captures a lot more than the MBR, which is just the very first sector. As for the remaining 2047 sectors, some portion of that is used by grub to store additional boot code.

If you're not familiar with dd, be very, very careful! There's a reason people say it's short for 'drive destroyer'...


But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

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#8 2013-04-25 00:44:04

soulrainX
Member
Registered: 2013-03-20
Posts: 48

Re: [SOLVED] Installing Windows After Arch. Help Needed

Finally got some free time now that school is over and tackled this problem.

I simply booted from a Knoppix cd and navigated into /boot/grub and ran a grub-update and rebooted.

Grub updated properly and all is well. Thanks for all those who posted.

Last edited by soulrainX (2013-04-25 01:09:04)


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