How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

drperry · 2014-08-08 15:38:28

I've tried modifying the syslinux.cfg at the label "windows" with APPEND hd0 2 or ntldr=ntldr or any other variation of those two. I know I have to boot into hd0 2 because it comes up with the error "can't boot into BOOTMGR" whereas it just stays at "boot:" on anything else. When I installed Arch on sda 4 and 5 (sda1,2,3 is taken up by Windows, sda1=system reserved, sda2=windows, sda3=apparently isn't anything), I obviously wasn't able to boot into Windows after the partition table was written to disk with the boot and home partition of Arch. I've read somewhere that I should recover the BOOTMGR with the Windows repair/recovery disc but me being stupid, I forgot to note down my Windows version so subsequently not owning the repair disk that came with my Windows installation, any version of Windows I punch into the CD drive comes up with the error "not the right version of Windows repair".

Is anyone able to help me? I've looked around posts and found no solutions... Syslinux just doesn't want to boot into Windows.

Any questions you have I can happily answer...

Thanks.

Slithery · 2014-08-08 16:21:50

Are you sure its not hd0,1 you need to boot to? You usually have to point your bootloader at the Windows system reserved partition, not the main Windows partition.

drperry · 2014-08-08 17:15:49

I've tried that.

One thing to note that I failed to mention is when I use

APPEND hd0 2

it says

Booting...

BOOTMGR is missing.
Press CTRL+ALT+Del to restart.

If I use

APPEND hd0 2 ntldr=bootmgr

then it just comes up with

ERR: Couldn't read the boot file
Boot:

The Infinity · 2014-08-08 18:49:37

"hd0 2" refers to the second partition of the first hard drive. Are you sure this is the right partition with the Windows Bootloader installed (sometimes the Bootmanager is stored on a separate 100 MB partition)?
Have you the line "COM32 chain.c32" in your configuration? See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/sy … ainloading

Last edited by The Infinity (2014-08-08 18:52:34)

drperry · 2014-08-08 19:07:12

I have the Windows System Reserved in the sda1, or hd0 1 partition but when I try to boot from that (knowing that's where the bootmanager is supposed to be) it just stays at "Booting..." forever. I thought considering I actually get a response using hd0 2 instead, it would make sense to assume that's where I'm supposed to boot from.

This is the Windows configuration in my syslinux.cfg:

LABEL windows
    MENU LABEL Windows
    COM32 chain.32
    APPEND hd0 1 (or any other variation of hd0 that I've tried)

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 19:09:19

Not an Installation issue, moving to NC...

drperry · 2014-08-08 19:11:24

I was going to put it into NC but considered against it because I thought the whole installation of Syslinux bodging up my Windows boot would be better in installation... Thanks for moving it to the right place though.

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 19:20:17

Try using one of the other identifiers (depending on whether your are using MBR/GPT): https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … ainloading

drperry · 2014-08-08 19:34:17

I'm using GPT and the wiki suggests that I use filesystem labels. I'm struggling to understand this properly - does that mean I should use /boot/syslinux/ or something? If so, what do I use?

I tried using mbr:<identifier> for sda1 and sda2 for their respective hexadecimal disk identifier but both times it came up with an error

Unable to find requested MBR signature

Last edited by drperry (2014-08-08 19:34:31)

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 19:48:31

http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/73 … ncient-mbr-

drperry · 2014-08-08 20:27:08

How can I use that in my syslinux.cfg? It talks about UUIDs and stuff but I don't know how I can use that information to boot into Windows?

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 20:32:32

Its a more robust way of referencing your drive/partition number. You work out what the GPT label is and use that instead of `hd0 1` which is subject to the vagaries of the kernel loading order.
The link I provided tells you how to retrieve the label and then you just stick it in the syslinux.cfg.

drperry · 2014-08-08 20:44:55

Considering my sda2 (my Windows partition) didn't have a label, I had to use the GUID of it instead. It still came up with "BOOTMGR is missing". Unsurprisingly, sda1 went to "booting..." again whether I used it's label "System Reserved" or it's GUID.

I tried:

APPEND guid=<guid of sda1>

APPEND label="System Reserved"

APPEND guid=<guid of sda2>

Last edited by drperry (2014-08-08 20:45:32)

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 20:52:37

I don't use Windows, but it sounds to me like this isn't an issue with syslinux, but something Windows related.

drperry · 2014-08-08 20:58:10

I was able to boot into Windows just fine before I installed Arch. If I can't boot into Windows, how can I access the files of that partition without being root? It's telling me I don't have authorized access to the "145GB file system".

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 21:10:12

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ntfs

drperry · 2014-08-08 21:22:28

Thanks. I'll have to reinstall Windows at some point and if it still doesn't want to boot into Windows after that then dammit I might actually just throw my laptop out of the window.

jasonwryan · 2014-08-08 21:27:55

Well, the Arch part is worth keeping...

Arch Linux

#1 2014-08-08 15:38:28

How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#2 2014-08-08 16:21:50

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#3 2014-08-08 17:15:49

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#4 2014-08-08 18:49:37

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#5 2014-08-08 19:07:12

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#6 2014-08-08 19:09:19

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#7 2014-08-08 19:11:24

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#8 2014-08-08 19:20:17

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#9 2014-08-08 19:34:17

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#10 2014-08-08 19:48:31

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#11 2014-08-08 20:27:08

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#12 2014-08-08 20:32:32

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#13 2014-08-08 20:44:55

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#14 2014-08-08 20:52:37

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#15 2014-08-08 20:58:10

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#16 2014-08-08 21:10:12

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#17 2014-08-08 21:22:28

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

#18 2014-08-08 21:27:55

Re: How to boot into Windows after Arch Linux and Syslinux is installed?

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