Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

Kamey · 2022-02-06 18:38:10

Hello everyone, I've recently Installed Windows 7 on a separate HDD partition while after that also installing Arch Linux on an SSD Drive as root but leaving the home directory on another partition of the same HDD where windows is installed.

Disk /dev/sdb = SSD
Disk /dev/sda = HDD

SDA - HDD:

/dev/sda1            2048 488384511 488382464 232.9G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       488384512 976773167 488388656 232.9G 83 Linux

SDB - SSD:

/dev/sdb1          2048   2099199   2097152     1G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2       2099200 234441647 232342448 110.8G 83 Linux

/dev/sda1 is where Windows 7 is installed.
/dev/sda2 is where Arch Linux /home directory is set to.

/dev/sdb1 is Linux Swap.
/dev/sdb2 is Arch Linux root partition.

I've tried Installing os-prober and running grub update but It doesn't seem to be working.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-06 18:52:40

Is the Windows partition mounted when you run os-prober? I presume you have enabled os-prober in /etc/default/grub?

Relevant reading: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#MS_Windows

Kamey · 2022-02-06 21:15:33

Hi, Yes os-prober is enabled in /etc/default/grub but I can mount the partition, while it wasn't mounted when I ran os-prober is there a specific location that I should mount it to?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-06 21:20:56

/mnt is probably best but it doesn't really matter as long as you don't mount it over a system directory such as /usr/bin/, /usr/lib/, /usr/share/, /home/, etc.

Kamey · 2022-02-07 03:19:23

I've tried that just now and It didn't do anything:

[kamey@hp ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
[kamey@hp ~]$ ls /mnt
'$Recycle.Bin'             pagefile.sys  'Program Files'         Recovery.txt                 Users
'Documents and Settings'   PerfLogs      'Program Files (x86)'   system.sav                   Windows
 hiberfil.sys              ProgramData    Recovery              'System Volume Information'
[kamey@hp ~]$ sudo os-prober
[kamey@hp ~]$

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-07 05:38:39

Please post the output of

type os-prober
sudo parted --list

Kamey · 2022-02-07 18:43:46

[kamey@hp ~]$ type os-prober
os-prober is /usr/bin/os-prober

[kamey@hp ~]$ sudo parted --list
[sudo] password for kamey: 
Model: ATA ST500LM000-1EJ16 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  250GB  250GB  primary  ntfs
 2      250GB   500GB  250GB  primary  xfs


Model: ATA KINGSTON SUV5001 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  1075MB  1074MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)
 2      1075MB  120GB   119GB   primary  f2fs

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-07 18:51:15

Is the ntfs-3g package installed? There is a Note about that on the ArchWiki page to which I linked earlier.

If that doesn't get os-prober working you can try adding this stanza to the end of the file at /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

menuentry 'Windows' {
   search.fs_uuid $uuid
   chainloader +1
}

Replace $uuid with the actual (filesystem) UUID of the Windows partition and update grub.cfg with grub-mkconfig after saving the file.

Kamey · 2022-02-07 19:34:50

Yeah ntfs-3g is installed.

Kamey · 2022-02-07 19:42:32

Okay I did this

menuentry 'Windows' {
   search.fs_uuid AAAE97DEAE97A17D
   chainloader +1
}

and then updated grub using

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

but when I try to boot to windows from grub entry I get this error.

hd1,msdos1 hd1,msdos1error: invalid signature.
Press any key to continue...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-07 20:17:45

Looks like the Windows bootloader isn't on that partition. You may have wiped it when running the grub-install command. I'm not completely sure though so wait and see if anybody else has a better idea.

EDIT: did you delete any other Windows partitions before installing Arch?

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2022-02-07 20:25:09)

Kamey · 2022-02-07 20:39:49

I didn't delete any partitions before Installing arch, I guess boot loader got wiped somehow, and that's weird since grub is supposed to be on my ssd, is there any way to check for windows bootloader or just recover it, also that Windows install doesn't have any important files on it so do you think it would be safe to proceed and reinstall or would it somehow harm my linux installation.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-07 21:10:20

Questions about recovering the Windows bootloader are best addressed through that operating system's support channels. I don't think a reinstall would damage Arch though, the Windows installer always restricts it's operations to the selected partitions, at least in my experience. GRUB would need to be re-installed though.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-02-06 18:38:10

Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#2 2022-02-06 18:52:40

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#3 2022-02-06 21:15:33

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#4 2022-02-06 21:20:56

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#5 2022-02-07 03:19:23

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#6 2022-02-07 05:38:39

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#7 2022-02-07 18:43:46

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#8 2022-02-07 18:51:15

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#9 2022-02-07 19:34:50

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#10 2022-02-07 19:42:32

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#11 2022-02-07 20:17:45

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#12 2022-02-07 20:39:49

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

#13 2022-02-07 21:10:20

Re: Grub doesn't recognize windows 7 partition.

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