Arch Linux

bohokash

Member

Registered: 2019-11-30

Posts: 76

How can I add Windows 7 to GRUB menu?

I would like to start a Windows 7 installation for that reason to be able to run a hardware specific utility, for resetting an USB pendrive to its factory defaults. The Windows 7 installation is on an older IDE hard drive, an external drive, what is connected to the laptop through an USB/IDE adapter. The partition of Windows 7:

/dev/sdb4: BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C84C81284C7CD18" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="0008b875-04"

Now how can I add it to the GRUB menu, or what program should I use to make that menu automatically? I tried "os-prober" utility, but it didn't worked for Windows 7, it didn't find the Windows partition. I also tried grub-costomizer, but I wasn't able to find such an option in that program, which can add Windows 7 boot into GRUB menu.

Last edited by bohokash (2022-02-11 16:09:00)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,292

Re: How can I add Windows 7 to GRUB menu?

If your GRUB is UEFI and the disk is MBR you can't, you can however directly boot the disk provided you enable CSM in your UEFI/BIOS

IF Window is installes in UEFI mode it should have the ESP partition which is the one you'd mount and relevantly os-probe.

Last edited by V1del (2022-02-11 16:50:33)

bohokash

Member

Registered: 2019-11-30

Posts: 76

Re: How can I add Windows 7 to GRUB menu?

I see. Unfortunately my BIOS doesn't support CSM, as there is no legacy option.

On top of that, the Windows 7 partition was installed in BIOS mode, on another computer, not in UEFI mode on the laptop.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,690

Re: How can I add Windows 7 to GRUB menu?

...tthe Windows 7 partition was installed in BIOS mode, on another computer, not in UEFI mode on the laptop.

I doubt it work work in any event.  Windows (at least when last I encountered it) is very picky about wholesale hardware changes from the system it was installed on.  If too many things change at once, it starts to suspect that it is running on a system other than it was licensed upon.  Things get worse in a hurry if it is depending on secrets in the TPM of your motherboard.

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