Arch Linux

lost eden

Member

Registered: 2008-01-01

Posts: 62

Arch to Arch/Vista dualboot (separate disks)

As my box stands atm, I have a 160GB SATA drive containing my Arch install, a 60GB SATA used as a scratch drive & a 320GB IDE used as 'storage' for music/videos/etc. What I want to do is install Windows Vista Business on the 60GB SATA & have a dual boot system (I want to play some games). What is the best way of doing this?

The idea I had was to;

1.) disconnect 160GB SATA & 320GB IDE, leaving just 60GB SATA connected
2.) install Vista as normal on the 60GB SATA
3.) reconnect 160GB SATA & 320GB IDE
4.) boot into Arch
5.) alter grub config & fstab

Will it be as simple as this? Searching the wiki I can only find guides on dualbooting from the same disk, not on separate ones (which should remove the dangers of Windows messing up the MBR code, especially if I have the other disks disconnected).

rooloo

Member

Registered: 2008-07-09

Posts: 218

Re: Arch to Arch/Vista dualboot (separate disks)

I do same thing as you. but instead of using grub I use my bios.

when bios boots, on newer hardware (esc in my case), press and hold esc, this will give u a boot menu. From there I just press the right disk I want to use. IE... linux or windows drive.

From there the windows boot loader takes over or grub, but either way, it's the simplest of solutions.

Last edited by rooloo (2008-07-28 10:16:51)

lost eden

Member

Registered: 2008-01-01

Posts: 62

Re: Arch to Arch/Vista dualboot (separate disks)

Oh of course, that would make it even easier... I'll check the BIOS when I get back (at work with laptop atm).

pheon

Member

From: Berlin, Germany

Registered: 2008-05-14

Posts: 91

Re: Arch to Arch/Vista dualboot (separate disks)

Hello,

The idea I had was to;

1.) disconnect 160GB SATA & 320GB IDE, leaving just 60GB SATA connected
2.) install Vista as normal on the 60GB SATA
3.) reconnect 160GB SATA & 320GB IDE
4.) boot into Arch
5.) alter grub config & fstab

Will it be as simple as this?

Unfortunately no. The Installation on seperate disks makes it a bit more complicated due to Windows does not like to be installed on any secondary HD.

1. Linux on primary, Windows on secondary, GRUB
In this setup you have your Linux installation on sda, windows on sdb and set your BIOS to check first on sda for any OS. This will give you your "normal" GRUB menu. It is now possible to pretend Windows it is installed on the first harddisk instead of the second - this will allow you/windows to boot up as normal. Alltough some programms in Windows may cause problems. I don't think this will affect any games.
Link how to do that:
Gentoo Forums thread

2. Linux on primary, Windows on secondary, LILO
In general the same as above, but with LILO instead of GRUB
Gentoo Wiki

3. Windows on primary, Linux on secondary, boot Linux with NTLDR
Windows will be installed on sda, Linux on sdb and BIOS boots by default to SDA. The Windowsbootmanager will start and give you the option, to "chainboot" into GRUB from where you can boot Linux as normal. I am not 100% sure if this is really going to work, but in theory...
There is proably some more google-work required thanks tot the changes MS made with bootmgr (ntldr's follower)
An overview of how to do this:
Convert a Windows system to dual-boot Linux on a second drive
How to dual-boot Windows NT/2000/XP and Linux using NTLDR
Boot Grub with Windowsbootloader
Using Vista's Boot Manager to Boot Linux

Changing the boot-order in the BIOS (or with the boot-menu form the BIOS) is in fact the most simple and undangerous way to do this, alltough this might become annoying after some time...

Regards

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watching someone else use your computer is like watching a drunk orangutan solve a rubix cube