Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

kamigr · 2010-01-12 14:32:18

Greetings!

Its been a long while since I had to dual-boot with windows on the same machine.

I 've installed windows 7 and then arch linux and installed GRUB on my sda1 where the /boot partitions is located at.
I've managed to boot into arch successfully and later into windows also successfully.... but when i tried to boot into arch again I wasn't greeted with the typical GRUB boot screen... grub was ignored completely and win7 booting began as if it was the only OS in my hard drive.

I've used the gparted live cd and realized that the boot flag has changed from my /boot partition (sda1) to my windows partition (sda2). I've changed it back and I was able to boot into arch again. but when I rebooted to win7 and then to arch the same thing has happened. The boot flag keeps changing whenever im rebooting into windows making impossible for me to boot with GRUB unles I manually change the flag again.

I haven't installed GRUB into the MBR because I hear it is a bad practice when you have a windows OS also installed (something with service packs not being able to install, among other things). I also don't want to use the easyBCD method to boot arch using the win7 loader.

here is the partition scheme on my 500gb sata drive :

/dev/sda1 /boot 250mb (primary)
/dev/sda2 windows 7 ntfs 100gb (primary)
/dev/sda3 swap 4gb (primary)
/dev/sda5 / 16gb (logical)
/dev/sda6 /var 8gb (logical)
/dev/sda7 /home the rest of the hd space (logical)

What am I doing wrong and how do i prevent the boot flag from changing?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

Last edited by kamigr (2010-01-12 14:35:07)

mrunion · 2010-01-12 14:41:12

Can't help with your problem, but I've always installed GRUB to MBR and never had any problems with service pack installations. Of course, I only have old XP on all machines except two and those two are Vista (came with the machines pre-installed). I've never heard not to install GRUB to MBR because of the problem you mention. Where is the source of that info so I can read about the potential problems?

kamigr · 2010-01-12 14:46:48

Sure...I'll try to find it again and post it

Here it is:

http://apcmag.com/vista_sp1_wont_instal … rosoft.htm

Apparently all vista/win7 service packs perform some kind of MBR cheking during their installation...hence the problem with GRUB when it is installed there.

Last edited by kamigr (2010-01-12 14:56:06)

kamigr · 2010-01-13 04:24:25

Any suggestions...anyone?

jowilkin · 2010-01-13 04:55:42

All I can offer is that I've always installed grub to the mbr when I dual boot and I haven't had problems with Windows upgrades. I know Windows always wants to be on a boot partition, so that is probably why it's changing it on you.

litemotiv · 2010-01-13 07:03:09

jowilkin wrote:

All I can offer is that I've always installed grub to the mbr when I dual boot and I haven't had problems with Windows upgrades. I know Windows always wants to be on a boot partition, so that is probably why it's changing it on you.

then maybe he should try installing grub on sda2?

vacant · 2010-01-13 09:47:59

kamigr wrote:

http://apcmag.com/vista_sp1_wont_instal … rosoft.htm

Apparently all vista/win7 service packs perform some kind of MBR cheking during their installation...hence the problem with GRUB when it is installed there.

No, in the last paragraph:

"only Vista Enterprise and Ultimate are affected"

How often does a service pack come out? Exactly. So put grub on the MBR and if you don't have "basic" or "home" editions, use one of the solutions in that article.

kamigr · 2010-01-13 12:37:38

Yeah...im a little bit tired of googling for solutions just to keep windows happy

I'll put grub into the MBR and forget about it.

Thanks guys for your inputs!!!

naequs · 2011-02-06 11:33:53

bumping this because i have the EXACT same problem !
however i installed grub to sda1 because i didnt want my installs to mess with each other (not that ive had any problems with grub in mbr though...) .
this just looked cleaner to me.
if anyone has figured out how to prevent windows from automagically changing the bootgflag, id like to know !
but maybe this is a question more suitable for a windoze forum

tia

/edit: seriously, ive been searching the net for some time now, including irc chans and there seems to be no solution to this ! all threads similar to this just end dead !
i hate how windows claims to own my computer!

Last edited by naequs (2011-02-06 15:22:26)

Mr.Elendig · 2011-02-06 19:10:27

naequs wrote:

bumping this because i have the EXACT same problem !
however i installed grub to sda1 because i didnt want my installs to mess with each other (not that ive had any problems with grub in mbr though...) .
this just looked cleaner to me.
if anyone has figured out how to prevent windows from automagically changing the bootgflag, id like to know !
but maybe this is a question more suitable for a windoze forum
tia
/edit: seriously, ive been searching the net for some time now, including irc chans and there seems to be no solution to this ! all threads similar to this just end dead !
i hate how windows claims to own my computer!

1. don't necrobump
2. as mentioned in the thread, just install grub to mbr and chainload windows. It works just fine and is the easiest way to get it working reliable.

windancer · 2011-03-20 17:59:02

Hey, everyone. I have met the same problem. And I figure it out.
1. make sure that the partition where your /boot file is on is both primary and bootable
2. change your partition, IN WINDOWS, to be activity ! （I choose the 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' in win7 to do this）
Now, arch works well.

Last edited by windancer (2011-03-20 18:00:02)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-12 14:32:18

Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#2 2010-01-12 14:41:12

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#3 2010-01-12 14:46:48

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#4 2010-01-13 04:24:25

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#5 2010-01-13 04:55:42

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#6 2010-01-13 07:03:09

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#7 2010-01-13 09:47:59

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#8 2010-01-13 12:37:38

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#9 2011-02-06 11:33:53

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#10 2011-02-06 19:10:27

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

#11 2011-03-20 17:59:02

Re: Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

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