Arch Linux

RichardPW

Member

Registered: 2011-12-03

Posts: 9

[Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

Hey all,
So I tried setting up my Win7/Arch dual boot system yesterday and I think I got the partitions right (correct me if I made any mistakes), but GRUB was not showing my main windows partition. I went into the menu.lst file and uncommented what I thought was my windows partition, but turned out to be my Samsung recovery partition. After a reboot, Grub now won't even load and automatically reboots the computer on failing. I'm sure that once I can figure out how to get back into that config file from my installer CD, I will be able to re-comment that windows entry, but I still am unsure how to get it to recognize my main windows partition.

Here are the partitions:
Name   Flags    Part Type       FS type     [Label]            Size
sda1    (Boot)   Primary           ntfs          [RECOVERY]   16GB
sda2                Primary           ntfs           [SYSTEM]       104MB
sda3                Primary           ntfs                                 372GB  (main windows7 partition)
sda5                Logical            ext2           [root]             15GB
sda6                Logical            swap          [swap]            4GB
sda7    (Boot)   Logical            ext2           [boot]            100 MB
sda8                Logical            ext3                                 92GB  (home Linux partition)

Thanks for your help

Last edited by RichardPW (2011-12-05 00:01:57)

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

Grub isn't in the business of recognizing anything. It's grub2 which tries to do that. But with grub you have to know what you're doing and configure it correctly yourself.

roygbiv

Member

Registered: 2011-05-18

Posts: 204

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

In this case, try to change the rootnoverify entry in menu.lst from hd0,0 to hd0,1 - where your windows system partition is.

RichardPW

Member

Registered: 2011-12-03

Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

Okay so first I tried recommenting all of the windows boot information with no luck. Then I changed the windows line to "rootnoverify (hd0,1)," also with no luck. Grub still tries to load but crashes and reboots the system before presenting me with any options.

Here are the options, if this helps at all.
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linus
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /initramfs-linux.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img

# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Mavirick

Member

Registered: 2011-12-01

Posts: 62

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

You are pointing to the wrong partition for Windows.

# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linus
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /initramfs-linux.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda5 ro
initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img

# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
makeactive
chainloader +1

RichardPW

Member

Registered: 2011-12-03

Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

Okay I changed the rootnoverify to point to (hd0,2) and grub still fails to load. It says "GRUB Loading stage1.5." for a split second and then the screen goes black. This is really strange because I was able to boot into Arch with all of the windows info commented out originally. Even when I put it back to that state, it still won't load

Maybe I should just try reinstalling Arch along with GRUB to see if that fixes the problem?

roygbiv

Member

Registered: 2011-05-18

Posts: 204

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

You should point the address of your linux partitions to the right place as well -> change entries with 'root (hd0,6)' to root '(hd0,4)' and keep the rootnoverify (hd0,2) - assuming your windows install is on the third partition.

Last edited by roygbiv (2011-12-04 18:24:51)

RichardPW

Member

Registered: 2011-12-03

Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

I tried that with no success so I reinstalled Arch and GRUB using ext3 for all of the partitions. I'm not really sure when to use which one, but other than that, I did the setup exactly the same. So once the reinstall was finished, I went into Arch, changed the windows boot to hd0,1 and now I can get back into my windows partition! I still don't know why GRUB was failing to load, but at least I can get into my Windows partition. Thanks for your help guys!

Mavirick

Member

Registered: 2011-12-01

Posts: 62

Re: [Solved] Grub not showing windows partition

If you have a solution then edit your first post with [Solved] preceding the title.