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Newbie first attempt with limited resources looking for a Xmas mulligan.
Laptop currently running Windows 7 with MBR. Following the installation wiki as best I can. Created /dev/sda3 formatted ext4. No swap files. A few glitches along the way but I feel that I resolved everything.
I installed GRUB as my bootloader. Installed on /dev/sda. I feel that I am missing something in the grub.cfg. I'm confused because there are so many variations and the BIOS /MBR is far down the page. It gives an example that I suspect is supposed to be added to the grub.cfg file. I can open the file with nano but I don't understand how or where to insert the text. My limitation currently is that I only have my phone to search and I can't post a proper example. But the heading of the screenshot is "For Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10: And the text begins" if [ "grub_platform}" == "pc"] ; then.... I think another possible complication is that osprober was not installed. I have since tried to install it but I get the impression that I must unmount and run the grub-mkconfig then remount and I'm not sure I understand the concept.
Reboot and Windows 7 does not show up as a choice,only the Arch Linux options. Arch linux starts and appears to be fine. I'm not opposed to starting over but my concern is that I will lose my Windows 7. If I can get back into Windows 7 I can do some more research and get a better plan together for the next attempt.
Any thoughts on how to proceed? Should I focus on modification of the grub.cfg file? If starting over will installation of osprober before the grub.cfg capture the Windows 7 verbiage?
Was hoping to get through this without the desperate newbie vibe but I'm stuck.
Last edited by Auraria (2019-12-22 20:49:22)
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I think another possible complication is that osprober was not installed. I have since tried to install it...
Did you actually install it? Then just run grub-mkconfig but you'll need the prober (you can do it by hand but the prober is better to start with).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB
Last edited by d_fajardo (2019-12-22 18:10:18)
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I did install and re-ran grub-mkconfig but contrary to the instructions I didn't mount the partition that contain the other systems as I'm concerned about loosing my Windows 7 inadvertently doing something I don't truly understand. "To have grub-mkconfig search for other installed systems and automatically add them to the menu, install the os-prober package and mount the partitions that contain the other systems. Then re-run grub-mkconfig."
Below that bit of the instructions are some notes concerning NTFS
issues.
My partitions are sda1 ntfs system reserved sda2 ntfs and sda3 ext4
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I didn't mount the partition that contain the other systems as I'm concerned about loosing my Windows 7 inadvertently doing something I don't truly understand
If you are concerned, you can clone your disk first before making any changes but the Wiki instructions doesn't point to anything loosing your Windows partition, if it does I'm sure Arch would have given a warning. When you mount it, then os-prober will find it. This just changes the configuration of your grub.cfg and doesn't touch your Windows partition at all but just get it's address in the disk.
Edit. The wiki also mentions you might need ntfs-3g to mount an NTFS partition.
Last edited by d_fajardo (2019-12-22 19:28:34)
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I added the verbiage under the BIOS/MBR section of the Grub instructions to /etc/grub.d/40_custom and regenerated. Rebooted to find the "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 B IOS/MBR" Added to my choice in GNU Grub. When I make that selection I get "error: no such device: root. error: file ' /bootmgr' not found. Press any key to continue..."
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Please post exactly what you added to 40_custom.
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Which partion do I mount if I try that? sda1 which is ntfs system reserved or is it sda2 ntfs? I used sda1 in the above modification to the 40_custom file.
Last edited by Auraria (2019-12-22 19:55:35)
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if [ "${grub_platform}" == "pc" ]; then
menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 BIOS/MBR" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
insmod ntldr
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 7AF6F565F6F521D5
ntldr /bootmgr
}
fi
I used the UUID from lsblk - f I have since tried the UUID for sda2 with same result. I didn't type in one long string. I broke it up to have this same layout using tab and enter keys.
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Did you install file system utilities like mtools, dosfstools, ntfs-3g to arch? My thinking is if you didn't, os-prober may not be able to read your Windows 7 partitions even if they are mounted.
EDIT: oops, didn't read d_fajardo's last edit to his post.
I didn't type in one long string. I broke it up to have this same layout using tab and enter keys.
If you're referring to that long statement starting with "search...", it has to be one long string.
Last edited by kermit63 (2019-12-22 20:34:42)
Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
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The system is using grub as the bootloader and it is not booting in EFI mode?
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Have installed os-prober but have not mounted my windows partition. I had asked if it was sda1 system reserved or sda2 that should be mounted. I have not installed any others. I was reading into the instructions that os-prober was doing it automagically where as modified 40_custom was accomplishing the same manually. I will start researching the ntfs-3g and see if I can make sense of it.
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Did you install file system utilities like mtools, dosfstools, ntfs-3g to arch? My thinking is if you didn't, os-prober may not be able to read your Windows 7 partitions even if they are mounted.
EDIT: oops, didn't read d_fajardo's last edit to his post.
I didn't type in one long string. I broke it up to have this same layout using tab and enter keys.
If you're referring to that long statement starting with "search...", it has to be one long string.
Bingo! Solved. Fixed the verbiage in the 40_custom file making one long string. This was sda1 system reserved with the sda1 UUID.
Logged into Windows. I will be waiting until I get back home to continue with my Arch linux education. My new years resolution was to be shed of windows before the end of 2020. Thanks to everyone that provided input.
Cheers!
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