Windows 7 delete grub

cfslack · 2009-10-31 05:55:32

That's right, Windows 7 has the great Bigeye eliminating overwrite the MBR and Grub, when I install Arch, Grub runs smoothly, but the 3rd or 5th reboot, Grub is gone, windows booted without problems with your own configuration.

Any ideas?

iBertus · 2009-10-31 06:36:25

Reinstall grub using the Arch Linux install CD.

timetrap · 2009-10-31 12:20:57

Windows likes to be the One OS, on any system. You should always install it first. Then install Linux.

Or you can just reinstall GRUB.

graysky · 2009-10-31 13:19:49

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gru … oot_Record

sekiz · 2009-10-31 21:18:10

I am using Windows 7 (Beta) and Arch on my laptop for 4-6 months. Nothing like what you report happened to me. MS would not dare to do it, they would be on the spot, even sued for that. Maybe it is an anti-spy or virus program.

vacant · 2009-11-01 10:32:48

cfslack wrote:

That's right, Windows 7 has the great Bigeye eliminating overwrite the MBR and Grub, when I install Arch, Grub runs smoothly, but the 3rd or 5th reboot, Grub is gone, windows booted without problems with your own configuration.

Can you double-check that you didn't install grub to the Arch boot partition and make that active? The reason I ask is that I believe Windows may well set the "active" partition back to itself. My 11 month old Arch laptop still has a shrunk Vista partition which I boot a couple of times a week and it has never upset grub, though maybe W7 has done that to you

Trent · 2009-11-01 13:21:14

Even if 7 does not set itself to the active partition, Grub itself will do that if you have the "makeactive" line in menu.lst. That confused me for the longest time when I was an Ubuntu user and trying to dual boot with Vista. I thought for the longest time that Windows was at fault, and it turned out to be an error of my own configuration.

dr_te_z · 2009-11-01 19:42:23

sekiz wrote:

MS would not dare to do it

O yeah they do. Back in the previous century: the 1st thing the windows'98 installer did was looking for OS/2 and disabling it.. The advise of install windows first and then you other O.S. is that old.

cfslack · 2009-11-01 20:26:12

Well, I think eh arch reinstalled about 4 times, is always the same, install arch, Arch restart if I select to boot, I can remain at Grub, but when choosing windows, this overwrites the same partition as bootable and leaving it by erasing the boot of arch.

Trent · 2009-11-02 00:46:05

Take "makeactive" out of menu.lst

cfslack · 2009-11-02 02:15:42

Ok i try that

grey · 2009-11-02 11:20:18

Here is what I found at http://lyonlabs.org/booting.html

... one of the data it stores is whether or not a partition is marked as bootable, or "active". This flag is only used by Microsoft bootloaders; GRUB doesn't care at all whether a partition is marked as active (although it does include the command makeactive to set this).

So it would be interesting to see if removing makeactive helps in this case. According to the info above it should not.

Last edited by grey (2009-11-02 11:20:45)

grey · 2009-11-02 11:35:28

cfslack: If by any chance you installed grub into the first sector of a partition instead of into the MBR of your harddisk, that would explain the symptoms you are seeing. Because then you have the windows boot loader in the MBR, and that one does boot from the active partition. It would also explain why you aren't able to get back into Arch after making the W7 partition active, and why you can boot Arch until then.

vacant · 2009-11-02 12:08:07

grey wrote:

cfslack: If by any chance you installed grub into the first sector of a partition instead of into the MBR of your harddisk, that would explain the symptoms you are seeing. Because then you have the windows boot loader in the MBR, and that one does boot from the active partition. It would also explain why you aren't able to get back into Arch after making the W7 partition active, and why you can boot Arch until then.

I've already asked for a double-check. I think it's about time we saw the grub config file and device.map posted.

When Windows is installed on a fresh disk, the "windows boot loader" gets installed to the active partition and the MBR bootloader is always simply OS-independent code to read the partition table, find the active partition, and boot that, i.e. chainload. That's why the grub entry for windows always just "chainloads", that's why when I accidently installed grub to my windows partition, I couldn't boot windows

This explains the MBR quite well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record,
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/STDMBR.htm

If you choose to install grub to a partition (not the MBR), then unless that partition is active you won't see grub when you boot.

cfslack · 2009-11-03 04:44:40

Trent wrote:

Take "makeactive" out of menu.lst

Well i do that... and now working!

Thx!

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-31 05:55:32

Windows 7 delete grub

#2 2009-10-31 06:36:25

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#3 2009-10-31 12:20:57

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#4 2009-10-31 13:19:49

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#5 2009-10-31 21:18:10

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#6 2009-11-01 10:32:48

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#7 2009-11-01 13:21:14

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#8 2009-11-01 19:42:23

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#9 2009-11-01 20:26:12

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#10 2009-11-02 00:46:05

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#11 2009-11-02 02:15:42

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#12 2009-11-02 11:20:18

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#13 2009-11-02 11:35:28

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#14 2009-11-02 12:08:07

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

#15 2009-11-03 04:44:40

Re: Windows 7 delete grub

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