[SOLVED] Yet another problem with dual boot Arch/Win7

Netsu · 2010-02-12 20:10:38

The thing is I can't make GRUB to boot neither Arch nor Windows.

Here is my fdisk -l:

/dev/sdb1   *           1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2              14       50227   403343955    5  Rozszerzona
/dev/sdb3           50228       50358     1052257+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb4           50359       60801    83883397+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb5              14       10456    83883366   83  Linux
/dev/sdb6           10457       50227   319460526   83  Linux

sdb1 is a separate /boot partition where GRUB is installed
sdb2 is an extended partition
sdb3 is swap
sdb4 is Windows 7 partition (boots ok when I set the boot flag to that partition)
sdb5 is the root partition (inside the extended one)
sdb6 is a data partition (also inside the extended one)

It seems no matter what I put into the grub command I always get error 17 or error 15 (no such file) or even 'no such partition' error.
The grub.lst created by default look like this:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9ae72709-b610-4193-8bc9-0434aff0d3c8 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9ae72709-b610-4193-8bc9-0434aff0d3c8 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img

This UUID is for sdb5 (my root partition, which does not contain /boot), changing it for simply '/dev/sdb5' doesn't help.
As for Windows, I have no idea how to boot it from GRUB, when I enter (hd1,3) or above as root like this:

# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,3)
xmakeactive
chainloader +1

It says 'no such partition'.

Should I install GRUB to MBR? I'm afraid it will ruin the Windows installation. Maybe it's because root is on an extended partition?

Last edited by Netsu (2010-02-12 23:22:05)

Netsu · 2010-02-12 22:27:11

I replaced the windows entry with this:

# (2) Windows
title Windows 7
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
makeactive
chainloader +1

That way I succeeded at booting Windows with GRUB but after a reset the windows partition is the one with the boot flag, and it loads directly without going into GRUB.
I think I'm going to install GRUB to MBR, there isn't much to lose.

EDIT: Installing GRUB to MBR solved the Windows issue, but I'm still unable to boot into Arch.

EDIT2: Silly me, the disk I was booting from was first in the booting order of bios, therefore it was (hd0) even though Linux was marking it as sdb.

Last edited by Netsu (2010-02-12 23:21:39)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-12 20:10:38

[SOLVED] Yet another problem with dual boot Arch/Win7

#2 2010-02-12 22:27:11

Re: [SOLVED] Yet another problem with dual boot Arch/Win7

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