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#1 2005-05-06 00:52:45

SkankinSasquatch
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 44

Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

Hey, I'm regularly a Windows XP Professional user and I'm trying to convert to the dark side and use linux, and of course I wanted the best so I chose Arch. The only problem I've encountered so far is configuring Grub to dual boot. Excuse me if this is a n00b question or if it's been asked before (I really have tried my best to find this question in other topics but they never quite exactly matched my issue). I'm using two hard drives, a master with Arch on it and a slave with Windows XP on it. My Arch drive has three partitions, the first is a 50 mb boot partition, the second a 512mb swap partition, and the rest of the 40gb drive is a reiserFS partition. My Windows XP drive has a 79.5 gb NTFS partition, and the remaining .5gb is free space. I installed Grub to the first disk(Arch disk). Here is my configuration for Windows XP in Grub:

# (1) Windows XP Pro
title Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

When I get into Grub, I can select Arch and it boots properly, however when I choose Windows I get a "Disk Read Error". However, taking the Arch drive out and making the Windows one the master, Windows boots properly. Can you help me with this and any mistakes I may have made? Thank you very much.

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#2 2005-05-06 01:13:07

jp_fielding
Member
Registered: 2004-08-28
Posts: 85

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

the following is all that you should need. 

# (1) Windows XP Pro
title Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

UPDATE: scratch that, i'm guilty of not reading your post above in it's entirety.... the above is for single disk setup

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#3 2005-05-06 01:18:42

SkankinSasquatch
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 44

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

If you have installed DOS (or Windows) on a non-first hard disk, you have to use the disk swapping technique, because that OS cannot boot from any disks but the first one. The workaround used in GRUB is the command map (see map), like this:

     grub> map (hd0) (hd1)
     grub> map (hd1) (hd0)
     
I saw that in the grub manual, are you sure I don't need that?

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#4 2005-05-06 01:53:16

jp_fielding
Member
Registered: 2004-08-28
Posts: 85

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

as i was a moron and posted without reading ;-)  i'll try my best to make up for it.... 

i found this thread and it suggests a suspicion that i had, the remapping might need to come immediately after the title

http://www.pperry.f2s.com/linux-dualboot-2hd.htm

title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

hope that helps

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#5 2005-05-06 03:55:04

SkankinSasquatch
Member
Registered: 2005-05-03
Posts: 44

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

Na, I'm sorry, that didn't work. I still get the disk read error. Thank you for your input though. I read another topic (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=12051) in this forum that made me suspect my problem is a bios problem, however I tried doing what timm did in that topic and I had no such luck with that as well. Anyone know what in the bios could be causing this, if that is indeed the problem?

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#6 2005-05-06 04:15:29

fetreney2000
Member
From: Malaysia
Registered: 2005-02-01
Posts: 81

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

Just install GAG as your boot manager and install grub in your boot partition (not in the MBR). With this setup, you can add and remove any OS at will without causing any serious booting problem.

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#7 2005-05-06 13:39:18

thegnu
Member
From: Brooklyn, NY
Registered: 2004-05-04
Posts: 280
Website

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

SkankinSasquatch wrote:

Anyone know what in the bios could be causing this, if that is indeed the problem?

I've done this before, and no, I don't think it's a bios problem (could be, though).  Try flashing the bios, but before you do, try:

title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1 

I think once you remap the hd's, Grub should think that Windows XP is on hd0.  rootnoverify should be (hd0,0).  What I did with my dad's computer is this:

hda: Windows XP with boot partition intact
hdb: Arch Linux, with grub menu for both windows and Arch.

And I had the bios boot from the second disk, so it would go to the GRUB menu.  That way you don't have to do the map thing.


fffft!

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#8 2005-05-13 20:50:47

Father
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2004-06-01
Posts: 209

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

[edit] crap.. didnt read the above post.. sorry [/edit]

SkankinSasquatch wrote:

If you have installed DOS (or Windows) on a non-first hard disk, you have to use the disk swapping technique, because that OS cannot boot from any disks but the first one. The workaround used in GRUB is the command map (see map), like this:

     grub> map (hd0) (hd1)
     grub> map (hd1) (hd0)
     
I saw that in the grub manual, are you sure I don't need that?


thats not true.
Windows automatically over-writes the MBR, but it doesnt have to be on the first partition / hard disk
I used to have windows 2k on a third HD with no problem

i just used the

rootnoverify (hdX,X)
chainloader +1

combo


its also possible that the rootnoverify has to come after the `map' calls

it looks like grub might be getting confused, since youre saying windows is on hd1,0 (grub now points to your windows drive)
and then youre saying.. "swap my drives around"
grub might be looking at linux after that swap.. im not sure.. but it sounds like thats whats happening

if that doesnt work

try putting the rootnoverify after the map calls again.. but change it from rootnoverify (hd1,0) to (hd0,0) since youve just remapped the disks..

im not sure how grub handles these things.. so just play around with the numbers

hope that helped

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#9 2005-05-14 07:04:05

darkcoder
Member
From: A bar near you
Registered: 2004-09-10
Posts: 310

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

I suggest invert the disks and forget the map thing. 

Note: To get this method working, you need your XP CD for the last steps.  Also some kind of Recovery linux CD will be good in case something goes wrong.  The worst case can be that after the steps XP boots fine, but Linux do not.

1.Put XP HD as primary or first HD, and your Arch Disk secondary.  Windows do not like it the other way around (period).
2.Temporalily install grub on the primary Hard Disk boot sector but don't worry, for the XP menu, we'll get it back later.
3.Edit your grub setting to point to the correct drives.  Note: replace vmlinuz for your kernel image on /boot, and check the hd paths. I take the lines from my own grub config and adapt it to your hard disk layout.

title  Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda3

title Windows XP xxxx Edition
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader  +1

4. Check your system boots to both OS's, again don't worry for the missing  XP boot menu.
5. Boot to Linux, and follow the steps on this page http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/gr … HOWTO.html.  Look for the dd if= instruction.
6. If you followed the instructions from the site, you'll have both OS's entries on XP menu. Now, put your XP CD-ROM and restart.
7. Select boot from CD, then Repair Installation
8. When ask which installation to repair, select 1, and enter the password.  BTW, if you install XP and never log as Administrator, probably the password is unset (empty), so try first a return.
9. At the prompt, type FIXBOOT (enter) and at the prompt again, type FIXMBR (enter)
10. Restart

If everything is set, you'll have both Systems defined on Both menus, Grub and NTLDR.  So you can switch from one to another at any time, for example, if selected the wrong option.

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#10 2005-05-14 17:44:41

lanrat
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2003-10-28
Posts: 1,274

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

Some time ago I had two disks and win xp pro on a second one -hda (master) was arch and hdb (slave) win xp. It seems that you are in a similar situation.

This grub config worked for me without a problem:

title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

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#11 2005-05-15 00:36:19

darkcoder
Member
From: A bar near you
Registered: 2004-09-10
Posts: 310

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

opps, skip one important step, in the step 6 where you followed the info on the link I provided, you need to install grub on your linux disk.

grub-install /dev/hdb

and then follow the link.   Without this the grub bin image will we useless.

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#12 2005-05-20 09:57:48

Father
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2004-06-01
Posts: 209

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

darkcoder wrote:

opps, skip one important step, in the step 6 where you followed the info on the link I provided, you need to install grub on your linux disk.

grub-install /dev/hdb

and then follow the link.   Without this the grub bin image will we useless.


aahhh.. are you sure about that?
afaik, the mbr is on the first primary.. the system only checks the first disk

if you put grub on the second, the bios will boot the windows boot loader and bypass grub


i dont really see what the trouble is,
ive had windows NT systems on secondary hard disks with no problems
just install them
fix your arch bootloader (if the installer blatted it) and install grub / lilo to the primary mbr.. simple

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#13 2005-05-20 15:41:11

thegnu
Member
From: Brooklyn, NY
Registered: 2004-05-04
Posts: 280
Website

Re: Dual Booting (I'm sorry if this is a stupid question)

Father wrote:

aahhh.. are you sure about that?
afaik, the mbr is on the first primary.. the system only checks the first disk

Most BIOSes have an option to boot from 1st, 2nd, 3rd HDD.  It depends on how old the system is.  Installing GRUB and Linux on hdb makes it easier for it to coexist with Windows, since windows likes being on the 1st HDD.


fffft!

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