Reboot into Arch from Windows

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 00:31:04

I don't really know where this post belongs, so I put it in the "Newbie Corner" since I'm new.

Is it possible to add a menu entry, make a shortcut, make a script, or make a program in Windows (7) that will allow me to reboot into Arch without having to choose it in the GRUB menu?

Thanks,
Kaleb C.

Last edited by kac0802 (2011-07-14 02:19:35)

ANOKNUSA · 2011-07-14 00:41:43

Well, using GRUB legacy I'm not sure. If you're using GRUB2, you can set Arch as your default entry and use the "hidden menu" and "timeout" features to skip the GRUB menu and boot straight into Arch; holding the "Shift" key during boot will bring up the menu and allow you to choose Windows from it.

karol · 2011-07-14 00:45:14

If you simply want to choose to boot Arch by default than yes, it's possible and you can do it in a number of ways, depending on e.g. how often would you like to boot into Windows or any other OS you have installed.
You can set Arch as the first (default) entry in GRUB and set a short (e.g. 1 second) timeout after which the default entry will be picked. This should allow you to boot other OSes if needed.

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 01:00:51

ANOKNUSA wrote:

Well, using GRUB legacy I'm not sure.

How do I tell which version of GRUB I'm using?

karol wrote:

If you simply want to choose to boot Arch by default than yes

I would still like to be able to reboot into windows from windows. (ie. after installing updates)

Last edited by kac0802 (2011-07-14 01:24:20)

karol · 2011-07-14 01:21:35

kac0802 wrote:

ANOKNUSA wrote:
Well, using GRUB legacy I'm not sure.
How do I tell which version of GRUB I'm using?

'pacman -Qs grub' should tell you version number: grub 0.97 is the legacy one.

Last edited by karol (2011-07-14 01:25:34)

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 01:25:00

karol wrote:

'pacman -Qs grub' should tell you version number: grub 0.97 is the legacy one.

Thanks, I just realized that setting Arch as default entry still leaves me with the problem of not being able to restart into Windows from Windows...

If I could somehow use the

grub-reboot x

command from Windows, my problem would be solved.

Last edited by kac0802 (2011-07-14 01:30:19)

ngoonee · 2011-07-14 01:49:59

Write a script which swaps menu.lst files before rebooting? Should be possible from windows as well.

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 01:56:06

ngoonee wrote:

Write a script which swaps menu.lst files before rebooting? Should be possible from windows as well.

I think my menu.lst files are on a linux partition. If this is the case, I can't access it from Windows.

Is it possible to install grub on my Windows partition?

ngoonee · 2011-07-14 01:57:14

kac0802 wrote:

ngoonee wrote:
Write a script which swaps menu.lst files before rebooting? Should be possible from windows as well.
I think my menu.lst files are on a linux partition. If this is the case, I can't access it from Windows.
Is it possible to install grub on my Windows partition?

Its possible to access ext2/ext3 partitions from windows, google for it. I did it before, way back when I was still dual-booting.

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 02:00:33

ngoonee wrote:

kac0802 wrote:
ngoonee wrote:
Write a script which swaps menu.lst files before rebooting? Should be possible from windows as well.
I think my menu.lst files are on a linux partition. If this is the case, I can't access it from Windows.
Is it possible to install grub on my Windows partition?
Its possible to access ext2/ext3 partitions from windows, google for it. I did it before, way back when I was still dual-booting.

Mine is an ext4 partition.

tesjo · 2011-07-14 02:30:51

ext2fsd supports writing to ext4 not sure about with extends. Of course you could format or create /boot partition to ext2/ext3 maybe fat32.

fsckd · 2011-07-14 02:39:25

You can set GRUB to default boot from the last entry booted from. This information is stored in a file under /boot/grub and accessed using an ext2 driver (if the fs is ext2/3/4).

Out of curiosity, why can you not simply select the entry you wish to boot to from the GRUB menu?

kac0802 · 2011-07-14 02:45:19

fsckd wrote:

This information is stored in a file under /boot/grub and accessed using an ext2 driver (if the fs is ext2/3/4).

So, how would I use this?

fsckd wrote:

Out of curiosity, why can you not simply select the entry you wish to boot to from the GRUB menu?

When I restart my computer I occasionally have this problem of spacing out until I already missed the GRUB menu. I think I have actually managed to do this 5 times in a row before.

rowdog · 2011-07-14 04:28:47

kac0802 wrote:

When I restart my computer I occasionally have this problem of spacing out until I already missed the GRUB menu.

I boot many things so I always increase the "timeout" setting. The wiki explains how to configure grub.

tomk · 2011-07-14 07:29:18

kac0802 wrote:

When I restart my computer I occasionally have this problem of spacing out until I already missed the GRUB menu.

No offense, but you're wasting everyone's time here - people are making all kinds of technical suggestions about your "issue", when all you need to do is man up and stop "spacing out".

ngoonee · 2011-07-14 08:12:20

tomk wrote:

kac0802 wrote:
When I restart my computer I occasionally have this problem of spacing out until I already missed the GRUB menu.
No offense, but you're wasting everyone's time here - people are making all kinds of technical suggestions about your "issue", when all you need to do is man up and stop "spacing out".

That, or just set grub to never timeout. That way spacing out isn't a problem.

PSW · 2011-07-14 09:23:38

kac0802 wrote:

ngoonee wrote:
kac0802 wrote:
I think my menu.lst files are on a linux partition. If this is the case, I can't access it from Windows.
Is it possible to install grub on my Windows partition?
Its possible to access ext2/ext3 partitions from windows, google for it. I did it before, way back when I was still dual-booting.
Mine is an ext4 partition.

Grub is on the boot partition which will be ext2(Unless you specifically made it something else). Windows will be able to mount this fine and a script will be able to edit the Grub Menu before Windows shuts down.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-14 00:31:04

Reboot into Arch from Windows

#2 2011-07-14 00:41:43

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#3 2011-07-14 00:45:14

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#4 2011-07-14 01:00:51

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#5 2011-07-14 01:21:35

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#6 2011-07-14 01:25:00

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#7 2011-07-14 01:49:59

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#8 2011-07-14 01:56:06

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#9 2011-07-14 01:57:14

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#10 2011-07-14 02:00:33

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#11 2011-07-14 02:30:51

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#12 2011-07-14 02:39:25

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#13 2011-07-14 02:45:19

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#14 2011-07-14 04:28:47

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#15 2011-07-14 07:29:18

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#16 2011-07-14 08:12:20

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

#17 2011-07-14 09:23:38

Re: Reboot into Arch from Windows

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