Yes the uuid lines would be the only problem, but anytime I've done an Ubuntu install and checked the menu.lst it was always using root anyway. I think the rest we've all come to the same conclusion on...
Not quite...
As is evidenced by the comments in bold in the following quote, toomuchjustin still believed that NeoGrub couldn't access an ext3 partition, simply because he wasn't able to find the Ubuntu menu.lst with the find command in the NeoGrub prompt, and because he thought 64-bit Vista was an issue...even though I knew for a fact that it could, as was proved by CG's comment in his PM to me.
Yes, I am running 64-bit Vista, and that's why I asked! I'm not going to abandon my own pet theory until I absolutely have to... Right now I'd say my working hypothesis is: Grub4Dos cannot read ext3 partitions from within Vista 64-bit, even if it is merely called by Vista 64-bit's bootloader.
If I'm right, that might be a problem for some users of Vista 64-bit and EasyBCD. That's because when you use the "add entry" feature and click the "Grub not installed box," EasyBCD installs NeoGrub with the following C:\NST\menu.lst:
At least, that's what EasyBCD did automatically in my case. As you can see from the commands, this menu.lst tells grub4dos to look for the partition that has /boot/grub/menu.lst, set it as the root, and then load that configfile and follow all its commands. On Vista 32-bit, that should work fine (except that it might be necessary to tinker with /boot/grub/menu.lst a bit--I'm not sure grub4dos supports UUID).
However, if I am correct, in grub4dos running under Vista 64-bit, both those commands can never work because grub4dos cannot read files from ext3 partitions. No amount of tinkering with /boot/grub/menu.lst will help! Grub4Dos cannot find the partition on which menu.lst is located; it cannot read menu.lst; and even if you were to copy the commands manually from /boot/grub/menu.lst into C:\NST\menu.lst (which I tried), grub4dos would not be able to load the kernel file from /boot because it cannot read from that partition! So the only way to use grub4dos with Vista 64-bit is to chainload a system, either from another disk's MBR or from the PBR of another partition.
Of course, that's all idle speculation until it's been verified by finding some other people with the same problem.
As you can see, he still believed that NeoGrub couldn't read off of an ext3 partition...at least until my last post (I hope...).
It is not from within Vista. Vista can't read linux formatted partitions. Period. It doesn't have anything to do with 32 or 64 bit. Both versions use the same bootmgr bootloader. You can have both 32 and 64 bit versions if you wish on the same system.
The lack of being able to read ext3 partitions from your description above is why I recommended ext2 for your filesystem. I have tested and used grub4dos with ext2, fat32, and ntfs. Those are the only filesystems I am sure 100% will work as expected.
And from this comment I mark in bold, it seems there still remains some doubt in
your mind that NeoGrub can read off of an ext3 partition! :lol: Or at least when you made that comment, which was hopefully corrected by CG's comment in my last post...
Now back to NeoGrub. It is just like grub as described in the NeoGrub documentation in the wiki with some modifications, so yes the standard grub commands from Ubuntu's menu.lst will work. The uuid lines are what may or may not work. They are nice when they do work cause instead of telling grub where to look your giving it an exact volume serial number. Using this instead of root allowed you to use the same menu.lst without modifications.
Thanks for clearing that part up. Since it was confimed in CG's PM to me, I will take it as gospel that it is possible, after all, to copy over from your Ubuntu menu.lst into your NeoGrub one...
I have learned a thing or two more about how NeoGrub works, and what it is capable of, now...so I hope this will make me more qualified the next time an issue like this comes up! :brows:
Cool, CG doesn't accept support inquiries via PM. Look at his sig for verification. He will post I'm sure if he has anything to say here in this thread.
Hope that helps clarify things.
Yes, I am aware of what his sig said, though I wasn't thinking of that when I sent him a PM! :lol: But then again, I'm not sure if my PM could be called a support question...in my mind, at least, it was more of a few simple questions on how NeoGrub works, and it turns out he
did answer my PM! :brows: But I understand what you are saying, though, and it is a good point. I will certainly not make it an habit to regularly PM him about any minor issue that comes up! :lol:
Cheers.
-Coolname007
