Dual-boot for Windows 7 + Ubuntu 8.10 with 1 HDD

[borice91]

Hello

I come here to explain that I tried very very very many hours....days to make a dual-boot system with Windows Seven and Ubuntu 8.10 and i did it !!!! (=>1 day 1/2 total !!)

To summarize the end of my method :::

- Installation of Windows Seven

- Installation of Ubuntu with GRUB not on the MBR (else Seven says"BOOTMGR IS MISSING !) GRUB MUST BE ON THE "boot sector of the root partition of Ubuntu" => partition of Linux
- Use EasyBCD 2.0 Beta - Build 63 to add an entry for "Seven's Boot Manager"

I tried with EasyBCD 1.7.2 and I had the problem with "error message number 0xc000000f" + "nst_grub.mbrXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXX.mbr" is missing or corrupt when I used Linux's entry in Boot Manager !!! I tried to resolve it by replacing "nst_grub.mbr" and "nst_grub.mbrXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXX.mbr" with this method of copying "stage1" of Linux with :
# sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 of=~/Desktop/nst_grub.mbr bs=512 count=1

but doesn't work !!!

Now it's OK

Just some questions :::

Wich are the news with v2.0 compared to 1.7.x ?
Does it will work there again with tri-boot (add Opensuse) ?
The best way is to add an entry in Ubuntu's Grub or in Boot Manager ?

THX for your help

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[Terry60]

Hi Borice, welcome to NST.
After Ubuntu 8.04, and other Linux systems of the same age, grub syntax was changed and was no longer compatible with EasyBCD 1.7.
1.7 will work with 8.04 and earlier, but 2.0 must be used for all newer releases of Linux like Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04

Yes you can tri-boot another Linux with EayBCD 2.0 if they're both on the same HDD as W7 by not ticking the "grub isn't installed..." box.

If one linux is on the W7 disk and one is on a different HDD, you can tri boot by ticking the box for the Linux not on the W7 disk .

If both Linux systems are on a different HDD, then you can't tick the box for both (ticking the box installs Neogrub to workaround a grub problem which occurs wheb the Linux system is not on the same HDD), because the 2nd system will replace the 1st in the Neogrub menu.lst.

You will need to do some customization manually in the last case.

Tell us exactly what you want to do (number of disks, partition layout etc) and we'll advise what's needed.

[borice91]

I would like to add Opensuse in my "extended" partition (On W7 is recognized like a main partition....)

I have this :::



Thank you for the support.

PS::: ALL IN 1 HDD.

[Coolname007]

Hello Borise.
Yes, this should not be a problem.
Just tell the OpenSuse installer to install to that logical partition, /dev/sda5, and you shouldn't have any trouble. Incidentally, you may or may not be able to tell it to install Grub only to the partition, and not to the MBR. Keep your eyes open for any option to change where Grub installs.
If it installs to the MBR, you should be able to boot your Win 7 install disk, and run Startup Repair (possibly 2-3 times since it can only fix one thing per pass), and put Win 7 back in control of the boot.
Then just add a normal Linux entry with EasyBCD 2.0 Beta.

[borice91]

Thank you very much.

It's OK ! I installed Opensuse like Ubuntu, added a Boot manager's entry in Seven and configured the two "menu.lst" (Ubuntu + Opensuse) to jump from any Boot Loader to others Boot Loader. It's work perfectly !!!! So happy !

Just some problems about my extend partition....Ubuntu created the extended partition but failed with the size....not important.....just not clean but my OpenSuse's partition is a main partition (the last one, the 4th) and i couln't add a twice swap partition....

Opensuse taked the Ubuntu's Swap for him.......it's work for the moment....

Does 2 Linux can work with only one Swap partition ???

THX

PS : Borice with "c" (not "s")

[Terry60]

Yes, they should be able to share a swap partition, like 2 Windows can share a pagefile. Only one of then is using it at a time, and when a system isn't booted it's just a blank space.
There might be a problem though if you use some kind of hibernate function which keeps data in the swap file when the OS is "sleeping". The second system would probably break the sleeping system.
As long as you just shut down one Linux before using the other, 1 swap file should work for both.

[borice91]

Thank you for the quickly answers and good support.

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