How to get back into Ubuntu?

fbs

Member
Hi. I followed this guide to dual boot Ubuntu with Vista.

How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots


All was well until I followed the instructions on the 4th page since I wanted to make Vista my main OS. I got up to the part where I paste menu.lst into the Neogrub boot entries.
Instead of creating a txt file, I'd created an lst. and I opened that up with WordPad which mashed all the lines together but I thought it was essentially the same so I pasted it in anyway.
Though I'm not sure if that was actually the problem.

How do I undo this mishap? :frowning:

I forgot to mention that when I turn on the computer, I don't even get any boot options or anything. It just goes straight into Vista.
 
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Instead of creating a txt file, I'd created an lst. and I opened that up with WordPad which mashed all the lines together but I thought it was essentially the same so I pasted it in anyway.

Hi fbs. Welcome to NST.
You weren't supposed to *create* a menu.lst, you were supposed to simply copy the entries from your Ubuntu menu.lst into your NeoGrub menu.lst after you install NeoGrub. :wink: To open up your NeoGrub menu.lst file, you can simply click on the Configure button under the NeoGrub tab in EasyBCD. The same information can be found on the page you gave the link to.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

-Coolname007
 
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Ah I see. Thank you. I wasn't entirely sure about what "entries" meant. So after I do that, the neogrub menu.lst should look like this, right?


# NeoSmart NeoGrub Bootloader Configuration File
#
# This is the NeoGrub configuration file, and should be located at C:\NST\menu.lst
# Please see the EasyBCD Documentation for information on how to create/modify entries:
# EasyBCD Documentation Home - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
 
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Yeah...like Terry said, if you follow the advice in the APC Mag article, you would need to replace the UUID lines in bold with "root (hdx,y)" without the quotes.

You would need to change it from:

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

To:

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root (hdx,y)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
root (hdx,y)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=e8da7bda-63f8-4ac5-87ff-03d2dd7c9e0b ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
root (hdx,y)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

where the "x" and the "y" in the root lines are replaced with the appropriate disk and partition values, respectively. If you're not sure about which disk and partition number is, as counted by Grub, then just run:

Code:
sudo fdisk -l

in a Terminal to find out. The partition with "Linux native" mentioned in the output of that command will be the value it is. Just bear in mind that "sda1" for example would equal "(hd0,0)" for the simple reason that the sdxy notation begins counting at 1 for partitions, while Grub starts counting at 0 for both disks and partitions.

-Coolname007
 
How do I find out the disk and partition number from Vista? (I can't get into the terminal.)

Check your Disk Management, and the EasyBCD "Drive" menu under the Linux tab in the Add/Remove Entries section. And then use those values in your menu.lst. FYI, you could also use the Terminal while booting from the Ubuntu LiveCD.

-Coolname007
 
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Thanks for the help guys. :smile:

Does that mean you got it to work? If so...then GREAT! :grinning:
Let us know if you have any more problems with booting, or any other difficulty you might experience with your computer, and we'll help as best as we're able. :wink:

-Coolname007
 
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