3 boot managers/OSes

tydeman

Member
My disk setup:

+ Partition number to GRUB
| + Type: P=primary, E=extented, L=logical
# | Megs FileSys What Cylinder
0 P 1506 NTFS S Vista boot (SERVICEV003) 0
1 E ????? Extended partition
4 L 62753 NTFS C Vista system (SW_Preload) 204
5 L 3514 ext2 spare6 8704
6 L 3514 ext2 spare7 9180
7 L 3514 swap Linux swap 9656
8 L 3514 ext2 spare8 10132
9 L 3514 ext2 / Fedora 10 Linux 10608
10 L 14433 ext2 /lindata Linux data 11084
11 L 125 ext2 /boot Linux GRUB boot 13039
12 L 1004 FAT D data 13056
13 L 1004 FAT E data2 13192
14 L 2008 FAT F DOS+win31 progs 13328
15 L 3012 HPFS C eCS 2.0 13600
16 L 4016 HPFS G OS/2 Progs 14008
17 L 2008 HPFS H email 14552
18 L 3012 HPFS W eCS 2.0 maint 14824
19 L 16065 NTFS G Win Progs 15232
? . 16065 free 17408
2 P 8032 NTFS Q Vista recovery (Lenovo) 19584
3 P 7 ? . OS/2=eCS Boot Manager 20672 = last cylinder

So, I have 3 different boot loaders (Vista's in first
primary, OS/2's (really eCS 1.2) in last primary, and
Linux's GRUB in a logical partition).

I use EasyBCD 1.7.2 to configure the Vista boot loader.
I use DFSee 914 to configure the OS/2 boot loader.
I use grub.conf text file to configure the Linux GRUB boot
loader.

All the Linux systems have their kernel and boot stuff in
/boot, which is controlled by GRUB. They can be booted by
GRUB.

The Vista system has its boot files in the Vista boot
partition, which is controlled by the Vista boot loader; it
can be booted. If I try to boot the Vista system partition
directly from GRUB or OS/2, I get a Boot manager missing
message or a disk read error message.

The eCS systems may need LVM to setup drive letters, so that
might be controlled by the eCS boot loader. Not sure if I
could boot any of the eCS partitions directly. eCS is the
follow on to OS/2.

+-- BootMngr booting FROM
| BootMngr booting TO OS booting TO
V Vista GRUB OS/2=eCS Vista Linux OS/2=eCS
Vista --- yes no/yes yes no no
GRUB yes --- no/yes no yes no
OS/2 yes yes --- no no yes

For the non-Vista systems, Vista along with EasyBCD appear
to setup a GRUB system just like the Linux GRUB system. For
both GRUB systems, I have had mixed success trying to get
OS/2 (boot manager or system) to boot. If I do these
commands:
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
makeactive
chainloader --force +1
boot
it FAILS (hangs). I can then do Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot to
try something else.

However, if I do:
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
makeactive
reboot
it WORKS.

Any suggestions on what to do to get GRUB to boot either the
OS/2 boot manager, or a OS/2 system directly?

Also, any suggestions on how to setup a text file for
Vista/EasyBCD GRUB so I do not have to do the interactive
GRUB commands?
 
Hi Tydeman, welcome to NST.
I won't attempt to advise you on Linux matters or OSX, except to point out that you should be using EasyBCD 2.0 Beta, not 1.7. The old version has issues with OSX and the latest Linux builds which have been resoved in the 2.0 version.
 
I got the beta and installed it. When I try to run it, I get an error popup:
EasyBCD is unable to access the BCD store.
Problem Details:
The boot configuration data store cout not be opened.

My guess is this is because my the first primary partition on the disk
(the Vista boot partition) is S:, while the first logical partition on the
disk (the Vista system partition) is C:.

EasyBCD 172 would ask where to find the BCD store when it started.
This looks like a bug in EasyBCD 2.0

Addendum:

By "OSX", are you refering to Apple's OS? Or, to any generic OS?
 
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I believe he was referring to Apple's OS...:wink:

Cheers,

Jake

Addendum:

Could you please post a screenshot of your Disk Management screen from Vista? :wink: I want to see firsthand your drive and partition setup.
 
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I am not running Apple's OSX.
I am running eCS (which is the follow on to IBM's OS/2).
My first posting in this thread had the list of the disk partitions.
(It looks like the forum poster program changed fonts so that the
nice column layout got destroyed. I tried to use Courier font.)
If I can figure out this forum poster program, there should be an
attachment of a screen shot of Disk Manager.
 

Attachments

  • diskmngr.jpg
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Ok with the beta tell it where it should be and it should open normally with the bcd detail if its correct when you click OK. You should re-add all of the non-working entries with this newer version of EasyBCD. I'm not sure if CG's added support for different paths/names yet than the traditional menu.lst on most linux distros at /boot/grub, but it thats the case I'm sure you can rename your grub.conf file to menu.lst and place it there if you're still having problems.
 
Your MBR partition table seems to be all messed up...:wink: Disk Management in Vista is showing that you have 10 primary partitions, all on one disk, which is impossible for a normal setup. :smile: Also, the partition that is set to "active" (the 7 MB partition) is obviously the wrong one, and doesn't contain your Vista boot files. You need to set the SERVICEV003 (S) "system" partition to "active" instead, and hopefully Vista will boot. Which bootloader is the primary bootloader? Vista's or Grub? If Grub, then you need to change the value in the root line from (hd0,3) to (hd0,0) most likely (if Disk Management is detecting that part correctly, at least) in your Linux menu.lst.

To set the 1.47 GB "system" partition to "active", run the following commands in your Command Prompt in Vista:

Code:
diskpart
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 1
active
Now at the "partition 1" part you need to change the 1 to the appropriate number if not correct. You need to change it whatever partition number the 1.47 GB partition is when you do "list partition". :wink:

Cheers,

Jake

EDIT: Of course the Diskpart instructions are only if Vista is controlling the boot, and not Grub...
 
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Cool, I just read about that yesterday. According to multibooters site in thier Vista error/bug page, Vista has a problem where it'll display sometimes logical partitions as primaries, though they are not.

Another reason why that partition lister would be nice to have around :smile:
 
Cool, I just read about that yesterday. According to multibooters site in thier Vista error/bug page, Vista has a problem where it'll display sometimes logical partitions as primaries, though they are not.

Another reason why that partition lister would be nice to have around :smile:

Hmm...well, I knew they obviously couldn't be primary partitions, but do you have any idea what causes this bug with Vista? :wink: Could it be just a problem when the MBR partition table is screwed up, or is it just Vista? :brows:

Jake
 
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Cool, I just read about that yesterday. According to multibooters site in thier Vista error/bug page, Vista has a problem where it'll display sometimes logical partitions as primaries, though they are not.

Another reason why that partition lister would be nice to have around :smile:

Justin, do you have a link to that? I think that would explain the problem I've been seeing recently with Ubuntu dual-boots (though I've worked around it differently).
 
tydeman, try booting os/2 from the Vista bootloader by adding a *BSD* entry in EasyBCD pointing to the OS/2 partition. Does that work?

Addendum:

Thanks, Justin.
 
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Hidden logical partitions will show up in Vista’s Disk Management utility as primary partitions. Not only that but the extended partition can appear to not include these logicals. It can all be very confusing the first time you see it and can make you think you have a corrupted partition table. This drive has three primary partitions and one extended with six logicals inside it. All but the third and sixth logicals are hidden. Most third-party apps running from inside Vista will see things correctly. (SP1 and 2008 have not rectified this issue).

That must be his situation. ^_^ :smile:
 
Ok with the beta tell it where it should be and it should open normally with the bcd detail if its correct when you click OK. You should re-add all of the non-working entries with this newer version of EasyBCD. I'm not sure if CG's added support for different paths/names yet than the traditional menu.lst on most linux distros at /boot/grub, but it thats the case I'm sure you can rename your grub.conf file to menu.lst and place it there if you're still having problems.

What? How?
The file that I downloaded from the neosmart website, when I run it, never prompts me for where I want to install it. It appears to be hard coded as to C:\program files\.... [which is NOT where I want it].

The file that was installed by the above step never runs except to tell me that it cannot find a BCD store. It was the older 1.7.2 version that prompted me for a disk partition (after failing to find a BCD store).
 
EasyBCD's installer installs EasyBCD in program files like any other program you install in Windows. If you are no longer getting a message for having to manually select the partition the bcd store is on is EasyBCD opening correctly than, displaying the bcd settings?

Again, you should be using EasyBCD 2.0 beta build 59 (latest at this time). It can be downloaded from here.
 
Your MBR partition table seems to be all messed up...:wink: Disk Management in Vista is showing that you have 10 primary partitions, all on one disk, which is impossible for a normal setup. :smile: Also, the partition that is set to "active" (the 7 MB partition) is obviously the wrong one, and doesn't contain your Vista boot files. You need to set the SERVICEV003 (S) "system" partition to "active" instead, and hopefully Vista will boot. Which bootloader is the primary bootloader? Vista's or Grub?

I changed the colors on the Disk Management screen. Now I see that the 6 Linux ext2 logical partitions and the 1 Linux swap partition are showing up as primary partitions. Looks like a Vista bug.
How did you know that the S: partition is not the "active" one?
Surprise, this is being posted from the booted Vista system with the "active" partition being the OS/2 boot loader (the 7 meg partition).
The main boot loader is the OS/2 (really eCS) boot loader. With it, I can boot OS/2, Vista boot loader, or Linux GRUB boot loader. With the Vista boot loader, I can boot Vista, Linux GRUB boot loader, or OS/2 boot loader (via interactive EasyBCD GRUB session to mark the OS/2 boot loader as the active partition and then reboot). With the Linux GRUB boot loader, I can boot Linux, the Vista boot loader, or the OS/2 boot loader (again after setting OS/2 partition as active and reboot).

Addendum:

EasyBCD's installer installs EasyBCD in program files like any other program you install in Windows. If you are no longer getting a message for having to manually select the partition the bcd store is on is EasyBCD opening correctly than, displaying the bcd settings?

Again, you should be using EasyBCD 2.0 beta build 59 (latest at this time). It can be downloaded from here.

Almost all other Windows programs installers, during the install process, have a screen about where to install. That screen has a default path (containing C:\Program Files\...) and a Browse button that allows the installer (me) to change the install path. Normally, I put just the OS on the C: partition, and all programs on the G: partition.

The version of EasyBCD I am running is the latest beta downloaded yesterday.

I get no popup asking where to find the BCD store (like in 1.7.2).
The beta is not finding any BCD store, so just gives me the error message and then ends.

I just tried setting the S: partition as the active parition (via Disk Management -- right click on the parittion). That worked.

Now, when I run EasyBCD Beta, I get no error message. Instead, I get the expected screen displaying the BCD store. Now to delete and recreate entires. Will follow up after some experimenting.
 
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I changed the colors on the Disk Management screen. Now I see that the 6 Linux ext2 logical partitions and the 1 Linux swap partition are showing up as primary partitions. Looks like a Vista bug.
It is indeed a Vista bug, as has been stated in previous posts. :wink: Obviously, at least some of them in your case are actually logical partitions, not primary, since it is only possible to have up to 4 primary partitions (or one extended, and the other 3 primary) in a single drive, with a normal setup.
How did you know that the S: partition is not the "active" one?
Surprise, this is being posted from the booted Vista system with the "active" partition being the OS/2 boot loader (the 7 meg partition).
Simple. :smile: From the screenshot of Disk Management you took, I saw the "active" flag on that 7 MB partition, and since it is only possible to have *one* "active" partition per drive at a time, it was not difficult to realize that the (S) "system" partition was not "active". :wink:
The main boot loader is the OS/2 (really eCS) boot loader. With it, I can boot OS/2, Vista boot loader, or Linux GRUB boot loader. With the Vista boot loader, I can boot Vista, Linux GRUB boot loader, or OS/2 boot loader (via interactive EasyBCD GRUB session to mark the OS/2 boot loader as the active partition and then reboot). With the Linux GRUB boot loader, I can boot Linux, the Vista boot loader, or the OS/2 boot loader (again after setting OS/2 partition as active and reboot).
Ok, so that explains why that partition was "active" then. In that case, then you should leave it "active" because it is the partition that contains your eCS boot files, and since the eCS bootloader is the primary one, it needs to be able to find its own boot files in order to boot at all. :wink:
Addendum:

Almost all other Windows programs installers, during the install process, have a screen about where to install. That screen has a default path (containing C:\Program Files\...) and a Browse button that allows the installer (me) to change the install path. Normally, I put just the OS on the C: partition, and all programs on the G: partition.
Yeah, I have noticed that affect as well with EasyBCD. :smile: It seems Guru decided that it should be installed (no questions asked) to the C: partition. Why that is, you would have to ask him...:wink:
The version of EasyBCD I am running is the latest beta downloaded yesterday.

I get no popup asking where to find the BCD store (like in 1.7.2).
The beta is not finding any BCD store, so just gives me the error message and then ends.

I just tried setting the S: partition as the active parition (via Disk Management -- right click on the parittion). That worked.

Now, when I run EasyBCD Beta, I get no error message. Instead, I get the expected screen displaying the BCD store. Now to delete and recreate entires. Will follow up after some experimenting.
Ok, so hold right there :tongueout:oint: Don't reboot that computer now that you set the (S) partition to "active" instead of the 7 MB partition. :wink: Now, while still in Vista, open up EasyBCD, go to the "Manage Bootloader" section, and with the "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" option selected, click on "Write MBR". Be aware that this will overwrite your eCS MBR with the Vista one, but that is the probably the better thing to do anyway in your case, to have Vista controlling the boot. I have had no experience with eCS or its bootloader, so I couldn't advise you on that, but I do know how to get OSes booting from the Vista bootloader, which would probably be best.

Cheers,

Jake
 
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