EasyBCD & dualboot - Vista & Ubuntu 8.10

project6

project6

Member
Hi,

I've shrunk my OS partition to free up some space for Ubuntu in order to install it and later configure my system for dualboot, with Windows in charge, using EasyBCD.

My first attempt:

After entering Ubuntu I got the menu.lst file from the system and copied it onto a USB stick. I then tried to use the paths given to properly configure NeoGrub, but without success. The boot alternatives appeared like with Grub (Ubuntu, some safe mode & Vista/Longhorn loader) but when I tried to boot into Ubuntu I got a message saying file not found, or pathway not found or similar.

So I tried to manually edit the alternatives, trying my way through (hd0, x) with 0 < x < 6 also without succes. (One of the partitions found gave me a long error message, something about bad data, the others simply said cannot mount this partition, no partition or wrong path)

I have no clue why this occurs, the menu.lst was a straight copy from Ubuntu. Odd.

So I found this:

Ubuntu - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

A wiki for Ubuntu/EasyBCD. Good, I thought. With pictures and all. Reading through it I found something strange though, which made me halt the installation and come here for advice.

Step #6 says I should enter /dev/sdxy (with x, y beeing 0,1,... etc) in the prompt, but the screenshot below clearly shows the entering in this fashion: (hdx, y)

Which one should I use?

I have very sensitive data on my Windows partition and can't afford to mess that one up, so I don't want to overwrite it by accident or install GRUB in some place where it doesn't belong etc.

I removed the Ubuntu partitions created earlier and am about to reinstall Ubuntu, so I will be working with a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 (x64). Would be very grateful for directions here, either using NeoGrub or installing GRUB onto the Linux partition as the Ubuntu Wiki describes.

Best regards,

p6
 
If you want to see ubuntu go on without any fuss to the second partition(root and /mount point) you simply use the manual partitioning method to reformat the one partition needed to run the small distro. I presume this is an install from a live cd?

The version of GParted included is quite a bit limited there. You may want to use the full live cd version of the drive tool to create the root and then allow the installer to reformat it to ext .2 or 3 since either will see 8.10 go right on. You then assign the root /system as the / mount point and leave the rest to EasyBCD.

Once the installation is complete you boot into Vista and add the new entry for ubuntu into the Vista boot loader pointing to the root. You should see ubuntu load right away when selected in the Vista boot menu at startup. There's no manual edits of any version of Grub needed since Neogrub will do the work for you once that is installed on the Vista primary with the "Grub is not installed into bootsector" box checked off.
 
If you are using Ubuntu 8.10 it should clearly give you the choice for where to install GRUB.

That Wiki entry was published with screen shots of Ubuntu from build 7.10 which is not obsolete compared to how they have updated the final step of the setup.
 
When simply designating the root as the mount here even while on a separate drive the only thing needed after was the new entry made with the 1.7.2 version to see 8.10 64bit load right up. The image here will show where NeoGrub was pointed to being the second partition on the drive at the top.

 
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