Help on Dual boot Windows 7/Ubuntu 10.04 Using Windows Bootloader

Computer Guru said:
Jeff, he means that gets a GRUB menu with a list of entries in it to choose from.

If I understood you correctly, *You* get a grub command line.
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, my noob is showing. I do get the GRUB command line. I will try what VIVXIX has posted.

Thanks,
Jeff

Addendum:

VIVXIX said:
run the the terminal.and then type the command below:
sudo chmod +w /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# make the Ubuntu grub.cfg for you to edit it.It is used for configueing the boot prosess
sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#use gedit to edit it .you can use other editor if you like.
#then you just find the " timeout=10" out, And change it into "timeout=0"
#that will make you boot into Ubuntu without the grub2 selecting list

all above is my setting in win7 and Ubuntu 10.04

Hope it can help you
Click to expand...
Linux Mint 9 (GNOME) and Win 7 for me. Pardon my noob-ness, but just where do I run "terminal?" FWIW, I could boot into Linux from the Live DVD and access the installation files from there. Or do I execute them from the command line I get when I select Linux Mint 9 from the Windows boot manager?

Thanks,
Jeff
 
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Oh.. I was under the impression that you were running Ubuntu 10.

I'll have to get back to you on this.
 
Computer Guru said:
Oh.. I was under the impression that you were running Ubuntu 10.

I'll have to get back to you on this.
Click to expand...
"Linux Mint is ... based and compatible with another free operating system called Ubuntu (which is based on another operating system called Debian). This allows Linux Mint to take advantage of the large amount of software packaged for use with Ubuntu and Debian, and is compatible with and uses Ubuntu repositories."

If that helps. :smile:

Jeff

Addendum:

Computer Guru said:
Oh.. I was under the impression that you were running Ubuntu 10.

I'll have to get back to you on this.
Click to expand...
From the Linux Mint forum, someone has replied to me there that "EasyBCD does not work with grub2, so you could install a traditional grub and try to use then easyBCD."

Linux Mint Forums View topic - EastBCD and Mint 9

Thanks,
Jeff
 
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That was true of EasyBCD 1.7.2, but not of 2.0.


I've just checked and Linux Mint 9 is based on Ubuntu 10 - I was worried it was based on an older version. Which means that LM9 uses GRUB2.

When EasyBCD gets you to the GRUB prompt, can you type this in and see what you get?

Code: 
find /boot/grub/core.img
 
Computer Guru said:
That was true of EasyBCD 1.7.2, but not of 2.0.


I've just checked and Linux Mint 9 is based on Ubuntu 10 - I was worried it was based on an older version. Which means that LM9 uses GRUB2.

When EasyBCD gets you to the GRUB prompt, can you type this in and see what you get?

Code: 
find /boot/grub/core.img
Click to expand...
Thanks. Might have time this evening. If not, tomorrow morn. What should I get, and what should I do with it? :smile:

Thanks,
Jeff

Addendum:

Computer Guru said:
That was true of EasyBCD 1.7.2, but not of 2.0.


I've just checked and Linux Mint 9 is based on Ubuntu 10 - I was worried it was based on an older version. Which means that LM9 uses GRUB2.

When EasyBCD gets you to the GRUB prompt, can you type this in and see what you get?

Code: 
find /boot/grub/core.img
Click to expand...

Lots of searching .. Noisy too that I hope was the floppy seeking. Then error 15 file not found.

Addendum:

VIVXIX said:
run the the terminal.and then type the command below:
sudo chmod +w /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# make the Ubuntu grub.cfg for you to edit it.It is used for configueing the boot prosess
sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#use gedit to edit it .you can use other editor if you like.
#then you just find the " timeout=10" out, And change it into "timeout=0"
#that will make you boot into Ubuntu without the grub2 selecting list

all above is my setting in win7 and Ubuntu 10.04

Hope it can help you
Click to expand...

No such command as "sudo."

Jeff

Addendum:

I just discovered that the grub prompt is at my 0 drive ..my Win 7 drive.
 
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Sounds like GRUB2 was not installed to the disk.

Did you simply click-through the setup or at any point did you opt out of installing GRUB?
 
Computer Guru said:
Sounds like GRUB2 was not installed to the disk.

Did you simply click-through the setup or at any point did you opt out of installing GRUB?
Click to expand...
All I told it was to put whatever boot files there are on the Linux drive and not on the Win 7 drive so that it did not overwrite the Windows (EasyBCD) boot manager.
 
Hmmm, sounds like something went wrong there. This wouldn't be the first time, I have like 4 different bug reports open on the Ubuntu bug tracker about it not installing to partitions correctly.

I would advise re-installing, let it put its files wherever it wants. Then use GRUB to get into Windows. At that point, add a Linux entry w/ GRUB2, go to Bootloader Setup and choose "reinstall vista bootloader" to give the windows boot manager control of the boot again.
 
VIVXIX said:
run the the terminal.and then type the command below:
sudo chmod +w /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# make the Ubuntu grub.cfg for you to edit it.It is used for configueing the boot prosess
sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#use gedit to edit it .you can use other editor if you like.
#then you just find the " timeout=10" out, And change it into "timeout=0"
#that will make you boot into Ubuntu without the grub2 selecting list

all above is my setting in win7 and Ubuntu 10.04

Hope it can help you
Click to expand...

Thanks for that VIVXIX! but I'm scared to edit it cuz it has a huge DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE at the top lol.. is the timeout that i'm supposed to change in this line:

if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
Click to expand...

so i should edit the else statement to set timeout = 0?

thanks again!
 
Yes.

:smile:

Addendum:

And I'm working on a visual illustrated guide for Ubuntu.
 
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@Terry60:
what happens if you do edit it? it's kinda weird to give out a warning without explaining a possible consequence.. or is that a linux power user thing..?

EDIT: oh and i decided not to play around with grub anymore, not right now anyway..

@Guru:
hey the file you gave me as a fix,was it a bug in easybcd or was it for my particular circumstance? just asking..

it's working properly right now.. except when i manually installed my wacom tablet (which was a long process of installing stuff i didnt undrstand much), the grub menu became my initial bootloader, then when i select windows 7, it brings me to the windows bootloader.. i just rewrote the windows bootloader using easyBCD.. no real problems, just saying, and maybe you guys can make it so that the bootloader can stay consistent..?
 
If you do edit it, I think the problem is that future updates could undo your changes.
They provide the facility for you to apply your changes elsewhere in a user file, and those won't get touched by the OS, they automatically reapply to the updated grub.cfg.
Like putting an unofficial patch on any system file in any OS; if they don't know it's there, they can't avoid possibly crashing it.
 
Exactly. Ubuntu 10 now uses this method for all configuration files, not just the GRUB ones. It's really nice actually.

Instead of modifying any config file (usually in /etc/* but in some cases like GRUB, in another path altogether), you override any setting you choose in /etc/default/* so that they are preserved over upgrades, installs/uninstalls, etc. I had some trouble with the NST server the other day because I did not understand this, my changes kept getting wiped each time I turned a particular service on and off.
 
Computer Guru said:
Hmmm, sounds like something went wrong there. This wouldn't be the first time, I have like 4 different bug reports open on the Ubuntu bug tracker about it not installing to partitions correctly.

I would advise re-installing, let it put its files wherever it wants. Then use GRUB to get into Windows. At that point, add a Linux entry w/ GRUB2, go to Bootloader Setup and choose "reinstall vista bootloader" to give the windows boot manager control of the boot again.
Click to expand...
The first time I installed Mint I clicked through and used the defaults that put the boot loader in the "sda"/drive 0 (the Win 7 installation). Upon reboot, I got nothing. So I re-imaged my Win 7 installation to fix it.

I thought that it had something to do with me having used EasyBCD to move the boot drive from the XP drive - where it had been installed when I installed Win 7 in a dual boot - to the Win 7 drive. (After doing that, I wiped the XP install.) I say that because EasyBCD refers to the boot drive as the "EasyBCD boot device" and I don't recall it saying that when the Windows boot loader was where it had been natively. Perhaps Mint's installer didn't recognize the EasyBCD-modified loader? Just guessing .. wildly.

I reinstalled Mint this morning and made sure that it did install the bootloader on the Mint drive .. wasn't sure I had done that before. Still goes to the grub prompt which is inexplicably (to me) "on" the sda/drive 0/Win 7 drive. I am loathe to do anything to my Windows installation, which is why I'm trying to use EasyBCD to handle the bootloader.

Jeff
 
See, what you're supposed to do is install Linux Mint with all the defaults. After the setup completes, you'll find that GRUB has taken over your bootloader and presents you with a list of OSes to boot into.

At that point, we use EasyBCD to put the Windows bootloader back in control and add an entry pointing to the Linux partition to the Windows boot manager. It's very safe - esp. since you already have an image of the Windows 7 installation to fall back to, just in case.
 
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