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

Computer Guru said:
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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Thanks. I did that the first time and it wouldn't boot to anything. But I'll try it again. Maybe I screwed something up.

Jeff

Addendum:

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.
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Wiped and reinstalled Mint and accepted all defaults. Rebooted, saw no boot options and found myself at grub rescue. I restored the Win7 installation and retired to the home theater to watch a movie. I'll deal with this tomorrow, bit I might just throw another computer together to play with Mint.

Jeff
 
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OK, I guess we're now dealing with a bug in Mint/GRUB with your configuration.

There's a way of booting into Linux via EasyBCD's NeoGrub, I haven't had to direct people to use it in a loooong time.

The gist of it is here:
NeoGrub Linux - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

The trick is that you'll need to find out:
1) The /sdx# value for the LM partition (where x is a letter from a to z indicating the hard disk, so probably a, and # is a number from 1 to 9 indicating the partition)
2) The kernel version.

If you can browse the /boot/ folder on your LM partition from a live CD, you should be able to find a file called vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic except with a different kernel version.

Just modify the NeoGrub menu to match these values and you'll be good to go.
 
Thanks. It will be Sun when I get back to this. I'll try this before trying the GRUB2 that comes with Mint. Thanks for your support!

Jeff

Computer Guru said:
OK, I guess we're now dealing with a bug in Mint/GRUB with your configuration.

There's a way of booting into Linux via EasyBCD's NeoGrub, I haven't had to direct people to use it in a loooong time.

The gist of it is here:
NeoGrub Linux - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

The trick is that you'll need to find out:
1) The /sdx# value for the LM partition (where x is a letter from a to z indicating the hard disk, so probably a, and # is a number from 1 to 9 indicating the partition)
2) The kernel version.

If you can browse the /boot/ folder on your LM partition from a live CD, you should be able to find a file called vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic except with a different kernel version.

Just modify the NeoGrub menu to match these values and you'll be good to go.
Click to expand...

Addendum:


I suppose I should ask if NeoGrub works with Grub2 .... ?
 
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Jeff, in this case, NeoGrub is replacing GRUB2. When you add a normal Linux entry in EasyBCD, you generally ask NeoGrub to call up GRUB2 and then ask GRUB2 to call up Linux.

By manually configuring NeoGrub following the steps that I posted, you're asking NeoGrub to load Linux directly.
 
Computer Guru said:
Jeff, in this case, NeoGrub is replacing GRUB2. When you add a normal Linux entry in EasyBCD, you generally ask NeoGrub to call up GRUB2 and then ask GRUB2 to call up Linux.

By manually configuring NeoGrub following the steps that I posted, you're asking NeoGrub to load Linux directly.
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Thanks. I was trying to have Windoze be in control so that if I changed - or deleted - my Linux install, I wouldn't have any drama with booting into Win 7. This method seems like it puts a Linux program in control.

Any thoughts on why the Win bootloader can't load Mint?

Jeff
 
Nope - to the contrary. This method was devised to make Windows completely in control.

Think of NeoGrub as an "extension" to the Windows Vista/7 bootloader that will let it boot Linux. The windows bootloader by default does not understand the Linux filesystem and cannot see or load anything from it. NeoGrub is a module that will let it do that, and EasyBCD is the glue that installs the NeoGrub module into the Windows bootloader.

Addendum:

More clarification:

Your boot process will look like this:

BIOS -> MBR of hard disk -> windows bootloader
Choosing Windows will load Windows
Choosing LM will load NeoGrub will load Linux

No way you can lose your Windows in this setup, since Linux is the branch out and not the other way around.
 
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Computer Guru said:
Nope - to the contrary. This method was devised to make Windows completely in control.

Think of NeoGrub as an "extension" to the Windows Vista/7 bootloader that will let it boot Linux. The windows bootloader by default does not understand the Linux filesystem and cannot see or load anything from it. NeoGrub is a module that will let it do that, and EasyBCD is the glue that installs the NeoGrub module into the Windows bootloader.

Addendum:

More clarification:

Your boot process will look like this:

BIOS -> MBR of hard disk -> windows bootloader
Choosing Windows will load Windows
Choosing LM will load NeoGrub will load Linux

No way you can lose your Windows in this setup, since Linux is the branch out and not the other way around.
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Thanks again.

It is visible in Disk Manager and of course has a drive # assigned to it, but Windows Explorer doesn't show it so it has no drive letter.

I'll give this a try ....

Jeff
 
Windows can see the drive itself well enough, but it can't understand the filesystem inside.
It's like having a book in a foreign language on your desk. You know the book is there, you can give it a number and sort it and move it and so on and so forth, but unless you can understand the language it's written in, you can't read what it says.

But you can get an interpreter to read the book for you. And that's what EasyBCD/NeoGrub does.

Addendum:

Good luck. Hope this works :smile:
 
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Computer Guru said:
OK, I guess we're now dealing with a bug in Mint/GRUB with your configuration.

There's a way of booting into Linux via EasyBCD's NeoGrub, I haven't had to direct people to use it in a loooong time.

The gist of it is here:
NeoGrub Linux - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

The trick is that you'll need to find out:
1) The /sdx# value for the LM partition (where x is a letter from a to z indicating the hard disk, so probably a, and # is a number from 1 to 9 indicating the partition)
2) The kernel version.

If you can browse the /boot/ folder on your LM partition from a live CD, you should be able to find a file called vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic except with a different kernel version.

Just modify the NeoGrub menu to match these values and you'll be good to go.
Click to expand...
Ok, back at this. There looks like typo in the second line -

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic ro root=/dev/sda2

Nonetheless, I took out the "ro", replaced all instances of the version with 2.6.32-21 and still couldn't get it to boot. I know my my Linux install is on sdc because that's what it's call when I'm in Mint from the Live DVD. I've tried sdc, sdc1 and sdc2 with no success.

In the NeoGrub documentation there is a line -

root (hd1,2)

and there is no equivalent in the example on the page you linked.

Jeff
 
sdc means you have 3 hard disks - is that correct?

and ro - despite what it looks like - isn't the first 2 letters of 'root' repeated by accident. It means 'read only'
 
It gets better. I have three internal SATA drives. (The Linux drive is Secondary Slave.) I have two external RAID arrays and I have one external SATA Western Digital MyBook. At one point in my trying to get this to work, I had a GRUB prompt and got it to catalog all the drives. My jaw dropped - there were no ext4 volumes. It listed FIVE drives, hd0,0 through hd4,0 and they were all ntfs. I "rooted" them all sequentially to look at the contents and verified they were my two internal SATAs, the two RAIDs (amazingly "seen" through a RAID card that I was sure needed drivers loaded into an O/S to see) and the WD external SATA.

I have to set this "project" aside and work on my company website. When I pick it back up, I think I might start on the Mint forum with the above mystery.

Thanks,
Jeff

Addendum:

Computer Guru said:
and ro - despite what it looks like - isn't the first 2 letters of 'root' repeated by accident. It means 'read only'
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Well, ro or no ro, it didn't work. :frowning:
 
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Computer Guru said:
That's interesting. Is Linux installed to a RAID disk?
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No, it's on one of three identical internal SATA drives - Velociraptors. When booted from the Live DVD, I can see the SATA internals and the SATA external, as well as the "drives" in the card reader. I cannot see the RAID arrays.

When In Win 7 and using "ext2explore.exe" I see the ext4 Linux drive and contents (as sdd1). All - ALL - of the drives are visible in Storage Manager.

Jeff
 
Hmm.

Interesting stuff, really. In the meantime you could try either using Wubi to install Ubuntu (installs Ubuntu to a file instead of a partition, then reboots into it) or a virtual machine?
 
Computer Guru said:
Hmm.

Interesting stuff, really. In the meantime you could try either using Wubi to install Ubuntu (installs Ubuntu to a file instead of a partition, then reboots into it) or a virtual machine?
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I should research the "interesting stuff" first and go from there. If I can figure that all out, I can probably get EasyBCD or EasyBCD/NeoGrub to work.

For now, I need a stable Windows computer to add more pages to my company's website before diving back into this.

Reclaimed wood flooring - Aged Woods® wide plank antique flooring recycled from old barn wood.

Jeff
 
I have an update. Some will laugh with me. Most will laugh at me. Glad to bring humor.

I had a blue screen this morning and while it was rebooting I happened to be in the room looking at the BIOS info and I noticed it was missing SATA drive 4 (secondary slave) which is where Mint is installed. I entered the BIOS and saw that drive was listed as "not installed" so I changed it to "auto" and rebooted to Windows. No changes there; the drive had always been visible in Storage Manager. I edited my EasyBCD boot manager, deleted the Linux entry and added another by selecting the autoconfigure for GRUB2 and robooted. Selected Linux Mint 9 at the Windows boot screen, stared for a few moments at the Grub boot screen and watched it default boot to Mint. Badda boom, badda bing.

Obviously, Mint was installed on the drive shown "not installed" in my BIOS, but I have no idea how Mint installer saw it - or Windows for that matter - when it was connected but not seen by the BIOS.

Anyway, downloaded and applied all the updates and now I can see what Linux is all about.

Jeff
 
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