Only Vista & no Ubuntu entry in bootloader

L

landroni

Member
Dear memers,
It's been couple of days I'm banging my head against the wall. I'm installing Linux Mint Xfce (which is a rebranded Xubuntu 8.10 Intrepid, so I'm assuming all the way that I use the pure Ubuntu installer) on friend's computer, and I'm taking all the precautions to avoid data loss.

I installed Linux on /dev/sda6 (extended partition) and instructed the installer to put GRUB there (and *not* on MBR). That was the easy part; now the head-banging.

I followed Ubuntu's guide for the entire process. Then I followed this and this, to no avail. EasyBCD refuses to include any Linux related entry in the Vista bootloader. Before posting, I've also read this and this, with no obvious solution. With avoiding dataloss on the Vista install in mind, please advise:
- go the 2.0 Betas way? (how dangerous are these betas?)
- try to learn and use bcdedit.exe? (any good documentation link available?)
- go the obvious way and install GRUB to MBR using a LiveCD? (what would be the recommended CD? are the Ubuntu 8.10 installers known to corrupt partitions doing so?)

Thank you in advance,
Liviu
 
Welcome to NST, landroni.
Ok, so to get your Linux boot to play nice with Vista, you will need to perform the following steps:


  1. Get the latest beta release of EasyBCD.
  2. Open up EasyBCD, and navigate to the Linux tab in EasyBCD's Add/Remove Entries section.
  3. Select Grub in the Type menu, check the box called "Grub isn't installed to the MBR/bootsector" (despite the fact that it is indeed installed to the bootsector), give the new entry an appropriate name, make sure its pointed at the right drive/partition combination in the "Device" menu (should be shown as a "Linux" partition).
  4. Click on the Add Entry button to create the new entry.
  5. Now reboot and test, and the new boot entry you will find in your Vista boot menu should allow you to boot into your Linux install. :wink:
Cheers, and let us know if you have any more questions.

Jake
 
Simple answer Liviu - EasyBCD 1.7 stopped working with the latest Linux distros when they changed the grub syntax. Easy BCD 2.0 is your only option if you want to use the Vista BCD to control the boot.
It's not dangerous, just more up-to-date. It's Beta because new support is being added for multiple OSs regularly.
If your Linux partition is on the same HDD as Vista's BCD, you don't need to tick the "grub isn't installed ...." box, because it will be installed to the boot sector (of Linux).
That message is going to be clarified (extended) in future builds. It applies if you haven't installed Grub (anywhere), or if it's on a different HDD to the Windows boot files.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all, for the suggestions, and for the programme. Worked sweet. (By the way, I left unchecked "grub isn't installed ...."; worked, and anyway I prefer the native GRUB to handle this.)
Best,
Liviu
 
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