Quadruple Booting, with Opensuse and Ubuntu installed in logical drives

R

redheat

Member
hi everyone

first of all let me start this by saying a big thank you to the developing team behind this unbelievably awesome program called EasyBCD, it made my life easier booting multiple OS. Ok this is what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to run four operating systems from a single harddrive.

I have a 300 GB harddrive divided into:

100 GB for Windows XP Professional (Primary Partition)
100 GB for Windows Vista Business (Primary Partition)
the remaining 120 GB is an extended partition with 6 logical partitions as follows:
15 GB for windows xp backup (NTFS)
15 GB for windows vista Backup (NTFS)
20 GB for Games (NTFS)

the remaining 50 is divided into 22 GB for linux partition ext3, and another 22 GB for another linux partition (ext3) and 6 GB for swap which could be used as a shared swap partition between any two linux os systems

Now, I'm planning on installing Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) into one of those two partition, and in the other one I will install Opensus 10.3 (latest edition)

I went over Ubuntu installation wiki guide and made sure, oh I forgot to mention this I have three harddrives in my computer a 250 harddrive used for data, another 250 gb harddrive also used for data, and this 320 gb harddrive used for OS' . If I used Linux terminology the OS harddrive would be labelled (hd1), since (hd0) is taken by one of the other two harddrives, and there's of course (hd2) which is reserved for data. as I was saying, after I went through the Ubuntu wiki on your website, I made sure to install the grub into the same root directory (/), and then when I went back to windows and used EasyBCD 1.7.1 to create an entry for ubunt within vista's bootloader, and I directed easybcd to the root directory of my linux installation.

On the next reboot, I choose that newly created linux entry, yet all I got was this message:

Lodaing new partition
Bootsector from C.H. Hochstatter
cannot load from harddisk
insert systemdisk and press any key

ok, that was concerning Ubuntu, now if we move on to Opensuse, I gotta say I got called feet because of their installer, which, by the way, I know it is so marvellous and easy to install, but honestly, I didn't know how to directy it's boot loader to install to its root directory.

so can you please tell me what I did do wrong with my ubuntu installation, and how can I manipulate opensuse's boot loader to get it to install to the root directory opensuse.

I am totally indebted to the neosmart technology for their unbelievably beautiful product easyBCD1.7.1, thank you so much for that..

regards
redheat
 
Hi RedHeat, welcome to NST.

In Ubuntu setup you should specify the drive that GRUB is to be installed to using /dev/sd* notation instead of (hdx,y) notation.
 
Computer Guru said:
Hi RedHeat, welcome to NST.

In Ubuntu setup you should specify the drive that GRUB is to be installed to using /dev/sd* notation instead of (hdx,y) notation.
Click to expand...

Thank you Computer Guru for your prompt reply, unfortunately, I got the same error as above..

I installed ubuntu on my logical drive, called sdb8, and when it came to the advanced part, I just entered /dev/sdb8, and that's it...

yet it gave me the same error as before...

also, I was wondering if you can help me with opensuse's grub, how can I force to install it's boot loader to the root directory?

regards
redheat
 
Computer Guru said:
Did you re-create the entry in EasyBCD once more after installing GRUB to /dev/sdb8?
Click to expand...

yes I did, and to let you know, I have learned how to install opensuse's bootloader into root directory and the result came up as with ubuntu..the same message and I forgot to say this last time..it also says ntldr is missing under the same message

can you show me what I'm doing wrong here?

regards
redheat

p.s. I think easybcd is not reporting all the partitions, because as I recall from before, when adding an entry to the bootloader, easybcd would show all linux partitions along with their free and non-free size, in this case it doesn't show that at all, all it shows the partitions, yet some linux partitions are not there..for example, under gparted I see 10 partitions on this harddrive, under easybcd I see only 8?!!

can you help me here?
 
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Makaveli213 said:
Linux - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

There is the Linux documentation.

Ubuntu - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

There is the specific Ubuntu Specific Documentation. With screen shots. So that should show you exactly what Guru was talking about. :wink:
Click to expand...

Makaveli213, I have already followed that wiki tutorial to no use. It kept giving me the above message..!!??

I wouldn't have posted any questions if I haven't done my research first..

It won't boot..simple as that...I've been booting and rebooting more than ten times yesterday and I have tried both two diferent operating systems..and it got me nowhere...the same message over and over again..don't know why?

linux can work from logical drives, right? I'm sure it does because under all circumstances that all that would be left after after installing two windows on the same harddrive, I mean I have no other option.

regards
redheat
 
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What wont boot? Linux? XP? Vista? Give a screenshot. Just saying that it wont boot and not giving any information as to what wont boot does not help. Have you left the GRUB installer on? Did you isntall GRUB? Did you repair the Vista boot loader with the DVD or just use EasyBCD? NTLDR is a XP related issue since XP uses that to boot. That is explained in the Wiki as well. Saying that you do not have those files on the boot drive.
 
Makaveli213 said:
What wont boot? Linux? XP? Vista? Give a screenshot. Just saying that it wont boot and not giving any information as to what wont boot does not help. Have you left the GRUB installer on? Did you isntall GRUB? Did you repair the Vista boot loader with the DVD or just use EasyBCD? NTLDR is a XP related issue since XP uses that to boot. That is explained in the Wiki as well. Saying that you do not have those files on the boot drive.
Click to expand...

Makaveli213, linux won't start. That answers the first question, linux won't start, while vista and xp are dual-booting fine with no problems at all. What I'm referring to is when I click on the linux entry which is created under the vista bootloader, it automatically takes me to a blank black-screen with the above message located on to the top most section..if I pressed enter it would give me the following message ntldr is messing press cntrl+alt+del to restart!!!

as to your question regarding the grub installer, no I do not use the grub installer at all, I mean I use easyBCD to force the grub installer to load from within vista's bootloader, I followed the Wiki tutorial to the smallest detail. Never left out anything. and I always, and I mean always, install the grub to the same partition to which ubuntu and opensuse installed, I nevever install it to a different partition..this is what is driving me crazy..

by the way, I wann let you on a little thing I did before. Before these recent trials, I once had only windows xp and windows vista, both installed on two primary partitions on the same harddrive, and the rest of the availabe space I left out as unallocated space, I mean I didn't create any extended or logical partitions or anything, all I did is that I inserted the ubuntu DVD rebooted logged into ubuntu's live cd and started the installation procedure as it was indicated on the ubuntu wiki. and guess what? it worked like a charm, and I was able to run ubuntu from within vista's bootloader. No problem whatsoever, of course you can see why it worked so efficiently, there was the availabe space to create primary and extended partitions, of course you would say it doesn't matter much whether I installed linux into a logical or primary partition. But, I don't think this is the case here, because I have created a number of logical drives and a swap partition within my newly created extended partition, I'm talking about the new scheme of course not the old one with only ubuntu installed, and both opensuse and ubuntu gave me the same message everytime I chose their entries from within vista's boot loader.


again to clarify the scheme of my partitioning: my harddrive is 320 GB

one Primary partition for windows xp (100 GB)
one primary partition for windows vista (100 GB)
one extended partition containing all the remaining space (120 GB)
within that extended partition there's:
one logical partition called windows xp backup (15 GB)
one logical partition called windows vista backup (15 GB)
one logical partition called Games (20 GB)
one logical partition (22 GB) formatted as ext3 and left out for one of the linux systems to be installed
one logical partition (22 GB) formatted as ext3 left out for the other linux os ( as you can see both partitions will serve are root partitions for linux operating systems
finally what remains, almost 4 GB of space are used as linux-swap partition.

that's all. I have formatted, and repartitioned so many times the above scheme and reinstalled each operating system's grub in it own root directory, and then logged back into windows, used easy bcd to add entry for each root directory to the vista's boot loader, and then rebooted, now of course the entries I added became visible, now If I chose any of those newly created entries it would take to that black page and that's it..

that's all I did nothing more or less.

if you have any ideas or things that I can try please do tell me..I am open and willing cause I will not let this crap stop from quadrupling my system.

regards and thank you for your input
redheat
 
RedHeat, I recommend using NeoGrub to boot into your multiple Linux entries.
For some reason GRUB is either not being correctly written to or read from your partitions.

Please see NeoGrub Linux - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki for instructions on manually configuring NeoGrub to boot into Linux(es). You can use existing menu.lst files from your various Linux installs to get the info you need.
 
Finally, I got it to work...
first of all thank you Computer Guru and you too Makaveli213 for taking the time to reply to my posts. I did a litte search on the internet with the exact error message that I reported above, and it turned out to be problem that many people are facing and it has something to do with LBA, disk size, partitions..and solving it was a lengthy and hectic process, as I was browsing I came across this interesting and unbelievable post on www.ubuntuorums.org : http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-434357.html

I don't know if that was you Computer Guru or not, but anyway that post, especially the last one, interested me..where the member who post it asked if we can use that option called "Grub is not installed in Boot sector"...so I tried this as a last resort. Since I repeated the whole process again tonight where I deleted the linux partitions I created before and then recreated them again, installed ubuntu on the first one and opensuse in the second one. Of course during both ubuntu and opensuse's installation, I directed their grubs to be installed to their root directories. The moment I went back to windows xp, I opened easy bcd, added the entry to ubuntu but this time I ticked the option which says, grub is not installed to boot sector, and for opensuse I didn't have to do that, I just added opensuse as a regular entry, it seems you need to tick that option for one of your linux distribution without worrying about doing for any other linux distributions that you will install.

the next time I rebooted, there was my vista's bootloader along with ubuntu and opensue lying there. If I pressed on any of them they would automatically take me to their grubs in turn where I see all of my other operating systems listed..

Finally...

thank you all for your help

regards
redheat...
 
Last edited:
redheat said:
Finally, I got it to work...
first of all thank you Computer Guru and you too Makaveli213 for taking the time to reply to my posts. I did a litte search on the internet with the exact error message that I reported above, and it turned out to be problem that many people are facing and it has something to do with LBA, disk size, partitions..and solving it was a lengthy and hectic process, as I was browsing I came across this interesting and unbelievable post on www.ubuntuorums.org : http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-434357.html

I don't know if that was you Computer Guru or not, but anyway that post, especially the last one, interested me..where the member who post it asked if we can use that option called "Grub is not installed in Boot sector"...so I tried this as a last resort. Since I repeated the whole process again tonight where I deleted the linux partitions I created before and then recreated them again, installed ubuntu on the first one and opensuse in the second one. Of course during both ubuntu and opensuse's installation, I directed their grubs to be installed to their root directories. The moment I went back to windows xp, I opened easy bcd, added the entry to ubuntu but this time I ticked the option which says, grub is not installed to boot sector, and for opensuse I didn't have to do that, I just added opensuse as a regular entry, it seems you need to tick that option for one of your linux distribution without worrying about doing for any other linux distributions that you will install.

the next time I rebooted, there was my vista's bootloader along with ubuntu and opensue lying there. If I pressed on any of them they would automatically take me to their grubs in turn where I see all of my other operating systems listed..

Finally...

thank you all for your help

regards
redheat...
Click to expand...


Yes, that's me on Ubuntu Forums as well :wink:

I'm glad you got it working. For the record - "GRUB is not installed" will silently install NeoGrub and search for existing GRUB menu.lst files to use.
 
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