Vista + Ubuntu 8.10 Dual boot

ctaylor

Member
Hey everyone,
I really hope someone can help me. I've decided to give Ubuntu a try and dual boot along side Vista. I thought the process would be fairly painless, but I've been struggling for a few weeks now.

Tried various methods mentioned in forums across the web, but all of them fail to boot ubuntu.

Here's the menu.lst file from Ubuntu:

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid ec236469-ceaf-45a6-beb1-c6d96320cdfa
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=ec236469-ceaf-45a6-beb1-c6d96320cdfa ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet
title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid ec236469-ceaf-45a6-beb1-c6d96320cdfa
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=ec236469-ceaf-45a6-beb1-c6d96320cdfa ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid ec236469-ceaf-45a6-beb1-c6d96320cdfa
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet


and now fdisk:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60563 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16128 * 512 = 8257536 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 266306 2147483647+ ee GPT
Disk /dev/sdb: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa4a69641
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 38914 312568691+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Disk /dev/sdc: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd2c0d2c0
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 13995 112414806 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 13996 14593 4803435 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 13996 14593 4803403+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

and here's EasyBCD:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate
Entry #1
Name: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows
Entry #2
Name: Ubuntu
BCD ID: {ab93ff91-a8d0-11dd-9e48-bad83c08113f}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\NeoGrub.mbr

Currently, when I reboot and select Ubuntu, I get a Windows Boot Manager error with \nst\neogrub.mbr error.

any help would be appreciated!
 
Thanks for the quick reply.
I did this, now I get to a GRUB prompt.

I tried "find /boot/grub/stage1" and I got an error: unrecognized partition table for drive 82. Rebuild it using a microsoft compatible fdisk tool.


I have checked the wiki and tried the suggested methods. I read somewhere that some people have probles with SATA hdd's and the drive id's being different when ubuntu installs versus when the system tries to boot up. maybe this is my problem, but I am unable to find a solution to this.

I apperciate the help.

Addendum:

noticed in another forum my neogrub config should contain:
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /boot/grub/menu.lst
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

which it does. and I still cannot boot into ubuntu. I just get to a GRUB prompt.
 
Last edited:
It sounds more like a error with GRUB than with EasyBCD. Use the Ubuntu LiveCD and redo GRUB to the same partition as the Ubuntu install.
 
Assuming you didn't get grub installation error during setup, grub should be fine.

Start EasyBCD and uninstall NeoGrub. Delete the current entry for Linux and go to the Linux tab and select the partition for Linux before checking the grub is not installed to mbr checkbox. (The other way around disables your ability to select the correct location). Restart and you should now get a menu with your linux entries. Any other problems should be related to the wrong number for x in the root hd(x,y) lines of your entries because they point to the wrong disk. Use grub's edit at boot time feature to change it until you can boot. You'll then need to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst to permantely reflect the changes.
 
Justin that is the same thing i had them do with my first post. It still doesnt get them into Linux. So it has to be a issue with either GRUB or they loaded GRUB to teh MBR and tehn over wrote it with teh BCD.
 
I overwrote my mbr with grub with the installation of Ubuntu because 7.10 anyway won't install properly if you try to tell it where to install. Installing to the mbr was the only way I could get it to work. The bootsectors still there after Vista has been recovered. That and pointing to the right place well boot Ubuntu just fine. You also can't select the partition in EasyBCD after checking the grub is not installed to mbr box. It disables that, so you haft to do it in the opposite order. I've ran the similar configuration on an external hard drive and my laptop drive as well and after hours of Linux garrbage printed on my screen this was the way I went about getting things working.

Perhaps it is some other undlying issue with setup not installing everything properly.
 
Hello again, i would like to know if you could take a doubt about of the installation of ubuntu 8.04 on a logical partition.
Can i, continue to use the easyBcd and add an entry to boot the Ubuntu, even when i do an installation on a logical partition Instead of a primary as usually do when we want install an operating system.

Thanks​
 
Yes linux is fine on logical drives, and EasyBCD doesn't carewhat the drive is.
 
I'll second the confirmation by saying I had Ubuntu 8.04 on my laptop at one time on a logical partition with XP/Vista. If Windows can see the linux partition from disk management, so can EasyBCD.
 
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