Vista + FC10 dual boot help

Cleric33 · #1 2009-02-18, 03:42 PM CST

Hello...I'm having trouble accessing Vista after trying to setup a dual boot. I'm a newbie to Linux...what I did was create a partition in Vista by shrinking the drive size. I do not remember the specifics of what I chose when installing FC10, but I selected the 28GB partition I made to install...and I guess I messed up on the Bootloader setup. Now Linux is working fine, but if I restart the computer I cannot access Vista. I can see my "OS" filesystem on Linux with all the Windows files, but can't access it on startup. The computer is a Dell, and on startup when choosing the bootup type, I assumed the hard drive would be for Vista, and the "utility partition" would be for Linux, but on either, Linux is the only option available.

What can I do to get Vista back?

Thanks.

edit: this is the display of fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x80000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           8       64228+  de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2               9        1314    10485760    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3   *        1314       26825   204916732    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           26826       30394    28667992+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           26826       26851      208813+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6           26852       30394    28459116   8e  Linux LVM

and this is menu.lst

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64)
	root (hd0,4)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64)
	root (hd0,4)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64 ro root=UUID=95d95152-128f-4d72-a057-a56bb308776d rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64.img
title Other
	rootnoverify (hd0,1)
	chainloader +1

**stoat** · #2 2009-02-18, 04:16 PM CST

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleric33

Code:

/dev/sda1               1           8       64228+  de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2               9        1314    10485760    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3   *        1314       26825   204916732    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           26826       30394    28667992+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           26826       26851      208813+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6           26852       30394    28459116   8e  Linux LVM

Code:

title Other
	rootnoverify (hd0,1)
	chainloader +1

Hello Cleric33,

Open the grub.conf file for editing...

Code:

su
gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

Change the rootnoverify command in the "Other" section to this...

Code:

title Other
	rootnoverify (hd0,2)
	chainloader +1

Save it, reboot, and try it again.

Cleric33 · #3 2009-02-18, 04:27 PM CST

Thanks for the response.

I changed it, but when I selected it on the GRUB loader, it would just restart and the message saying FC10 will load in 5 seconds came up, press a key to open the loader, etc...

**stoat** · #4 2009-02-18, 04:50 PM CST

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleric33

I changed it, but when I selected it on the GRUB loader, it would just restart and the message saying FC10 will load in 5 seconds came up, press a key to open the loader, etc...

That describes what would happen if GRUB had been installed in the boot sector of /dev/sda3. Did you do that at some point?

Anyway, you've tried (hd0,1) and now (hd0,2). They did not boot Vista. That leaves only (hd0,0) as the only other possible candidate, but I think it's a long shot now. Vista's boot loader files are always in the root directory of an active MS compatible partition. That's why I was lured to (hd0,2) which is /dev/sda3 in the fdisk report. I guess I would try (hd0,0) in the rootnoverify command just to rule it out. It won't harm anything to try it. If that also does not boot Vista, then something else not yet explained has happened to Vista's boot loader.

If none of the first three partitions worked in the grub.conf to boot Vista, and if everything described so far is accurate, then something has happened to the boot sector code that loads and executes Bootmgr.exe. IMO, Vista's boot loader will need to be repaired. The /FixBoot option of the Bootrec.exe command in the Vista Recovery Environment restores the boot sector code to the Vista system partition.

Cleric33 · #5 2009-02-18, 04:50 PM CST

Oops, sry. I think I was trying different numbers and that happened.

When I set it to (hd0,2), and select it, the screen just comes up as a blinking cursor and nothing happens.

Cleric33 · #6 2009-02-18, 04:52 PM CST

Ok, and I tried 0, 1, 2 and 3, none of them worked.

**stoat** · #7 2009-02-18, 05:19 PM CST

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleric33

When I set it to (hd0,2), and select it, the screen just comes up as a blinking cursor and nothing happens.

To me, that's a different situation. It's commonly reported and discussed on the Internet regarding Vista and XP. It makes me suspect that GRUB and the Vista boot sector are working after all, but something else has happened to the Vista boot loader. But I don't know what that is. Sorry. Unless somebody else has a better idea, and if the Vista installation is valuable, then I would spend some time trying to do a Startup Repair or boot loader repair with the Recovery Environment. Once (if) that is fixed and understood, it will not be hard to arrange a way to boot Fedora with Bootmgr or Vista with GRUB.

Cleric33 · #8 2009-02-18, 05:19 PM CST

Ok I got it working now after the recovery console, and Vista loads from (hd0,2).

One last question is how do I make Vista as the default OS to load up?

I tried:

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=3
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64)
	root (hd0,4)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.x86_64.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64)
	root (hd0,4)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64 ro root=UUID=95d95152-128f-4d72-a057-a56bb308776d rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.x86_64.img
title Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition
	rootnoverify (hd0,2)
	chainloader +1

but it didn't work, FC10 still loaded.

**stoat** · #9 2009-02-18, 05:24 PM CST

That default command starts counting with zero (i.e., Vista would be 2).

P.S.: I'm glad something good happened. But I still don't understand what happened and would like to. Can you explain what went on here?

Cleric33 · #10 2009-02-18, 05:32 PM CST

lol yeah it was 2.

I'm not exactly sure what happened. When I put the Vista CD in, it showed no partitions at all, and in the browse if I went to look at C: drive, it said that it needed to be formatted. I just clicked next anyway and first I wasn't paying attention and just selected the first option, I cant remember what it was, something to do with fix or repair Windows. Then I restarted and realized I was supposed to use the cmd option...so I went back into the recovery console, and this time off the start it showed the Vista Partition, so I just exited and selected the "other" option (hd 0,2) and Vista loaded. I'm kind of confused, maybe the repair option fixed the Vista loader on its own...but the first time I put in the Vista cd it was showing no partitions.

and thanks very much for the help