dual boot vista and fedora 10

benr242 · #1 8th January 2009, 08:22 AM

helllo, I'm having trouble getting my computer to dual boot between vista and fedora 10. I 'know' that both are installed, but only 1 will boot at any given time. for instance, i've been using fedora 10 for a few months now, but only this os will boot from the grub menu. to boot vista, i need its install dvd, where I choose the command prompt, and then 'bootrec /fixBoot', 'bootrec /fixMbr'. After this, Vista will boot fine, with all of my data files untouched, but now Vista is the only option that works.

To get back to Fedora, I need its installation dvd, where I go through the motions, and choose to update an installation. Again, now Fedora is the only os that works.

I would like to have them both just work, but all I can do is a 'faux' install with the dvd of whichever one I want. Any ideas on how I could get it working the way it should? Thanks

Ben

lauwers · #2 8th January 2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benr242

helllo, I'm having trouble getting my computer to dual boot between vista and fedora 10. I 'know' that both are installed, but only 1 will boot at any given time. for instance, i've been using fedora 10 for a few months now, but only this os will boot from the grub menu. to boot vista, i need its install dvd, where I choose the command prompt, and then 'bootrec /fixBoot', 'bootrec /fixMbr'. After this, Vista will boot fine, with all of my data files untouched, but now Vista is the only option that works.

To get back to Fedora, I need its installation dvd, where I go through the motions, and choose to update an installation. Again, now Fedora is the only os that works.

I would like to have them both just work, but all I can do is a 'faux' install with the dvd of whichever one I want. Any ideas on how I could get it working the way it should? Thanks

Ben

Run the following commands in a terminal as root cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
fdsik -l (L lower case)
maybe we can help you

***glennzo*** · #3 8th January 2009, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauwers

Run the following commands in a terminal as root cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
fdsik -l (L lower case)
maybe we can help you

And post the results here ...

And what options do you have with GRUB's menu? Does it show Fedora and Other? Are the OS's installed on separate hard disks or are they both on the same disk / different partitions?

lauwers · #4 8th January 2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glennzo

And post the results here ...

And what options do you have with GRUB's menu? Does it show Fedora and Other? Are the OS's installed on separate hard disks or are they both on the same disk / different partitions?

Knowing the structure of his HD it might be possible to add the windows partition to his
menu.lst
The command fdisk -l gives me the structure of all my 3 HDS occupied by Windows XP
Mandriva , Opensuse , Fedora

***glennzo*** · #5 8th January 2009, 02:05 PM

Yeah, I know. I just wanted to make sure that he not only ran the commands you suggested but also posted the output here so we could see what's up.

benr242 · #6 8th January 2009, 11:05 PM

This is from the /boot/grub/menu.1st:

# 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 (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=57b387ce-c77b-4bf0-ab43-6477f7bf8938
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img
title Fedora-base (2.6.27.9-159.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.9-159.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=57b387ce-c77b-4bf0-ab43-6477f7bf8938
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.9-159.fc10.i686.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

And here are the fdisk results:

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000001

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5861 47078400 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 5862 5886 200812+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 5887 24321 148079137+ 8e Linux LVM

Not sure what the middle one is, but sda1 is my Vista install, and sda3 is Fedora. And yes, glennzo, the grub menu has Fedora and Other. Since I'm using Fedora now, selecting 'Other' will instantly restart the computer and I end up right back at the grub menu again. This is one hard drive with separate partitions.

lauwers · #7 9th January 2009, 10:56 AM

Try to change it in
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
use a real linux text editor to change it
hope this will help

benr242 · #8 9th January 2009, 09:21 PM

thanks for trying, lauwers, but I still get the same result... selecting Windows Vista from the grub menu just restarts the computer. I'm wondering about my partions. I found that sda2 is mounted as /boot. I wonder if that's a problem?

stoat · #9 9th January 2009, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benr242

...selecting 'Other' will instantly restart the computer and I end up right back at the grub menu again...
...selecting Windows Vista from the grub menu just restarts the computer...

Hello benr242,

Your grub.conf looks okay vis-a-vis your fdisk report. So if you meant that this is launching GRUB...

title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

...then I recommend that you enter Vista's Recovery Environment with the DVD once again, but this time only do the Bootrec.exe /FixBoot command. That will leave GRUB in the master boot record, but re-install Vista boot sector code in (hd0,0). It works in my imagination anyway.

If you really did mean that choosing "Other" is literally rebooting the computer from BIOS, then what I suggested may not help. I have no explanation for why launching a partition's boot sector code (which is what chainloader +1 does) would result in a reboot from BIOS. Nor do I have a recommendation for that other than repairing the boot sector (which is what Bootrec.exe /FixBoot does). Anyway, even so, fixboot will do no harm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by benr242

I found that sda2 is mounted as /boot. I wonder if that's a problem?

No. When you choose to use LVM (Logical Volume Management) for your partition layout, then you are required to have an ext3 boot partition. And Anaconda will always create one in that situation. That partition holds the kernels, initial ramdisks, grub.conf, device.map, splashscreen image, and other GRUB related files that are needed during booting. This is necessary because the GRUB stages cannot access any files inside an LVM physical volume.

P.S.: There is no need to clutter your grub.conf with savedefault or makeactive. The savedefault command only works if the default command line specifies "saved" instead of a number. Yours is still default=0 (see the GRUB manual). And all it does anyway is make the last chosen OS the default for next time. Nice, but not related to your problem. The makeactive command is not necessary with modern operating systems. (see footnote 6 for makeactive in the GRUB manual). I have never had to use makeactive. Besides, the Vista partition is already the active partition (see the asterisk in the Boot column of your fdisk report).