Fedora 12 and Vista dualboot problem

WimV76 · #1 10th February 2010, 08:06 PM

Hi,

I have a problem with installing Fedora on my Viao laptop. I can install it with out any problems but I can't get a dualboot system running.
I have tried EasyBCD but without any succes..

My Computer:
Harddisk 1
- partition 1: unknown (proberly some backup/restore partition)
- partition 2: Windows Vista 32bits
Harddisk 2
- partition 1: my personal data NTFS
- Partition 2: swap created by Fedora install
- Partition 3: Fedora partition 64 bits.

It's a preinstalled computer with Windows Vistia 32bit, and I tried to install Fedora on that second disk.
But the computer is starting up without any bootloader whatsoever.

Please help..
Wim

fedoranewbie101 · #2 10th February 2010, 09:36 PM

From my understanding, you have two hard disks. Is the Windows loading by default?

You should get into the boot menu and choose the second hard disk. This has to be done as soon you start the computer and requires you to hit either a function key or escape key. This will come up before the Windows icon and is a different key in different computers.

Also make sure you are able to boot from that hard disk by going into BIOS (function or escape key).

Also check fdisk to make sure it is labled as a bootable partition

Code:

fdisk /dev/sdb

(or hdb, hda, sda or whatever your hard disk is called instead of sdb)
Then type "m" for help. Then choose the option to view partition tables. The bootable partition should have "*" next to it. Ths should not be neccessary if you installed automatically.

***glennzo*** · #3 10th February 2010, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WimV76

Hi,

I have a problem with installing Fedora on my Viao laptop. I can install it with out any problems but I can't get a dualboot system running.
I have tried EasyBCD but without any succes..

My Computer:
Harddisk 1
- partition 1: unknown (proberly some backup/restore partition)
- partition 2: Windows Vista 32bits
Harddisk 2
- partition 1: my personal data NTFS
- Partition 2: swap created by Fedora install
- Partition 3: Fedora partition 64 bits.

It's a preinstalled computer with Windows Vistia 32bit, and I tried to install Fedora on that second disk.
But the computer is starting up without any bootloader whatsoever.

Please help..
Wim

Windows is booting but Fedora is not?

dd_wizard · #4 11th February 2010, 12:23 AM

I know if you install the Fedora boot loader to the partition that Fedora is installed in, the installer marks your primary Windows partition as inactive. You can use the Windows DVD to repair it, or boot to the Fedora installer and select repair. Use parted to make the Windows partition active. This should work:

Code:

# parted /dev/sda set 2 boot on

Since Windows is on the first disk, /dev/sda should be correct.

dd_wizard

WimV76 · #5 11th February 2010, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fedoranewbie101

From my understanding, you have two hard disks. Is the Windows loading by default?

You should get into the boot menu and choose the second hard disk. This has to be done as soon you start the computer and requires you to hit either a function key or escape key. This will come up before the Windows icon and is a different key in different computers.

Also make sure you are able to boot from that hard disk by going into BIOS (function or escape key).

Also check fdisk to make sure it is labled as a bootable partition

Code:

fdisk /dev/sdb

(or hdb, hda, sda or whatever your hard disk is called instead of sdb)
Then type "m" for help. Then choose the option to view partition tables. The bootable partition should have "*" next to it. Ths should not be neccessary if you installed automatically.

I have tried to change it in my Bios menu but the menu is so limited. I can only select optical drive, harddisk, external disk....

Do you have any other solution?

@Glennzo: Yes, windows is booting like it should be, but Fedora isn't booting at all, even when I try to add a bootoption with EasyBCD. (setting Linux: to the Fedora partition on Harddisk 2).

@fedoranewbie101: I have started an rescue option with the Fedora install cd's and found out that the Fedora partition was not set with a "*" indicating that it was bootable. So I changed it like you said, but still the same results. The boot option created (again) with EasyBCD doesn't work. It returns an error that it's not bootable..

I'll hope someone knows the answer to this...
Thanx

***glennzo*** · #6 11th February 2010, 09:49 AM

Typically you would use rescue from the install DVD menu to re-install grub. There are many threads here on how to do so.

Daveda · #7 11th February 2010, 11:18 AM

If you received your laptop with Windows vista your first partition is the initial installation info (PQSERRV) which you do not need if you have made restore cd's
Make sure you have made you restore cd's,
delete partitions on your first drive,
Create Primary partition (80gb shouild be sufficient.
Restore windows vista from your cd's
run windows and create Data Partition and copy data from second drive
You can now clear all partitions on your second drive
Re-install fedora with boot partition=500mb.
This is what I did with my desktop because I had problems, however with only one drive

I hope this is of help to you

fedoranewbie101 · #8 12th February 2010, 12:12 AM

I don't have two HDs, so i can't say this will work. It should not harm anything, though.

Go into Vista and go to the admin options (type admin after clicking start). Find disk management in system management. right click on vista partition and shrink the partition. You only need to shrink out 500mb. The rest can still be Vista. it should now show 500mb of free space on your first hard drive.

Now reinstall fedora 12 and use custom installation. Install the "/boot" section in the free space you just created. be careful not to choose the wrong partition (you will lose Vista). then install the "/" partition in the second hard disk.

This way, you should be able to have the bootloader in the first hard disk. if it will not load after the bootloader menu ( it should load) check the /boot/grub/menu.lst. it should have a line that tells where fedora is located on your hd. You can change this according to where the / partition is.

I don't have two HDs and i have never tried this, but it should work. This will create a bootloader partition on the first hard disk. It should not take more than 15 minutes and 500mb is not a very large chunk to take out of Vista. There is probably a better way, but this is the easiest i can think of. Good luck.

Daveda · #9 12th February 2010, 07:34 AM

be careful with shrinking and deleting partitions before you are sure you can reinstall your vista.
If your first partition on your first drive is a pqserve supplied by the manufacturer then I would get rid of it to avoid dificulties in the future. You can check this and also delete partions via Fedora live cd.

WimV76 · #10 16th February 2010, 03:20 PM

It worked!
It took me quite some efford, but I finaly got it working.
The idea of putting the boot partition on the first disk did the trick.

I needed a few different defragmentation programs to cleanup the end of the partition so that I could make my windows partition smaller. Then reinstalled Fedora and it worked!
Thank you everybody to fix this problem!
Greetz!