Help with dual booting Vista and F13

[Javier Santoyo]

Hello I had a fedora 11 instalation some time ago, but I never was capable to do the dual booting with my windows vista, I want try to do it again now with F13.

I have 2 hard drives, one for windows with 3 partitions and other one just for the fedora instalation, I already downloaded the DVD image and Im ready to try it, but It will help a lot some advices to avoid what happened to me with the F11 (I loss the vista loader and was a big pain in the ass restore it, not just edit the loader file)

So thanks in advance if anyone want to help me with this.

[stoat]

Hello Javier Santoyo,

I moved your post to a new thread. The thread you posted in has not reached a conclusion yet for the person that started it. Posting your issue there will start a confusing tangle of crosstalk with multiple discussions going on at the same time. Trust me, it's better this way.

Originally Posted by Javier Santoyo

It will help a lot some advices to avoid what happened to me with the F11 (I loss the vista loader and was a big pain in the ass restore it, not just edit the loader file)

I'm not sure what you want to do regarding the boot loader situation. But if you mean that you want to preserve the Vista boot loader and configure it to boot Fedora, then install Fedora's GRUB in the first sector of the Fedora boot partition instead of allowing the default to install it in the master boot record. That will not harm the Vista boot loader arrangement. To do that when you install Fedora, watch for and click the "Change device" button. In the pop-up that appears, choose the option to install GRUB in the first sector of the boot partition. Finish installing and reboot when instructed. Windows will boot as before, and nothing will appear to have happened. Now go get EasyBCD and follow its instructions to add a Linux system to the Windows boot menu.

P.S.: EasyBCD is a free and popular utility that you install in Vista. Then use it to configure the Vista boot loader to boot Fedora. EasyBCD is easy to find with Google. The NeoSmart website has plenty of guides and help.

[Javier Santoyo]

Ohh I just want to have the dual boot without care if is with linux loader or windows loader.

What happened the last time is that when I instaled fedora, the instalation deleted the windows loader and even with the recovery tool in my vista dvd I couldnt get the windows run, I had to edit and add manually several files to get back my windows and never was able to have the dual boot, so in oder to use the fedora I used to unplug my windows hard drive lol.

So now I just want to know if anyone have some advices to do it correctly this time.

[stoat]

Originally Posted by Javier Santoyo

...so in oder to use the fedora I used to unplug my windows hard drive lol.

Actually, that is not such a bad idea. But instead of unplugging the Windows drive to boot Fedora, you can change the boot drive order in BIOS. Some computers even have a menu available at the boot splashscreen to choose the boot drive without having to enter the BIOS setup. To do that arrangement again, click the "Change device" button, then click "BIOS drive order", then change the drive order to make the Fedora hard drive first. That will install GRUB in the master boot record of the Fedora drive. Another way to do it (safer, too) is to disconnect the Windows drive while you install Fedora.

Anyway, if you want to try using GRUB again, then just install Fedora and allow the default boot loader option. That will install GRUB in the master boot record of the Vista drive (breaking the Vista boot loader again). You may need to adjust grub.conf to make Vista boot, but that is usually a simple job. Anaconda (the Fedora installer) is good about detecting Windows and creating a menu entry for it, but it also is notorious for botching the partition number. I can't promise a thing, but Vista is well-known to be bootable by GRUB.

[Javier Santoyo]

Wow it will be excelent to have that menu in my BIOS but i dont think I have it that would be a dual boot in fact but native in the motherboard

After you have the 2 OS installed in diferent hard drivers there are any way to modify the loaders to have the dual boot or you must install one OS over the other one destroying the "slave OS" loader?

[stoat]

Originally Posted by Javier Santoyo

After you have the 2 OS installed in diferent hard drivers there are any way to modify the loaders to have the dual boot or you must install one OS over the other one destroying the "slave OS" loader?

No, it's not unavoidable for a new system's boot loader to destroy an existing boot loader. That's true whether they are both on one hard drive or on separate hard drives. But when they are on separate hard drives as in your case, it's possible to have two independent boot loaders and select them by BIOS boot order. As I said in the first paragraph of post #4, you can install Fedora and choose to install its GRUB boot loader in the master boot record of its hard drive. That will not harm the master boot record of the Windows hard drive and preserve the Windows boot loader.

Originally Posted by Javier Santoyo

...it will be excelent to have that menu in my BIOS but i dont think I have it that...

If you can't (or don't want to) change the BIOS boot order, then you easily can add a menu entry to the Windows boot loader for booting Fedora in your situation. For Vista, you can download and install the free and popular utility known as EasyBCD and use it to configure the Vista boot loader to boot Fedora. However, if you want to do that, you should have Fedora's GRUB boot loader installed in the first sector of the Fedora boot partition. People here can help you.

But if you want to boot Vista with GRUB in your situation, Vista is well-known to be bootable by GRUB as I already said. If you want to do that idea, then do whatever you have to do to make GRUB boot from BIOS (change BIOS drive order, re-install GRUB, re-install Fedora, whatever), then add an entry to /boot/grub/grub.conf for Vista. People here can help you.

So decide what you want to do.

If you need help deciding what to do, then here is my advice based on your comments so far... Have Vista working normally and booting directly from BIOS when you turn the computer on. Install Fedora on the second hard drive. In Anaconda (the Fedora installer), watch for and click the "Change device" button. In the pop-up that appears, choose to install GRUB in the first sector of the boot partition. Finish the installation and reboot into Vista as normal. Download and install EasyBCD. Follow the instructions and guides at the NeoSmart website (where you get EasyBCD) to add a menu entry to the Vista boot loader for booting Fedora. If you need help along the way, then return here for it.