adding system to grub

rez410 · #1 11th January 2006, 08:52 AM

i believe I have missed puutting windows in the grub. is there a way to add it now b/c i cant boot to windows anymore. my options are FC or "other" whuch takes me to HP's system recovery

giulix · #2 11th January 2006, 10:46 AM

To answer your question one would need to know the actual contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst and the exact configuration of your system as far as hard disks are concerned. Also, did you opt to install grub on the MBR of your primary disk (i.e. the one windoze was booting from) when the installer asked you ?

jim · #3 11th January 2006, 11:00 AM

how did you install ?

if i remember you had 2 hard drives

rez410 · #4 11th January 2006, 04:18 PM

yes I have 2 hard drives. I installed grub on the primary master hard drive which contains windows

giulix · #5 11th January 2006, 04:51 PM

Try to add the usual windoze entry to menu.lst, then:

Code:

title Windoze
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

rez410 · #6 11th January 2006, 04:52 PM

ok I know its in /boot/grub/menu.lst but how do I add this?

***bob*** · #7 11th January 2006, 05:05 PM

Easiest way is to modify your /boot/grub/grub.conf file as follows:
Open a terminal and sign in as 'su -' then type:
gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf
Now, when the new window opens, you can cut and paste the above code into it (you can also change how Windows is spelled or make something else up). Then save and close the gedit file, exit from 'su -' and you're done!
Oh yeah, one more thing - while you are in that file, you could also change the 'default' setting from "0" to "1" if you wanted to boot Windows first. The only thing to remember is that default counts from "0" and as you add new kernels, the list grows longer, so you would have to keep adding a number to keep Windows as first boot.

rez410 · #8 11th January 2006, 05:16 PM

ok The only thing that was different was the name. so "other is pointing the HP system recovery. why?

giulix · #9 11th January 2006, 05:19 PM

Probably because the manufacturer decided to install a proprietary version of the boot loader that boots the system into recovery mode by default. If that's the case, you can probably find info on HP site for your system...

rez410 · #10 11th January 2006, 05:23 PM

is there a way just put microsofts boot loader back on?

giulix · #11 11th January 2006, 05:27 PM

Yeah, have a look at this

***bob*** · #12 11th January 2006, 05:29 PM

Ah - that was unexpected! So, you're using a HP 'puter that has a built-in partition for recovery. Well, we don't want to point to that, right? So the thing to do is find out where your Windows partiton is and point to it. So, back to the terminal, again sign in as 'su -' and type:
fdisk -l
which will give you a response like this (my system, not dual-boot)
Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 9729 78043770 8e Linux LVM

Now, you can see where your Windows partition is (unless you've goofed and written right over it).

So, go to this thread: http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=975 and read the section on "GRUB and Linux Partitions" to make sure you understand the terminology. Once you've determined the correct sequence, go back and again 'gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf' and make the changes to bypass that HP recovery partition and boot Windows.

Edit: JEEZ - I either have to type faster or say less! Way past me on this one already!

rez410 · #13 11th January 2006, 05:35 PM

ok im followin ya. but 1 small problem is fdisk: command not found

giulix · #14 11th January 2006, 05:36 PM

I'll leave it to you, Bob...

rez410 · #15 11th January 2006, 05:45 PM

ok i got it! i just remembered when lookin at my partitions that the system recovery was the first partition. so i changed "windows" from (hd0,0) to (hd0,1)

Thank you ALL for your help