Dual Booting & Recovery Partition

Hi all, I am going to dual-boot Windows 7 and Lubuntu on my Satellite A505-S6009. I am sure some people severely disagree with dual-booting, but this is what I want to do with my machine (my mind is made up). I have installed and used Linux before. I have also done a dual-boot for my NB205, which went smoothly and easily; however, I have a question about dual-booting on my Satellite. If install Lubuntu and have two partitions--one for Lubuntu, one for Windows 7--on my machine, will the machine's recovery partition be deleted? I think I should mention that when I install any OS, I usually go through the "recommended" partitioning process, and not the "advanced." (I have a lot to learn about partitions before I move on to advanced). Thanks, all

Satellite A505-S6009
If install Lubuntu and have two partitions--one for Lubuntu, one for Windows 7--on my machine, will the machine's recovery partition be deleted?
Yes.
Essentially by definition, if you have only two partitions then the others are gone.
-Jerry

Similar Messages

[SOLVED] Can't install; dual-boot sharing partitions?

Hi, I'm currently dual-booting Linux Mint 14 and Windows 7 on my laptop, and decided to replace Mint with Arch. Somehow, though, I don't think I ever divided my HDD into seperate partitions for Linux and Windows. Using gparted (or fdisk), /dev/sda (my HDD) has essentially got a Dell utility partition (100MiB, sda1), a recovery partition (15GiB, sda2), a 1 MiB unallocated space, and a 284 GiB section labeled "OS" (sda3). I can't touch the partition on Linux because it's always in use.
I can't get through with the installation because of this, and can't find an answer no matter how often or in-depth I RTFM. If someone could point me in the right direction, that'd be great.
Thanks.
http://imgur.com/8qfpbbW
EDIT: This has been [SOLVED].
Last edited by SELame (2013-07-29 22:55:13)

I would recommend downloading the gparted cd here, and setting up your partitioning scheme from there. I am quite suprised about your system setup though, you may want to nuke it and start again because something weird is going on.
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what's happening. I'll look into using gparted as a LiveCD, but I'd rather not wipe everything if I can help it.
I don't know if this is the case, but Ubuntu had (has?) an option to install to an image on the windows partition (wubi), rather than a partition of it's own. It's possible that Mint adapted this for their spinoff, and would explain why you only have a Windows partition.
I recommend that you modify your partition scheme if you want to install Arch. Shrink your Windows partition as much as the Windows partitioner will allow (avoid gparted and similar tools for this purpose, the Windows in-built partitioner should be adequate), then create an extended partition to house your Arch partition, swap partition, data partition, or whatever partitions you want.
Yeah, I installed Mint from a mounted image in Daemon Tools, so that could explain it. I'll look into shrinking my Windows partition and seeing if I can somehow remove Mint from my Windows partition. I still have grub and all, if that makes any difference.
there is a mint4win, do you see something like this on boot? http://i.imgur.com/sPOMx.png
Yep! I may have installed mint4win. Let me look into that.

T520 Upgrade to Win 10 Issues - BIOS, SSD, Dual Boot, Recovery

Lenovo T520 Purchased from Lenovo May 2012 using IBM employee discount Windows 7 Home Premium product key Belarc software - Dec 2012 27GBM-Y4QQC-JKHXW-D9W83-FJQKD Tag under battery HXVFW-CQGWQ-2W8BB-FXK8G-TJMCB Belarc software – Aug 2015 27GBM-Y4QQC-JKHXW-D9W83-FJQKD Created a system recovery CD since the PC came with no CD's. When I tried to use this recently it would not boot. Created a system repair CD later. Worked fine recently. Recently created a system recovery bootable USB on a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer. It also would not boot but web research shows that others have found this problem with this size and brand of USB. System board replaced March 2014New system board runs Computrace by Absolute Software to protect against theft. The password must be entered about once every 3 months during booting. Bios was updated afterwards and the software is still active. SSD installed in mSATA slot August 2015Original HD kept installed.New SSD slightly larger than old HD.Paragon software used to move Windows partition. This created a dual boot option. Had to run repair to fix dual boot even though everything run as administrator. Tried to install Windows 10 since Windows 7 had minor annoying issues that when researched the solution was to ignore since they do not cause problems.To prevent possible issues the HD was physically removed during the Windows 10 install.Saved Windows 10 to a 64GB USB.Booted USB successfully and installed ran for maybe an hour where I observed it doing the copy and then the install step.Completed successfully and a reboot was the next step.Reboot fails with “Missing Operating System”.Booted from USB to fix and neither of the above product keys work.Tried to use skip option and compatibility reports to restart from the SSD which does not work.If repair choosen from USB message received is “The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.” Since I seemed out of options I reinstalled the HD and recloned it to the SSD to get the SSD again working. After doing the above I have multiple questions.It appears that the installation of the new system board caused the need to get a new Windows 7 product key. How do you do this?Is it true that a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer cannot be used booted from?How would one unlock a disk drive?Should I really keep the dual boot from the HD and the SSD as backup?And the important question – How should I proceed to get a successful installation of Windows 10 on the SSD?

You should have a look at this: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_install/errors-when-trying-to-update-to-build-10074-from/2fa7fc91-5863-4ddf-a0cd-183f2d38bcbd

MBP 2011 Grey Screen. Normal Boot, Recovery Partition AND Network Recovery

Hey Fellow Apple Lovers!
My Macbook Pro 2011 recently froze and afterwards I haven't been able to log into the system. On start-up I encounter a gray screen. I'm sure this problem is very common on in the Community.
I have tried the following:
SCM reset
NVRAM reset
Safeboot (ends with blue screen)
Tried to boot into the recovery partition (Gray Screen)
Network recovery. The application downloads the data after connecting to my network and then continiues to start up.. Gray Screen
Now I realize that at this point, we're probably talking about a problem with the HDD. However, I am slightly perplexed by the fact that even Network Recovery acts the same. Any specialists who might have some deeper knowledge about the inner workings of the MBP?
Best regards
Kristian Holm Sejersen

Kristian,
The blue screen is what I would be most concerned with. It could mean, if you've a 15" or 17" 2011 model, that you've the faulty installed AMD Radeon GPU, as discussed here -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=0.
Unfortunately, if you DO have this problem, it won't show up in either the Apple Hardware Test, which you can run, or in the normal tests performed by Apple techs.
If you've a 13" model, this problem would not apply.
The only thing that I can suggest is to take the machine to your local Apple Store or an AASP and see if your machine can be evaluated properly. If you do have a 15" or 17" and if you do have the problem of the faulty soldering, Apple will suggest a logic board replacement. That is only a temporary fix: a 'real' fix is having the GPU reballed and it's much, much cheaper than a logic board replacement.
Give a ring back - if you've a 13" machine, I'm not certain what the problem might be.
Clinton

[Solved] Arch + W8 dual boot, UEFI, partitioning question

Hello,
I'm buying new laptop with preinstalled W8 (Lenovo E430) and I'm planning to dual boot. I've read Beginner's guide, Installation guide, searched forum, etc., but I'm still unsure how to deal with creating partitions for Arch while keeping Windows.
From the Beginners' Guide:
If you are intending to follow the advice to create a GPT partition table then you need to choose "Advanced" and then select "gpt" from the drop-down menu. This cannot be done if you have a pre-existing Windows installation on the drive which you wish not to destroy.
and from the Partitioning:
To dual-boot with Windows, one must use MBR.
A special exception to this rule: dual-booting Windows 64-bit using UEFI instead of BIOS, one must use GPT.
My W8 will be 64bit and also is Arch.
So, my question is. When I shrink W8 partition and create free space for Arch, do I have to choose 'gpt' option (2nd quote) or not (1st quote) for formatting? Or am I reading it totally wrong?
I would give it a try, but that destroying thing kind of scares me.
Last edited by centos (2013-06-18 19:24:58)

The wiki quotes you've presented make it look like the wiki was created with an MBR/BIOS assumption and then poorly edited to incorporate GPT/EFI information. The rules, presented in a more cohesive way, are these:
Windows ties its partition table type to the computer's firmware: under BIOS, Windows requires MBR; and under EFI, Windows requires GPT.
Linux is more flexible: It can use either MBR or GPT under BIOS. In theory, Linux can use either MBR or GPT under EFI, although many EFIs seem to require GPT, so it's best to stick with GPT on EFI-based computers.
When dual-booting, Windows is the limiting factor when it comes to partition table type.
Most EFIs include a Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which enables them to boot BIOS-based OSes. The CSM can usually be enabled or disabled in the firmware setup utility, although the details of how to do this vary from one implementation to another.
Computers that ship with Windows 8 pre-installed almost always use EFI, and therefore GPT.
Converting from MBR to GPT or vice-versa is possible with GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, or sgdisk), but this requires re-installing the boot loader for any already-installed OS(es). If Windows is one of those OS(es), it's probably not worth the effort.
GParted and parted can convert from MBR to GPT or vice-versa only by destroying existing partition entries, so you should use these tools to make such a change only on a blank disk or if you intend to lose all the existing partitions.
Since you (centos) say you're installing to a computer with a pre-installed Windows 8, you've almost certainly already got an EFI/GPT setup. Under these circumstances, you won't be choosing a partition table type unless you want to completely wipe that installation and install both OSes fresh. GParted will detect the partition table type and work with it automatically; you should not select the option to create a new partition table, which your first quote (partially) describes. You should, however, be sure that you install Arch in EFI mode and that you install an EFI-mode boot manager and/or boot loader, rather than a BIOS-mode version of GRUB. Getting an EFI-mode Windows and a BIOS-mode Linux to coexist is possible, but awkward. Converting a BIOS-mode Linux installation to boot in EFI mode is also possible, if you mistakenly install in BIOS mode; but it's usually easier to install in EFI mode to begin with. There are lots of threads here on EFI-mode Arch installations, as well as information in the Arch wiki on this topic. Unfortunately, EFI is still new enough that there are still a lot of kinks to be worked out, both in specific firmware implementations (many of them are buggy) and in OS support (which is still not as mature as is BIOS support).

How to add the sound drivers on your dual booted windows partition

As of today I succesfully added a windows partition to my MacBook (with the help of a friend) unfortunately I encountered a problem.
I have no sound.
My friend said that I needed to add sound drivers in. But he didn't know how to do that.
If anyone can give me some help here I'd appreciate it A LOT
Jake.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard' uses Boot Camp Assistant 3.
Windows drivers are located on the Snow Leopard installation disc, and installed after installing Windows.
Full installation instructions for Windows, including how to load the drivers are found here:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/boot_camp_install-setup_10.6.pdf
OS X 10.7 'Lion' and Boot Camp Assistant 4.0. Full installation instructions are found here:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

Mounting dual boot linux partition from Arch [SOLVED]

Hey guys,
I have just installed Arch for the first time and im wondering if someone can explain how i can mount my other partition (which is currently used for Ubuntu)
basically when i first installed it, the partition comes up in nautlius as Mass Storage Drive: 20.3 GB media and prompted for credentials. After a few unsuccessful attempts i was not able to mount the drive and the prompts for credentials no longer displays.
When i right click it and click mount or try to open it, nothing happens. Does anyone know how to solve this?
Thanks in advance
Last edited by rogg (2009-08-14 08:05:39)

Thanks everyone for the help, i managed to get it working by editing the fstab
ill post up how i did it, in case anyone else wants to know:
identify the partition:
(can use gparted or fdisk -l)
identify uuid:
sudo blkid
edit fstab and add:
your partition as specified, you can use the existing mounted partitions as a guide to help
hope this helps
Does anyone know how to mount the partitions via nautilus/gui?, or at least have it show up as a seperate file system (have the partition appear in the "places" bar?

Dual boot machine- snow leopard and Lion

It appears I will need to set up one of my machines as dual boot, containing partitions for Snow Leopard and Lion. The reason is that Quicken is NOT compatible with Lion, and will apparently never be. Intuits "solutions" are to go to other, far less capable software, or not upgrade. Which, of course means, NEVER upgrade again.
So, I think my best solution is to set up a partition for snow leopard and one for Lion. How do I go about this? Size of partition. How to partition? Which boot disks do I use to do this?
Any help is much appreciated.

Ok, I just got done doing this yesterday so I can lay it out for you.
1: Copy all your user files to a regular external drive and disconnect.
2: Carbon Copy Cloner your 10.6.8 setup to another blank HFS+Journaled external drive and disconnect.
3: Hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk and erase your entire boot drive in Disk Utility (under the Utilities menu) format HFS+Journaled (default) of course.
4: Quit and install 10.6. Setup with the same user name as Snow. Run the 10.6.8 Combo Update. Then Software Update.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
5: Use the MacAppStore to download Lion, BUT DO NOT INSTALL yet! Cancel it and click on the Installer and select "Show in Finder" follow these instructions to make boot DVD's and dmg images of Lion installer.
http://www.eggfreckles.net/tech/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
6: Once you do that, then Install Lion. On a pristine 10.6.8 with no third party programs or other BS it should go perfectly. Check it out that it's stable just in case or else hold command r and boot into the Recovery Partition and redownload/install again.
7: Once that's done and Software Updated, run Bootcamp and create a Windows partition larger than your 10.6.8 clone naturally. The size is up to you to decide. Cancel the Bootcamp when the partition is created.
8: Hold Option and boot off the 10.6.8 clone with all your stuff and programs, use Disk Utility to change the "BOOTCAMP" partition to "Snow Leopard" and make it a HFS+ Journaled partition from the MSDOS format (not the whole drive now or you'll lose Lion and the Recovery Partition) If this doesn't work then use Disk Utility c booted from the 10.7 DVD or command r from the Lion Recovery Partition and use Disk Utility there.
9: Once that's done, Option boot off the 10.6.8 clone and Carbon Copy Clone 10.6.8 onto the Snow Leopard partition.
Walla, a dual boot system with all your stuff intact. Just hold option upon boot and/or use the Startup Disk in System Preferences to set a default.
I'm currently working on a quad boot system now. It's got Lion, Snow, Linux and will have Windows too. A lot more complicated than simply Snow and Lion.
Note: OS X Lion reguires a internet connection to install, even from a boot DVD.
Enjoy.

Help: Dual Boot Vista/XP (multiple partitions) with Rescue and Recovery?

So I re-installed my Thinkpad and want to dual boot Windows XP and Vista Ultimate on separate partitions. I'm using the Windows XP pre-load and a separately licensed Vista Ultimate.
I first installed XP preload and did a backup with RnR. Then I'm installing Vista Ultimate by shrinking the XP partition and creating a new partition for Vista. I plan to use RnR in XP to do another backup from the base and hoping it will backup Vista as well. Will RnR backup both the Vista and XP partition correctly so that when I recovery in the future, it will restore both?
I don't want to blow it and have to redo the whole thing. Help would be much appreciated!
edit: This didn't work, as RnR only allows you to backup as many as partitions as your base image had....
Message Edited by leesiulung on 01-21-2009 08:25 PM

hi
you say that you have a vista Ultimate did you try making a windows image from the back up and recovery in vista? in that way both of your xp and vista can be save to an hdd or a set of DVD'S(as a back up image)
else try using acronis true image it should work out ...good luck!
Message Edited by samavedam_vijay on 01-22-2009 11:05 AM
Cheers and regards,
• » νιנαｿѕαяα∂нι ѕαмανє∂αм ™ « •
●๋•کáŕádhí'ک díáŕý ツ
I am a volunteer here. I don't work for Lenovo

Dual booting Arch and Vista w/ recovery partition and a swap question.

I have a bit of a problem. The problem is, on a machine, you can only have 4 primary partitions. sda1 and sda2 are my Vista and Recovery partitions respectively, which eliminates two of my primary partitions already. I myself have never used logical partitions, and was wondering if any of the partitions the Beginner's Guide recommends (/, swap, /var, and /home) could be made logical, and if I even need a swap partition. Thanks in advance for your replies and suggestions.

The /boot/ directory needs to reside in a primary partition. Everything else can be in a logical partition.
Then again all you really need is / and swap.

SYSTEM RECOVERY (F11) is inaccessible after dual-booting Windows 7 and Windows 8.

I dual booted Windows 8 with Windows 7 and now the RECOVERY partition (F is not loading upon pressing F11. It gives me the boot configuration data error. I have it marked as Healthy (Primary Partition) and I am able to access the files via. My Computer in both OS, but not through F11 System Recovery.
The bcdedit log is here: http://pastebin.com/b0Y5Hd1F
My partition letters:
C: Windows 7
D: Windows 8
F: RECOVERY
H: SYSTEM
In Visual BCD, One WRE is set to D: and the other is set to F:. Should i set both to F, which is the actual RECOVERY partition?
[2] The UEFI boot setup is unable to create HP_TOOLS parition because 4 partitions already exist. I don't remember having the SYSTEM partition earlier so maybe that repalced HP_TOOLS?
[3] When I try to create a recovey media, the orange circle filter keeps of going even after I have inserted the an external USB hard drive for it to detect. Does it usually take this long? I am guessing once the recovery media is made I could do system repair from there and get RECOVERY to work?

What is the p/n? Remove the battery and look for it. Post all alphanumeric characters.
CTO means configure to order. That means only you and HP know the notebook's configuration.
The problem you are going to run into is that there is a maximum of four primary partitions allowed by Windows. That is by design. It appears that you removed the HP_TOOLS partition, which was a requisite for the UEFI diagnostics.
Frankly it looks like what you will have to do is put the UEFI environment on a USB stick.
I would create the recovery media on a high quality 16GB USB drive.
The partition schema must be as follows:
1) C: (NTFS)
2) HP_Tools F: (must be FAT32)
3) RECOVERY D: (NTFS)
4) SYSTEM (NTFS) created by the Windows install process
I am not aware of a dual-boot or more schema that allows a UEFI environment with the Recovery Manager accessible from F11. I wish I had better news for you. Perhaps our forum Provost DavidPK knows how it can be done.
I do recommend that you copy the RECOVERY partition to an external disk for safety sake.
If you are able to boot into the recovery manager I strongly suggest that you create your recovery media. If you do not do that you will not have a copy of your operating system and drivers for a plan B. I did not go with the option you used and did not create problems to deal with later.
When I play around with my loaner notebook and configure it to dual/triple boot, I always install a different hard disk and put the original one aside. You can still return your system to its original configuration and then take the hard disk out and use another one to play with. I believe that would be the wisest path to follow.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Equium will not boot - how to access Recovery partition?

Hi, my sister has a 2008 Equium A200-1V0 with Vista 32-bit which will not boot (probably due to virus rootkit damage). It loads the BIOS but then goes straight to black screen with flashing cursor.
F8 does not work.
F2 goes to Phoenix TrustedCore Setup utility. The Toshiba hard drive and CD-ROM drive are listed in Main and Boot in the correct order.
Using F12 I can get it to boot from a Win7 64-bit repair disc I burned using my laptop.
However, this does not recognise the OS nor any image or restore points (because it is 64-bit) but it will load Command Prompt.
In *Command Prompt*, I can start Notepad and when I click File/ Open and double click on Computer it shows 4 Hard drives as follows:
Local Disk (C:)
Data (D:) 42 GB free of 54.5 GB
WinRE (E:) 1.11 GB free of 1.46 GB
Boot (X:) 29.0 MB free of 31.5 MB (which is used by the Repair disc)
So the C: drive is listed but without capacity.
*CHKDSK*
chkdsk c: /r and press return
"The type of the file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.
*Running TESTDISK*
Analysis:
Partition Start End Size in Sectors
1 P Windows RE(store) 0 32 33 191 89 26 3072000
2 * HPFS - NTFS 191 89 27 7477 118 1 117051392
3 P HPFS - NTFS 7477 118 2 14592 190 62 114307072 (data)
* = Primary bootable
When doing Quick Search and then P - list files, of the second partition it reports:
"Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged."
So what I would like to do is boot up from Windows Restore on the E drive.
My question is to any Toshiba experts: When F8 does not work how do I use the recovery partition???
Laptop is:
Part Number : PSAF5E-002005KS
Key Features
- Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T2310
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
- DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
- 2,048 (1,024 + 1,024) MB RAM (667 MHz)
- 15.4 " WXGA TFT display 1,280 x 800

*UPDATE*:
I have borrowed a genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit dvd and booted up with that.
Clicked on "Repair your Computer"
Then it goes striaght to System recovery Options but no Operating System is shown. Click Next.
Then:
"Choose a Recovery Tool.
Operating system: Unknown on (Unknown) Local Disk"
*Startup Repair*
This takes 1 second.
Root cause found
System volume on disk is corrupt.
*System Restore*
"X - To Perform an offline System Restore, you must specify which Windows installation you would like to restore.
For example, if the installation located in "C:\Windows" should be restored enter the following command:
rstrui.exe /OFFLINE:C:\Windows "
*Windows Complete PC Restore*
" No valid backup locations could be found.
Windows cannot find a backup on the hard disks or DVDs on this computer. Attach the correct hard disks or insert the last backup DVD and then start the restore process again. "
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
Windows cannot check for memory problems...[snip]
*Command Prompt*
This is working fine.
CHKSDK C:
The type of file system is NTFS.
Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.
The HDD is 120 GB and is split by Toshiba into 3 partitions.
C:\ drive (56GB) is bootable with Windows - this is corrupted.
D:\ drive (55 GB) has all Data - fully accessible
E:\ drive is CDROM
F:\ drive (1.46 GB) is the WinRE recovery partition - this is fully accessible.
So my question still remains: can I recover my Toshiba laptop using this recovery partition?
PLEASE NOTE: as mentioned above, pressing F8 during boot has no effect and therefore Safe Mode cannot be accessed.

How to best partition the HDD for dual boot: Windows 8 & Linux

Hi,
I'm a newbie in Windows 8, linux, Partition....
I would like to use my new laptop with windows 8 pre-installed to the following:
Create a Dual Boot Windows 8 / Ubuntu
Create on my C drive (unique drive on my laptop):
*a partition for the system
*one for Windows 8
*one for Data and
*last one for Ubuntu OS
My aim is :
-to install VmWare on Windows 8 and run Checkpoint Splat with virtual machines to perform CCSA labs.
to install GNS3 on Ubuntu for CCNP labs but with GNS3 accessing files in the Data partition
I have a Toshiba Satellite with 750Gb and 8 Go RAM.
According to you what's the best size for my partitions?
Is there a better way to partition my C drive regarding my aim?
Best Regards
***I don't know if it's the right section, sorry for that. Feel free to move this thread in the appropriate section***

Hi,
Thank you all,
Isn't it too much 200G for Windows as i will on ly install VMWARE Workstation 9 for lab purposes and possibly a few softwares.
VMWARE installed on Windows will require 2 GB + 1 GB per host (i will use approximatively 15 hosts).
Checkpoint products will be installed on VMWARE that is installed in Windows :
- disk space needed for 3 Checkpoint gateways: 3*37 GB
- disk space needed for 2 Checkpoint gateways management servers: 2*10 GB
On Linux I'll install GNS3 with 10 GB disk space required and a few softwares.
I've got a Toshiba stellite computer with Windows 8 pre-installed.
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @2.5 Ghz
RAM: 8 Go
64 bits OS, processor x64
See below the screenshot
I've taken screenshot of my partition (below).
* Don't take into account the disk 1 (E) partition
Can u confirm that in Disk o, partitions with 450 Mo, 260 Mo and 9.48 Go are for recovery system?
I am planning to let the recovery partition as it is and divide the TI30985500A (C) partition (688 Gb) into:
- 200 Gb windows partition
-100 Gb Linux partition
-388 Gb data partition
What do you think about this partionning regarding the informations i've provided above?
Greets

Dual booting win 7 and arch: cannot install grub to partition

I have read the arch wiki page on dual booting and several other sources on line, but I am still struggling to get this to work.
I am trying to dual boot arch and windows 7 on my lenovo ideapad s205. the machine comes with windows 7 pre-installed.
I shrank the win 7 partition and added an extended partition with 3 logical partions for /boot, swap, and /.
I am able to install and run arch by installing grub to the mbr. when I do this, though, I cannot boot windows. (the windows section of grub menu.lst is uncommented and points toward hda0,0. I have tried hda 0,1 as well).
I have also tried to use the windows boot loader to load arch, as described in the arch wiki page on dual booting. The problem here is that, taking this approach, I should install grub to my /boot partition, but when I try to do this, the installer only allows me to install grub to sda or sdb (the usb stick).
I have read that grub should be able to boot linux from a logical partition. Is this so?
Is there something wrong with the arch installer that it is not giving me the option of installing to a partition rather than the mbr, or is this a problem with my partition scheme, or something else?
I am tempted to remove lenovo's recovery system, but on the other hand, I have already needed to use it several times while monkeying around with installing arch.
Thanks for any help.
UPDATE:
I now have the laptop dual-booting win 7 and arch. My solution ( adapted from here: http://helms-deep.cable.nu/~rwh/blog/?p=177) was to:
1. installed arch on the partitions I had created for it, but skipped the "install bootloader" stage.
2. in win 7, I downloaded and installed EasyBCD and made an entry for arch in it. I checked the option to "Use EasyBCD's copy of GRUB"
3. When I restarted, I got a grub error because the entry in grub's menu.lst was pointing at the wrong partitions for the kernel and root.
4. So I went back into the arch live disk, mounted the boot partition and edited menu.lst.
Now when I start the laptop, the windows boot loader starts and I can choose between win 7 and arch. when I select arch, grub4dos starts and gives me the option to start arch. this is not particularly elegant (nor is it fast), so I think this solution is less than ideal, but it does work.
I'd be interestd in any thoughts about what went wrong and what a better solution would be.
thanks.
Last edited by ratchet (2011-10-10 19:09:16)

ratchet wrote:II am able to install and run arch by installing grub to the mbr. when I do this, though, I cannot boot windows. (the windows section of grub menu.lst is uncommented and points toward hda0,0. I have tried hda 0,1 as well).
Is this a typo in your post or how it was in menu.lst? Surely it should be hd0,0 and not hda0,0? The entry I have in my menu.lst is as follows:
# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
What was yours?
Last edited by JHeaton (2011-10-10 20:18:22)

EFI partition deleted after removal of dual boot of OSX10.8 and Ubuntu/Linux Mint - using rEFIt

so, i recently installed ubuntu to check out the advances in the linux world since i last looked into them 10+ years ago... very impressed, but when i tried to delete ubuntu and remove the various partitions (which i was able to do just fine using gparted) reFIT still displayed the **** linux logo from the install i deleted....
OSX still boots fine... a install of Linux Mint i have on another partition(s) still boots fine ... everything appears to work... but i want to know what the possible issues are so i can be prepared...
this is frustrating...
so i went in and looked around with the remaining partitions and noticed the EFI partition which hadn't shown before i mistakenly tried to install another distro over ubuntu after wiping the partition it was on...
so i erased the EFI partition hoping that this would remove the g-damned hold out linux boot logo in reFIT... it didn't... now i suppose i can go back in and create a new EFI partition through gparted but that stupid linux logo will still be there... and i'll have another problem of getting the proper information back onto the EFI partition, which i am unsure of how to do, or where to even dig up the proper information...
i want to edit my boot mbr or grub or whatever the eff apple comps use as a boot record so that (or i am using as a boot record since i'm using reFIT) to get rid of this **** logo, so i can install another distro of linux and probably windows without having the **** supernumerary logo...
i would rather not wipe the whole drive (aka the primary partition the recovery partition) and do a fresh new install of os x (mountain lion) because i have OSX set up just the way i want it for personal use and work use... all my various tools and so on...
i don't use time machine and can't do a "restore" from a previous back up...
some one please help me out here, what are my options? am i going to have to bite the bullet and do a wipe of the entire drive and all its partitions to get my MBP back to 'normal'???
PS - using a macbook pro late 2011, standard specs, 13"...

stqn wrote:
Expi1 wrote:Thanks, I'm mostly struggling with how to partition for Arch and then how to do the bootloader. I'm using Win8 64-bit and from what I understand a Legacy BIOS bootloader. I'm not entirely sure what I should be partitioning the C: into, I've done partitions before, just not for Arch and then I'm not sure whether to use GRUB or syslinux, or if I even need those. Or if I need to use GPT or MBR?
Your disk is already partitionned so you don’t have to choose between GPT or MBR, the choice is already made.
You don’t partition “C:”, that is the name of a Windows partition. You partition a drive.
Grub or syslinux, use whatever the beginners guide tells you to. Personally I think syslinux is simpler which is why I’m using it (but I’m not dual-booting, if that matters).
You’re not saying what your problem is with partitionning, so it’s hard to help.
Thanks for getting back to me, I'm not sure if I just create one large partition for Archlinux or if I have to create multiple? Where I'm also confused is with the Creating Filesystems part of the guide. I don't understand how I'd do this in Windows, or what /dev/sda1 is referring to.
As for the bootloader part, the Beginner's Guide gives you a choice between syslinux and grub, what I'm not sure about is which to use considering I'm dualbooting. How it will affect my windows bootloader, do I disregard that and use GRUB now? I'm unclear on how that works.
I'm also aware I need to disable Secure Boot, I just searched my BIOS options and couldn't find anything remotely relating to that, so I'm assuming it's not an issue since this computer was originally on Windows 7 anyway?
Thanks again, Expi.
Last edited by Expi1 (2014-03-06 19:54:30)

Dual Booting & Recovery Partition

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