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)

Similar Messages

Dual Boot Vista and Arch

Hey, I am attempting to set up my laptop to dual boot Windows Vista and Arch Linux.
The problem I'm having is after installing Arch my laptop still boots windows w/o going to the grub
I started with having Windows Vista installed on the laptop, and then shrank down the partition with vista by 30 gigs for Arch.
I was following the Arch setup guide in the wiki along with the Dual Boot Windows and Arch guide in the wiki [wiki]Windows_and_Arch_Dual_Boot[/wiki].
My partitioning Scheme is:
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Mclarenf1905 wrote:
Hey, I am attempting to set up my laptop to dual boot Windows Vista and Arch Linux.
The problem I'm having is after installing Arch my laptop still boots windows w/o going to the grub
I started with having Windows Vista installed on the laptop, and then shrank down the partition with vista by 30 gigs for Arch.
I was following the Arch setup guide in the wiki along with the Dual Boot Windows and Arch guide in the wiki [wiki]Windows_and_Arch_Dual_Boot[/wiki].
My partitioning Scheme is:
/dev/sda1 1.46 gb (some sort of toshiba recovery partition I believe)
/dev/sda2 117.8 gb (Vista Partition)
/dev/sda3 1 gb (Swap partition)
/dev/sda4 29 gb /root partition
According to the Dual Boot wiki article, I should install the grub to /boot, which in my case is in /root which I did.
The thing that confuses me about this is if I install the grub to /boot how do I get the grub to boot before the windows MBR?
Thanks in advanced
It still works fine. It doesn't matter if its not in root directory. Others linux OSes have their bootloaders in the same directory and it manages to boot just fine.

Created partition with bootcamp, Win 7 says cannot install on any partition

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Dual boot (Win XP - ARCH 0.8) / disk 80 GByte

Hi,
I am trying to setup DUAL Boot Windows-XP Archlinux on a Compaq nc6320
I want to load linux from the Window NT loader I have only a " - " in the left uppercorner when I select --linux--
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
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Sda3 7 Mb Grub Bootmanager installed here (this was a unused space here)
Sda2
Sda5 NTFS, about 26 Gbyte
Sda6 /boot 130 Mb
Sda7 swap 1024 Mb
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I made the file boot.lnx this way
dd if=/dev/sda3 of=boor.lnx bs=512 count=1
Possible I have problems with the Cylindrer 1024 border ?
Due to company base policy I would like to avoid changing MBR and first ntfs partiton.
Any idea what oher solutions there are ? Thanks.
I id not found LBA support in bios setup.
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/gr … HOWTO.html
Last edited by go4it (2007-01-29 15:29:33)

Whenever I've put linux on the same disk as windows I've always used lilo to handle the booting by installing the linux bootloader to the "/root" of the linux partition, before that I would flag the partition as bootable with cfdisk while I was doing my partitioning and untoggle the boot flag for windows, this was also reversible so it never harmed my windows bootloader.
I would make an entry like this if I was using lilo:
# Partition 3: Windows XP Home
other = /dev/hda1
label = WinXP
and then run lilo for the change to stick.
In grub I would imagine you would have to add something like this:
title WindowsXP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive
I now just keep linux on its own seperate drive, to give you an idea how that works this is what my grub looked like last week, I repartitioned and only have arch on there now, so far..... , keep in mind my windows is actually on my second drive, hence the need for the "map" entries, reading up a bit on grub would be to your advantage, its hdd naming scheme is a bit confusing at first, but once ya get the hang of it you realise how powerful and usefull it can be, I love the password and fallback features.
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /boot/kernel-genkernelreal_root=/dev/sda2
# initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel
#boot=/dev/sda2
default=0
timeout=120
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
title Sabayon Linux x86 3.25
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.19-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda2 quiet init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 pci=nomsi vga=0x31b
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.19-gentoo-r4
title Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1
makeactive
title VectorLinux 5.8 Std Gold
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=795
title Arch Linux Voodoo
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=795
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
Last edited by RabidWolf (2007-01-31 12:32:39)

Add'l Partitions to Dual-Boot Win 8/Arch Linux

I'm hoping to get a dual-boot arrangement going on my refurbished Asus Q200E Netbook that Santa brought!
Here's what the hard drive looks like now:
Asus tells me the following:
sda1: System Files to start
sda2: Recovery
sda3: OS automatically created when an OS is installed
sda4: Operating System [Clearly Win 8 is here]
sda5: Unallocated space (and yet it's formatted and has 25.5 MB of data written on it)
sda6: Add'l files for recovery
What's the best approach to create my needed linux partitions? Shrink sda4, and slide sda5 & sda6 to the left?
Any tips/suggestions/warnings would be greatly appreciated! Does anyone know if my touchscreen will work under Arch...?
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by wilberfan (2013-12-28 00:32:21)

wilberfan wrote:
alezost wrote:I had similar partitions on my ASUS X75V except of your sda5 (i didn't have it). I just shrank sda4 (from Windows8 just in case), and then i used the new space for ext4 partitions (this time i used gparted).
I'm in the process of doing something similar (also using gparted). Does your Asus have a touchscreen, and did it work after installing Arch? How many ext4 partitions did you use to install Arch?
No, i don't have a touchscreen, i hope the wiki will help you with that.
I just used 2 partitions (one for "/" and one for "/home").

[SOLVED] Dual boot with ubuntu w/o installing GRUB? (YES)

Hi all -
This is my first shot at arch, tho I've installed a few other linux distros.
So far I really appreciate the excellent documentation, especially compared to other linuxes!
But I can't find a good answer to this question:
I already have ubuntu installed and would like to dual-boot with arch. (I also have Win7 but boot it from a separate disk selected via BIOS, and usually leave this disk disconnected anyway, so it's not an issue; grub doesn't know it exists).
Q: Before installing, can I make a new LOGICAL ext4 partition (say /dev/sda7),
- then install arch on that **w/o installing grub** and **without messing with the MBR**,
- then edit ubuntu's existing menu.lst to add arch to the boot options?
Current $ fdisk -l
/dev/sda1 ext4 primary/boot (/ for ubuntu)
/dev/sda2 extended
--/dev/sda6 linux-swap
--/dev/sda5 NTFS (data - mp3s, etc)
unallocated 480GB --> Create new ext4 partition /dev/sda7, (logical or primary? Prefer logical)
Current menu.lst entry that I normally boot:
title Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, kernel 3.2.0-24-generic REGULAR
uuid UUIDforSDA1 (file has actual UUID number...)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic root=UUID=UUIDforSDA1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-24-generic
and add something like this to menu.lst:
title Arch Linux
uuid UUIDforSDA7
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda7/ARCH ro (??? - from example in arch docs)
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
or
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=UUIDforSDA7 ro (??? - like the ubuntu entry)
I'd really like to NOT mess up booting ubuntu! (Another option might be install arch to a separate disk with the ubuntu disk disconnected, then copy the whole install over via a USB adapter...I've done worse!)
TIA for any help!
Edit: so I guess there's three questions:
1 - Can I install arch w/o installing grub & MBR messing-wth?
2 - What's the correct syntax for menu.lst to access and boot arch?
3 - Will this work?
Last edited by Flemur (2012-05-25 15:24:18)

Well, it worked and booted up first time - no grub install.
The main hassle was merely creating a new ext4 partitions because "Partition Wizard" boot CD screwed up and I kept getting "Unable to update kernel until reboot" messages until I deleted and rebuilt all the partitions in the extended partition with puppy linux & gparted instead of Partition Wizard.
In case others stumble upon this trhread, here's some info:
The entry in the ubuntu (original) menu.lst was this:
title Arch Linux
uuid af7...etc...9f3c
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=af7...etc.f3c ro
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
I'm even posting this from arch/fluxbox/Firefox, although getting X set up with nvidia (PITA!) apparently required using a different pacman source:
File "mirrorlist" now points to
Server = http://mirror.us.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
which wasn't in the original file.
Then
$ pacman -Su --> "/etc/mtab exists" --> delete it and something else broke,
so
$ pacman -Su --force --> worked fine (against official advice)
Also: needed to install nvidia-utils and xorg-xinit
Thanks again!

Dual Booting Windows and Arch (SOLVED!)

Hello all, I'm having trouble getting a windows partition activated again. (Windows was on here for many years, then I installed arch on a separate partition.)
Here is the layout of fdisk -l:
Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 7833 62918541 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 7834 12039 33784695 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 12040 12161 979965 82 Linux swap / Solaris
sda1 is the windows partition, and sda2 is the arch partition. The linux partition SHOULD be primary bootable (have the * next to it),but all my attempts to do this have failed. (I've used "testdisk" to change the flags, but for some reason it keeps reverting back to setting sda 1 as primary bootable after a reboot or 2).
This is the pertinent section of /boot/grub/menu.lst:
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f3be3baa-3b62-460c-8801-64b0b1cca$
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f3be3baa-3b62-460c-8801-64b0b1cca$
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img
# (1) Windows
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
I have a . . . modified . . . copy of XP Professional, which comes with a recovery console to reinstall the MBR if it's necessary.
From what I've researched, I somehow need to reinstall grub to the second partition, make the second partition primary bootable, then rewrite the MBR on the first partition, and correct any command errors in menu.lst, but I haven't really figure out a way to do it.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Last edited by mongoose088 (2008-12-20 21:48:18)

I read up on some documentation of installing GRUB to the MBR.
So far, I went into ArchLive (from the cd) and did the following
grub> root (hd0,1)
grub> setup (hd0)
The installation reports success with no errors, but the problem persists. Arch linux will boot fine, but when I select XP it flashes my configuration, like so:
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
then kicks me back to the OS select GRUB screen. Did I install it to the wrong place?
EDIT:
I decided to issue this command:
grub> setup(hd0,1)
It reported some errors, then arch couldn't mount the ntfs partition because of possible MFT cluster errors.
Using testdisk, I repaired the boot sector and MFT clusters, then using ArchLive reinstalled grub with grub>(hd0)
Arch and Arch Fallback will boot correctly, but now the windows side shows an error:
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Loading stage2Read Error (or something to this extent)
I wonder if this error brings me closer or farther to a solution?
Thanks for the replies so far!
Last edited by mongoose088 (2008-12-20 05:41:43)

Dual boot (win 7 / arch) SSD non-UEFI motherboard

I have a few questions about installing arch on my brand new intel 320. (:D)
I plugged it in and partitioned 60GB for windows (leaving 50GB for linux). Installed windows fine, then read through the wiki about installing arch.
I cannot use GPT as I have windows 7, and have to use the MBR method.
Reading through the wiki, I have a sad feeling I'm going to have to start fresh and reinstall windows, because of the fdisk -H changing header size, and the way cylinders work out.
Will I need to do a complete wipe already?
Last edited by heleos (2011-11-04 20:30:28)

heleos wrote:
I have a few questions about installing arch on my brand new intel 320. (:D)
I plugged it in and partitioned 60GB for windows (leaving 50GB for linux). Installed windows fine, then read through the wiki about installing arch.
I cannot use GPT as I have windows 7, and have to use the MBR method.
Reading through the wiki, I have a sad feeling I'm going to have to start fresh and reinstall windows, because of the fdisk -H changing header size, and the way cylinders work out.
Will I need to do a complete wipe already?
If you eally want to keep gpt, try http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/index.html (check whether uefi duet boots in your system first). I think fdisk has the option of ignoring CHS values and use sectors exclusively.

Dual boot gentoo and arch

Can someone help me with a grub entry I'll need for my Gentoo grub.conf to boot Arch?
I want to skip the arch bootloader section on install, so I won't know what kernel is and stuff they use. (well, I guess I could mount the arch partition from gentoo to find out ).
I'll be using the latest cdrom I guess.
Ignore what partitions I'll use. I'm just not familiar how arch boots the kernel.
Thx
My current /boot/grub/grub.conf is:
cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
default 0
timeout 10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.20-r6
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda6 udev
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r6
title=Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I also have Arch and Gentoo, but I use the grub of Arch to boot. However the following is the menu.lst
parts regarding Arch.
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img

Win XP/Win 7 dual boot question and

My replacement motherboard for my crapped out Dell one that was a replacement, crapped out the other week and it was tested with a new power supply to no avail. it was also tested in a shortcut, (connecting the two wires directly, the two that "short out" that turns on the power) and that didnt work either.. (something like that)
My options are:
buy another replacment motherboard and hope it stays working longer than the six months the other did
Buy a new computer and use my old hard drive
thus arising this question:
since the new computer will have Windows 7 on it, can I use that as a slave drive and use my primary drive (not going to loose my data and stuff) I have the primary drive as XP but the new one will use 7, when I put in the win 7 drive as a slave drive, will it boot to 7 or XP and would I have the option to dual boot, even if they are seperate drives..
I think I am writing it a confusing way but I hope you can understand what I am getting at....
Simply put--
I have XP drive
I buy new computer it has Win 7 drive
Xp drive becomes master, win 7 becomes slave
Will XP boot or Win 7 boot when its set as the slave drive? what about XP/7 dual boot? they are on seperate drives, will it let me dual boot?
I want my XP drive to boot.
I hope you can understand that..
If I can, I would like to reformat the win7 drive and just use that for storage. is that possioble?
Ethan
I just want some help or even an opinion, is that so hard to ask for?

Okay I read through your post a few times and I am still a bit confused about what your setup looks like. I am going to assume you bought a new computer with Windows 7 on it thus you DID NOT replace the motherboard on the old one. With that assumption, then your answer would be no, only Windows 7 would boot (and it might have some problems if you have it set as the slave drive). Windows XP from your old hard drive would not boot because simply put, the BIOS will not detect a proper boot.ini file and the hardware configuration (partitions and/or disk types) does not match up.
If you want to set up a dual boot, you would have to install the secondary hard drive (or partition the primary one) and perform a destructive OS restore on it AND find the drivers for it (if the manufacturer of the computer even supports it). When I used to work for the Geek Squad, numerous clients asked about this and the general consensus was that the Geek Squad strongly opposed it because of the drivers. Being that XP and 7 are a generation apart, the chances of the manufacturer of the computer or motherboard releasing drivers for both was unlikely. Sometimes the client would opt to have it done anyway but my former Precinct would always warn them that some features may not work correctly.
If you want Windows XP and Windows 7, I suggest the XP Mode that Windows Pro and Ultimate offers. You literally run Windows XP inside a window of Windows 7.
I DO NOT work for Best Buy. Whatever I post are just educated guesses or common sense.

[SOS]Which mac mini device can install dual boot(Lion and Mt Lion)?

Salutations!
Due to my assignment, I need to get mac mini device which support dual boot.
Which mac mini device model/firmware can we install dual boot(Lion and Mt Lion) on it?
I got late 2012 one, but it looks like it does not support.
Please help me.
Thank you so much,
TriQuang

Hi Niel,
Thank you for your fast reply. So if I buy mac mini MC815 model, which comes with preinstalled Lion I can run dual boot(Lion and Mt Lion)?
I have one more question: Can I install Mac OS 10.6 on that mini device? If it's not supported which mac mini model can I get to support Snow Leopard and Lion and Mt Lion?
Thanks and best regards,
TriQuang

[SOLVED] Dual Boot Window 7 & Arch on a Uefi system.

From the Wiki
Windows 7 x86_64 versions support booting in x86_64 UEFI mode from GPT disk only, OR in BIOS mode from MBR/msdos disk only. They do not support IA32 (x86 32-bit) UEFI boot from GPT/MBR disk, x86_64 UEFI boot from MBR/msdos disk, or BIOS boot from GPT disk.
I don't understand this. As stated in the title I have a ueif system so that means I have to create a GPT disk ? I already have a gpt disk which I confirmed by running Arch Live USB. Under type it said GPT. I don't understand this at all
However if Arch is installed in BIOS-GPT in one disk and Windows is installed in BIOS-MBR mode in another disk, then the BIOS bootloader used by Arch CAN boot the Windows in the other disk, if the bootloader itself has the ability to chainload from another disk.
Note: If Arch and Windows are dual-booting from same disk, then Arch SHOULD follow the same firmware boot mode and partitioning combination used by the installed Windows in the disk.
In the Note above it says both Arch and Windows follow the same boot mode if they are dual booting from same disk. I DO NOT want to do this. I have already decided to partition my drive with 200 Gb going to Windows and 500 Gb going to Arch. Does this mean that I should install both in different modes i.e. Arch in Bios-GPT and Windows in Bios-MBR.
The recommended way to setup a Linux/Windows dual booting system is to first install Windows, only using part of the disk for its partitions. When you have finished the Windows setup, boot into the Linux install environment where you can create additional partitions for Linux while leaving the existing Windows partitions untouched.
UEFI systems
Both Gummiboot and rEFInd autodetect Windows Boot Manager \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi and show it in their boot menu, so there is no manual config required.
For GRUB(2) follow GRUB#Windows_Installed_in_UEFI-GPT_Mode_menu_entry.
Syslinux (as of version 6.02 and 6.03-pre9) and ELILO do not support chainloading other EFI applications, so they cannot be used to chainload \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi .
Computers that come with newer versions of Windows often have secure boot enabled. You will need to take extra steps to either disable secure boot or to make your installation media compatible with secure boot.
Being a beginner should I go with Gummiboot then. GRUB made a mess last time.
Also my secure boot is NOT enabled so is that good.
I have read the FAQs, Beginner's guide, Installation Guide, Dual Boot wiki entry but I just don't understand the above concepts. But it looks this this is the main thing in dual booting. Almost everything else is doable but this I have to get right on account of what happened the last time I installed Arch without getting the above right.
Last edited by Some Arch Lovin (2014-06-14 08:53:14)

A few issues with the dual boot setup
Hello again, I lost my dual factor authentication grid from lastpass. Opensuse was acutally overwriting new pdf files over my old pdf files so now that grid pdf is actually an Arch cheat cheet with the name last_pass_grid.pdf. And the gmail account I used to register to Arch forums is also in last pass.
This is why I created another account. I am some arch lovin.
The installation went smoothly but I could not dual boot Windows7 with Arch because my Win7 image is not UEFI bootable so had to dual boot win8(not a fan at all) and arch.
Almost everything is working correctly. I have a few issues that aren't affecting how the system is working but they still need sorting out.
I'll do them one at a time but I want to know from the admins if I should start a new thread? Because in a way this thread accomplished it job i.e. win7 and arch dual booting in uefi system.
If the answer is yes I should create a new thread depending upon the issue then I will do that but in case its a no since I have only 2-3 problems I am going to ask help for the first one.
My gummiboot is not working on startup. I have to press f12 and use bios booting menu to boot. The problem with that is if I put Windows at the top of the boot priority the bios does not show F12 and F2 at the time of booting up so I can't access the boot menu. I have to boot into Windows and crash it by holding the power button and then the F12 options shows up and I am able to boot into Arch. If I put Arch at the top then Windows keeps restoring back to an earlier version due to start up options.
NOTE : I can't be sure but one it did work(only once). I checked the images online to compare with what I saw and its very similar. An all black screen with three bootloading options
Windows
Arch
Opensuse(don't know why I created a completely new GPT partition table)
This is what I did while installing Gummiboot
# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# pacman -S gummiboot
# gummiboot install
I tried going through the gummiboot to see if I can do something but it very difficult to comprehend as a beginner. All I get is the characters gummiboot understands but thats all.
Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-11 13:48:56)

Dual booting Windows 7 & Arch...

I have 2 SATA hard drives on my system...
320gb & 500gb
I have 6 gigs ram, triple core 2.1ghz w/256mb HD 2400 ATI pciE
Im reading the wiki page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … _Dual_Boot
and I have some questions and am seeking some advice..
I was thinking about putting (in the bios) the 320 as primary w/ windows 7
and using the 500 for linux.. 300 ( /boot=100mb, /=20gigs /swap=2gigs /home= approx 275gigs) and 200gb FAT32 to share music,pics,documents, et al with both OS's
maybe using a gparted cd to make the 320 ntfs, /boot ext2, /root & /home ext4 /swap as swap and 200gigs as fat32
then installing windows on the 320, then using the arch ftp install to install arch on sdb (second sata drive) using the partitions I've explained about.
now for Grub.. where I get lost is.. i read on one of the many forum posts i read, if you install 7 first, then arch, everythign will work fine and when you reboot you'll have a choice.. now this answer/comment goes against the wiki that says you have to set up grub to do the dual boot.. or am i wrong, will it just "work" (it does with other distros, but I know arch doesnt hold hands like the others, and I really dont want to leave arch jsut to dualboot for the few windows needs i have , photoshop, a good printer, office 2010, and afew other windows programs i still enjoy using for work and play)
does anyone have any "easier" to follow directions then the wiki to dualboot win 7 and arch? I'm reading and re-reading and re-reading the wiki again, and it seems like greek to me..
anyone have any other suggestions.. i have win7 in a virtualbox machine, but the usb hub isnt working.. (started happening since 4.x.x.x came out) thought 4.0.0.2 would "fix" this issue, so i made a new vm of win7 and same usb hub isssues in device manager.. so it MUST be a virtual box issue.. and from what I've read, its not being "fixed" anytime soon.. and I cant use my printer on arch no matter what I've done..
so any advice would be appreciated.. don't want to start something I cant finish.. ( i can install arch with my eyes closed i've been through enougth trial and screwups)
thanks in advance

Heres how I do it:
1. Split my drive into one primary partition and an extended partition with logical partitions for Linux.
2. Install Windows 7 (first) to the primary partition and Arch Linux inside the extended partition.
3. Install grub to the drive and just uncomment the lines for Windows. Remember to leave "makeactive" commented out.
4. Thats it.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … th_Windows
Last edited by anonymous_user (2011-01-19 18:00:53)

Craptastic, cannot install Grub, [Updated]

I can't remember the voodoo I had to cast last time on this machine, but there is something weird about it. The other machine I did recently is very straightforward. It just works. This one I can't install grub on, and I'm thinking possibly it's partition erroring or it expects some type of special thing to be done in a special order. I just can't remember, and I've tried searching, and as always, liberally reading the documention.
Here's the thing: Arch in this case is going on a SCSI hard disk, alongside an IDE hard-drive with Windows XP on it, which has four partitions. I tried both manually and automatically partitioning the SCSI disk. It partitions fine, I go down the list like a good little boy performing normal operations, but then when Grub install time comes, it just craps out, with "Cannot install grub..blah...blah...check /dev/ttsy5" and because I have the partitions if I make any changes to them, the partitioning program gets posessed and throws partitions all over the drive, and then I have to zero-fill it, which is a 30-min wait per pop.
It actually took me probably weeks to figure this out last time (a year after my first attempt with arch, I got lucky and it worked). If nothing else, I would be grateful if somebody could advise me in great detail of an alternative method to install arch, since it appears my stupidity and my system has trouble with the install disk.
Thanks!!!!

Seriously need some help. First off, chroot from another Live CD doesn't work either. Knoppix is all I tried, but I personally don't want to sit around burning disks until I find one that works. So, I need a critique of what specifically I'm doing.
I've established thus far, that Noodle install works. It's also somewhat of a pain to install such old software with lit candles, a bag of wiccan-enscribed bleached chicken bones, and a satanic pentagram just to play standards crossover with. And I mean that in fun. But I don't really want to do it, because it's both hard at first, but the "easy" way out.
Where I want my drives=
SCSI: Arch Linux. Specifically proper udev root=sda1, swap=sda5, that's all there is to it. I don't know why swap wants to be sda5, but I am unable to change that.
IDE: Windows. It has four partitions C:Windows Root, F:Swap, G:Storage, E:Storage
What I have established as well, though is previously not divulged:
From within Wombat's install shell
$mount /dev/discs/disc1/part1 /mnt
$mount -t devfs none /mnt/dev
$mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
$chroot /mnt /bin/bash
$install-grub /dev/discs/disc0/disc /dev/discs/disc1/part1
$exit
^^^Seems to install, but I don't know if it will boot becuase I had Noodle's kernel installed at the time. So I think that's why it wouldn't boot.
From within both Noodle and Knoppix shells
$mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
$mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
$mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
$mount -t sysfs none /mnt/sys
$chroot /mnt /bin/bash
$install-grub /dev/hda /dev/sda1
error
When I could get a file to write?...ha, ha.
Gonna try to remember the menu.lst file:
title Arch Linux
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd26.img
And I have tried variations such as this:
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)<---this is wrong according to boot errors
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hdb1 ro
initrd /initrd26.img #initrd /initrd26-full.img #initrd /boot/initrd-full.img
Ha, ha. Yeah, I think I found out that using another's install disk for the other's kernel doesn't really work, probably if they are very different kernels. But I am still stuck on this.
[/b]

Dual Booting Windows and Solaris

Hi
how do i dual boot windows and solaris
Do i install windows first and then solaris or do it the other way around..?
how do i make sure that Windows and Solaris appear in my boot options..?
Is their a guide on doing this...?
Thanks
Liam

Hey I did a quick google search for you. So I havent tried this method myself but it sounds reasonable.
The text below is from the following link:
http://www.hccfl.edu/pollock/AUnix1/DualBoot.htm
"Solaris boot loader
Partition the drive to leave at least 2GB of space available for Solaris;
more drive space is desirable.
As with Linux, install Windows first then Solaris.
Do not use the Installation CD but boot and install
from Software CD 1.
If you accept the default partitioning scheme which
the installer provides you will soon run out of space in
your / and /usr partitions since only enough space is
allocated to install the system.
All extra space is allocated to /export/home.
A typical installation on a 4.5GB partition might look
something like this:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c0d0s0 900M 536M 310M 64% /
/dev/dsk/c0d0s1 334M 109M 192M 36% /var
swap 671M 8.0k 671M 1% /var/run
swap 671M 8.0k 671M 1% /tmp
/dev/dsk/c0d0s5 845M 222M 565M 29% /opt
# (FAT32 partition):
/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:1 5.0G 3.3G 1.6G 66% /c
/dev/dsk/c0d0s7 1.1G 92M 954M 9% /export/home
/dev/dsk/c0d0s4 752M 225M 474M 33% /usr/local
The Solaris boot selector enables you to choose either
Solaris or Windows with Solaris as the default.
(I prefer grub or lilo!)
To mount FAT under Solaris:
# mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c0d0p0:c /dos (or �:1�?)
And the vfstab file:
/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:c - /dos pcfs - yes -
To create a GRUB boot floppy, follow these steps:
$ mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0
$ mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0
$ mkdir /mnt/fd0/boot /mnt/fd0/boot/grub
$ cp /boot/grub/stage[12] /boot/grub/grub.conf \
> /mnt/fd0/boot/grub
$ /sbin/grub --batch <
Hope this helps!
/Oscar

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

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