Ubuntu dual boot problem
May 10, 2009 5:23 PM Subscribe
.I have been using Ubuntu and XP in a dual boot configuration but suddenly XP does not show up under the "other operating system" in the boot menu.Nothing happens when I do enter "other operating system" While going pure Linux would be great-I am not at that point yet and I have external hard drives that Linux will not mount. Help!!
Following on what Inspector.Gadget said---
The list of operating systems to boot is in /boot/grub/menu.lst
First, look for a backup of this file in the /boot/grub directory. If you accidentally did some kind of auto-reconfigure, there might be a backup of your old menu.lst file.
If that doesn't work, you'll have to edit menu.lst yourself to create a new entry for Windows.
Googling around, the menu.lst entry for Windows should probably look something like this, but with the correct disk partition for your system*
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Make sure you have a bootable CD handy - if you screw up menu.lst, you might not be able to boot from the hard drive until you fix it.
* GRUB has its own weird scheme for naming disks and partitions. You can run fdisk (command line) or gparted (graphical) to figure out which partition Windows is on. It will be something like /dev/sda1. In GRUB-speak, your first hard drive - usually /dev/sda - is hd0, and the partition numbers start from 0. So hd0,0 = /dev/sda1
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:44 PM on May 10, 2009
The list of operating systems to boot is in /boot/grub/menu.lst
First, look for a backup of this file in the /boot/grub directory. If you accidentally did some kind of auto-reconfigure, there might be a backup of your old menu.lst file.
If that doesn't work, you'll have to edit menu.lst yourself to create a new entry for Windows.
Googling around, the menu.lst entry for Windows should probably look something like this, but with the correct disk partition for your system*
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Make sure you have a bootable CD handy - if you screw up menu.lst, you might not be able to boot from the hard drive until you fix it.
* GRUB has its own weird scheme for naming disks and partitions. You can run fdisk (command line) or gparted (graphical) to figure out which partition Windows is on. It will be something like /dev/sda1. In GRUB-speak, your first hard drive - usually /dev/sda - is hd0, and the partition numbers start from 0. So hd0,0 = /dev/sda1
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:44 PM on May 10, 2009
qxntpqbbbqxl has it right, you just put in the entry as written above (adapted for your disk number as needed, but probably not needed), and you will be able to boot xp if it is still on your hard drive somewhere.
By the way IIRC you can boot with a messed up menu.lst, you just have to use the grub command line (though this is a little tricky).
posted by idiopath at 6:02 PM on May 10, 2009
By the way IIRC you can boot with a messed up menu.lst, you just have to use the grub command line (though this is a little tricky).
posted by idiopath at 6:02 PM on May 10, 2009
Response by poster: I DID just do an update that gave me a message saying it was only partial.Now that I think of it the problem "may" have started after that.I have not done any auto config of Grub-I simply hit the update arrow and prompted it to carry one.I am sloooowly learning so this might be a good learning scenario.I will try your suggestions'
Thank you hive mind!
posted by plumberonkarst at 6:28 PM on May 10, 2009
Thank you hive mind!
posted by plumberonkarst at 6:28 PM on May 10, 2009
Best answer: By the way, plumberonkarst, you can find out whether the commands you're about to put back at the bottom of /boot/grub/menu.lst are going to work for you before you bother editing the file, using the Grub command line as idiopath mentioned. It really isn't hard at all.
All you need to do is press C when you see the initial Grub menu, which will make Grub give you the command line prompt; then enter the same commands you'd be pasting into menu.lst, one at a time. You don't need to enter the title line at the command prompt - that's purely a menu.lst thing. Just start from root (hd0,0) and work on down. The worst that can possibly happen is that Grub will attempt to chainload from a partition that doesn't have a Windows bootloader on it, and hang; Ctrl-Alt-Del should recover from that and get you back to your Grub menu.
Most Windows boxes have Windows installed on the first partition of the first drive, and if yours is like that, then root (hd0,0) is the correct command to use first. Dell boxes generally have a utilities partition first, with Windows installed on the second partition. So if you have a Dell, you'd probably try root (hd0,1) first.
Some HP/Compaq machines have a "recovery" (i.e. nuke and pave) partition first, but as far as I know they will all give you an explicit option to nuke and pave before going ahead and doing that. If offered such a choice, don't panic - just reboot and try a different partition.
posted by flabdablet at 7:42 PM on May 10, 2009
All you need to do is press C when you see the initial Grub menu, which will make Grub give you the command line prompt; then enter the same commands you'd be pasting into menu.lst, one at a time. You don't need to enter the title line at the command prompt - that's purely a menu.lst thing. Just start from root (hd0,0) and work on down. The worst that can possibly happen is that Grub will attempt to chainload from a partition that doesn't have a Windows bootloader on it, and hang; Ctrl-Alt-Del should recover from that and get you back to your Grub menu.
Most Windows boxes have Windows installed on the first partition of the first drive, and if yours is like that, then root (hd0,0) is the correct command to use first. Dell boxes generally have a utilities partition first, with Windows installed on the second partition. So if you have a Dell, you'd probably try root (hd0,1) first.
Some HP/Compaq machines have a "recovery" (i.e. nuke and pave) partition first, but as far as I know they will all give you an explicit option to nuke and pave before going ahead and doing that. If offered such a choice, don't panic - just reboot and try a different partition.
posted by flabdablet at 7:42 PM on May 10, 2009
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posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:25 PM on May 10, 2009