windows upgrade with a linux partition

June 23, 2011 5:39 PM

My computer is dual booting Windows Vista and Ubuntu. I have gotten a Windows 7 upgrade disc and want to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. Will the upgrade have any effect on the Linux side of the partition or will it just change the Windows side of the partition from Vista to 7 leaving Ubuntu unscathed? What happens with GRUB?
posted by moorooka to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

I strongly doubt that the upgrade would touch any partition whose filesystem it couldn't read. I don't believe anybody could be that parochial, not even Redmond.

As for what it would do to the MBR and/or other unpartitioned space: I don't know, but I'd be arming myself with one of these before finding out.
posted by flabdablet at 6:04 PM on June 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I found some forum threads that might be helpful.
posted by COD at 7:03 PM on June 23, 2011

So. I did this. It overrode the GRUB. I used some free download, Easy Boot Loader or something like that, to get back in. Next time I upgraded ubuntu, my grub came back, the easy boot loader thing was still there once i pick the windows partition, which is a little annoying but meh. And every so often since i upgraded ubuntu the windows 7 claims it isn't genuine and I have reduced use in some ways until I restart, at which point it's fine again.
posted by EtzHadaat at 7:30 PM on June 23, 2011

Window's have overwritten grup every time I've installed it on a like system. The other way around works great though, ubuntu recognizes and works with the existing window's install.

When you set up ubuntu, did you partiion /home and /. separately? Doing so makes a fresh install of ubuntu seamless and easy, so if so you're in luck, can just install window's, then re-install ubuntu easily. If not this might be a good time to try setting it up that way :)
posted by oblio_one at 10:40 PM on June 23, 2011

You could install grub on the / partition instead of the MBR of the disk and then use easyBCD to chainload grub from the initial boot. That way you can modify windows and it will just require a rescan using easyBCD to get back your ubuntu install.
posted by koolkat at 2:01 AM on June 24, 2011

You can also boot your Ubuntu CD afterwards in "rescue mode" to restore the Grub boot record after W7 overwrites it. Your Grub menu (and linux partition) will be left intact, and is normally under /boot. There's easy instructions on how to do this....in the past I've done this by using 'chroot' after booting off a linux CD to reinstall Grub the old fashioned way with the previously existing menu.lst. There's a few ways to do this mentioned above too...so plenty of options!
posted by samsara at 6:53 AM on June 24, 2011 [1 favorite]