Dual Boot on Two Drives

[badguyanil]

hmm but i have installed win XP and Win 98 on one drive...with ubuntu in the second. Making ubuntu as master! was just wondering if the above will work with 6.10 release too!

[gn2]

hmm but i have installed win XP and Win 98 on one drive...with ubuntu in the second. Making ubuntu as master! was just wondering if the above will work with 6.10 release too!

Don't understand why you would want to keep W98 now that it's unsupported.
Surely any old programs you have will run in XP using compatibility mode?

[badguyanil]

Don't understand why you would want to keep W98 now that it's unsupported.
Surely any old programs you have will run in XP using compatibility mode?

ya very right dont need 98 anymore! but last i installed my OS's way back! XP wasnt there! had just 98! Installed XP seperately later! And now planning to shift to linux. I could have over written 98 alright but wanted to test XP. Much like Ubuntu! Also 98 is mere 500 mb with only OS! so never thought of removing it!

[badguyanil]

Well i did as is given in the thread ie make the following entires in /boot/grub
title Windows
map (hd0,0)(hd1,0)
map (hd1,0)(hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
make active
chainloader +1

and also commented the hiddenmenu option.

Note i have ubuntu 6.10 as Master and Windows (XP + 98 in dual boot) as slave.

I do get the menu while booting up, but when i select windows i get a "Error : Unrecognised Device String" message. please help coz it is getting tedious to change the setting again and again to switch env's as i have not been able to figure out how to access net from ubuntu! Please reply asap.

[gn2]

Well i did as is given in the thread ie make the following entires in /boot/grub
title Windows
map (hd0,0)(hd1,0)
map (hd1,0)(hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
make active
chainloader +1

and also commented the hiddenmenu option.

Note i have ubuntu 6.10 as Master and Windows (XP + 98 in dual boot) as slave.

I do get the menu while booting up, but when i select windows i get a "Error : Unrecognised Device String" message. please help coz it is getting tedious to change the setting again and again to switch env's as i have not been able to figure out how to access net from ubuntu! Please reply asap.

Guess you've gone the Grub edit route...

My personal preference is Windows on master with the MBR intact, and Ubuntu & Grub on Slave. Set Slave before Master in BIOS boot order and Ubuntu is default OS. Of course you need to be able to access device selection menu by pressing F8 (or whatever key depending on BIOS version) to switch OS.

You may need to run fixmbr with Windows drive re-instated as master.

Then re-install Grub to Slave drive.

Remember to disconnect the other drive when performing these actions.

[badguyanil]

Originally Posted by badguyanil
Well i did as is given in the thread ie make the following entires in /boot/grub
title Windows
map (hd0,0)(hd1,0)
map (hd1,0)(hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
make active
chainloader +1

and also commented the hiddenmenu option.

Note i have ubuntu 6.10 as Master and Windows (XP + 98 in dual boot) as slave.

I do get the menu while booting up, but when i select windows i get a "Error : Unrecognised Device String" message. please help coz it is getting tedious to change the setting again and again to switch env's as i have not been able to figure out how to access net from ubuntu! Please reply asap.

Guess you've gone the Grub edit route...

Hmm but i cant set BIOS boot order! it will read the Primary Master by default follwed by Primary Slave and so on for Secondary....Or can i set it!never needed to check this! will check it! but i prefer the grub edit mode! Trying to migrate out of windows u see! So the more i learn to use linux the better. Any suggestions on Groub edit!

[confused57]

Hmm but i cant set BIOS boot order! it will read the Primary Master by default follwed by Primary Slave and so on for Secondary....Or can i set it!never needed to check this! will check it! but i prefer the grub edit mode! Trying to migrate out of windows u see! So the more i learn to use linux the better. Any suggestions on Groub edit!

Using bios to dualboot is a viable option for some users, but here's how I have my system set up:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179902

[Handssolow]

I was able to create a boot disk for WindowsXP on a floppy and edit the boot.ini settings to include Ubuntu that way when I want to boot from Ubuntu I insert the disk to and when I dont I leave the disk out of the drive works for me since I share a computer with someone else and we each have our own hard drives

I like the sound of this method particularly as I'm wanted to set my wife's PC for dual boot and this seems like an easy system for her to use. It keeps both HDs clean.
I assume that the second OS's data would be invisible or inaccessable.

Yes, this is a request for information about windows but can I have some more information about how to set this up, which hd is master and what needs to be added to the floppy's windows boot.ini file?

[gn2]

I like the sound of this method particularly as I'm wanted to set my wife's PC for dual boot and this seems like an easy system for her to use. It keeps both HDs clean.
I assume that the second OS's data would be invisible or inaccessable.

Yes, this is a request for information about windows but can I have some more information about how to set this up, which hd is master and what needs to be added to the floppy's windows boot.ini file?

Read access to each other's drives can be configured later, writing can be more problematic, with NTFS and ext2/3 not getting on very well.

Windows on master Linux on slave if you have a "Boot Device Selection menu"

No tweaking of the boot.ini is required whatsoever.

[Handssolow]

It's working. I've put Ubuntu on a Sata master, Xp on an IDE slave with a boot into Grub to select as described earlier. Initially when I first modified Grub it didn't work, I thought it was the A7V880 mobo with the mix of hds. I re-read the posts and then moved the windows bit to the end in Grub, allowed unhiddden and 10 seconds but I didn't add savedefault to the windows lines.