[SOLVED] GParted made XP fail to boot after resize

[Pro-reason]

I'm guessing the Windows boot.ini file. Since you moved the XP partition the boot.ini file is searching the wrong partition.

Try mounting the Windows partition and looking at the boot.ini file.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(1)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(1)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(1)disk(1)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

There was originally just one option in there, but I tried a few things in an effort to make it boot.

Unfortunately, it never gets to the selection screen that that file generates.

What else does NTLDR need in order to start the system?

Edit: the boot sector (MBR) of sda is not in use, because I'm using GRUB (which is installed to the MBR of sdb). However, the boot sector of the sda2 partition may be relevant here. Do I have to fix it in some way for Windows to boot?

[Etirn]

title XP
root (hd1,1)
chainloader +1
savedefault
makeactive

shouldent this be

title XP
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
savedefault
makeactive

[dodle]

I had the same problem the first time that I resized a Windows partition with Gparted. I didn't find an answer for it but I have a hypothesis as to why this happens, because I have resized nfts partitions successfully without any problems.

My Hard Drive started out as a single partition:


The first time I resized it, I did it like this:


I believe most of Windows' system files are stored toward the inside of the disk (the left side of the partition map), I'm guessing some of those files were corrupted somewhere while gparted was moving them around and I wasn't able to boot in again. I had to reinstall my system.

The next time I resized my HD from the outside:


This left Windows' system files alone and I was able to boot into it with no problems. Unfortunately, this doesn't solve the problem of fixing the already resized partition, but it's a good way to prevent it from happening again. But what cdtech said sounds like it is worth a try, from what you posted it looks like grub says that windows in on hd1. Your boot.ini file is probably looking for it on hd0..... or does grub bypass boot.ini? Anyway, good luck.

Edit: It took me a while to write this and make the visuals, so I missed some posts.

[Pro-reason]

I've just gone into the BIOS, and changed the default boot device.

So now the computer looks at the MBR of the Windows drive rather than the MBR of the Ubuntu drive (which uses GRUB).

It boots just fine, going to the OS choices menu laid out in boot.ini. I'm able to choose the first option and start Windows XP. Success.

This confirms that my Windows installation is perfectly fine. However, I want to be able to boot into Ubuntu. I could install GRUB onto the MBR of the Windows drive, but there is no guarantee that it would successfully boot Windows.

It seems clear that Windows simply got confused about where partitions were. It is more fragile than Linux in this regard.

Surely there is some file I can edit so that Windows will successfully boot even if the drives are not in the order it currently expects them to be in.

[Pro-reason]

title XP
root (hd1,1)
chainloader +1
savedefault
makeactive

shouldent this be

title XP
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
savedefault
makeactive

You have a point, but no, that is not it.

If Windows were located on (hd0), then the entry that points at (hd0) to start Ubuntu would fail. And it does not fail. So, (hd1) must be the correct drive.

I know that sda ought to correspond to (hd0) and sdb ought to correspond to (hd1), but it is not always so.

GRUB and Linux are disagreeing about which drive is the first one.

Windows doesn't know what to do.

[mixmaster]

In the days of my youth, micros**t operating systems always had to be on the first (primary) partition. From habit I've always set my machines up that way so I don't know if that is the case nowadays.

In your case, I would move windows to the beginning of sda1 and fix your boot order so that sda1 and hd0 are the same thing and that sda1 is the default boot device. I think anything else is likely to cause grief in the long term (on one occasion grub managed to point my windows boot record to the manufacturers recovery partition, which was not a good thing).

[Pro-reason]

OK, I decided to try keeping the Windows drive as the boot drive, which means installing GRUB to its MBR.

I made the necessary adjustments in /boot/grub/menu.lst to make things point at the right drives. I checked /etc/fstab to make sure nothing needed changing there.

The system now boots into Windows or Ubuntu perfectly. I bet that I could try OpenSolaris again, and have more luck installing it this time.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, although I pretty much fixed it myself.

The moral of the story is that Windows can get confused about what drive is what, if you move things around. Linux is more flexible. Therefore, for a dual-boot system, you have to indulge Windows like a spoilt child, and let it have its way. Order the drives however Windows wants them, and then make Linux accept that order too.