mhofer
August 31st, 2009, 11:47 PM
Hello everyone. I'm sorry if this has been answered already, I've done some looking around and I've seen some similar questions but I'm not quite linux-savvy enough to adapt the solutions and fix my own problem.
So here is the situation: I have a Dell Notebook (XPS M1710) with Windows XP installed on the hard drive, and I recently bought an external hard drive (Iomega Prestige 1.0TB USB). The hard drives are partitioned as follows:
Internal:
/dev/sda1 - 50MB FAT16 Primary Partition. 'DellUtility'
/dev/sda2 - 70GB NTFS Primary Partition with Windows XP installed. (Flagged as the 'boot' partition in gparted)
/dev/sda3 - 3GB FAT32 Primary Partition. 'DellRestore'
*I have not touched the partitions on this drive
External:
/dev/sdb1 - 25GB NTFS Primary Partition, empty (I am contemplating a Vista or Windows 7 install).
/dev/sdb2 - 25GB Ext3 Primary Partition with Ubuntu 9.04 installed.
/dev/sdb3 - 25GB Ext4 Primary Partition with Fedora 11 installed.
/dev/sdb4 - [Remainder of disk is an Extended Partiton]
/dev/sdb5 - 5GB linux-swap Partition.
/dev/sdb6 - 100GB NTFS Partition. 'Programs'
/dev/sdb7 - 600GB NTFS Partition. 'Data Files'
/dev/sdb8 - 100GB FAT32 Partition. 'Back-Up'
/dev/sdb9 - 70GB NTFS Partition. 'Downloads/Drivers'
*I partitioned this hard drive myself using the gparted 0.4.6-1 bootable CD.
This is what I would like to be able to do:
1) Boot Windows XP normally when my external hdd is not attached (or atleast have my boot loader bring me to a menu and let me choose XP), because this is a notebook computer and I will not always have the external hdd with me.
2) Choose between booting Windows XP, Ubuntu 9.04, and Fedora 11 when my external hdd is attached.
And this is my problem:
I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on the /dev/sdb2 partition using the Live CD. I chose the mount point '/'. At this point I could boot Ubuntu with no problems. I then installed Fedora 11 on the /dev/sdb3 partition using Fedora's Live CD. Unfortunately I get an error message stating that "Bootable partitions cannot be on an ext4 filesystem," so at this point I changed the mount point for the Ubuntu partition to '/boot' and the mount point for the Fedora partition to '/' and I was able to proceed with the installation. At this point I could only boot Fedora. If I chose Ubuntu from Grub's boot list (which, unfortunately did not include Windows XP as an option), I would instead boot into Windows XP. So, naturally I thought I could trick my system (great idea, right?) and I decided to run the Ubuntu install again and reset the mount point to '/'. I then installed WinGrub .0206 because I figured this would recognize my Windows OS since Fedora's version of Grub did not. Now when I boot up I can choose to boot either Ubuntu 9.04 or Windows XP, but Fedora does not show up. Furthermore, if my external hdd is not present when I boot, I get a Grub error (error 17, I believe) and I am unable to boot Windows at all.
Phew, I'm sorry to be so long-winded, but I figure it's better to give too much information than too little. I guess my big questions are, how should I mount my linux partitions so that I am able to boot either one (Ubuntu or Fedora), and how can I fix the problem of Grub requiring my external hdd be present for me to boot correctly?
Thanks so much for any wisdom you can impart!
So here is the situation: I have a Dell Notebook (XPS M1710) with Windows XP installed on the hard drive, and I recently bought an external hard drive (Iomega Prestige 1.0TB USB). The hard drives are partitioned as follows:
Internal:
/dev/sda1 - 50MB FAT16 Primary Partition. 'DellUtility'
/dev/sda2 - 70GB NTFS Primary Partition with Windows XP installed. (Flagged as the 'boot' partition in gparted)
/dev/sda3 - 3GB FAT32 Primary Partition. 'DellRestore'
*I have not touched the partitions on this drive
External:
/dev/sdb1 - 25GB NTFS Primary Partition, empty (I am contemplating a Vista or Windows 7 install).
/dev/sdb2 - 25GB Ext3 Primary Partition with Ubuntu 9.04 installed.
/dev/sdb3 - 25GB Ext4 Primary Partition with Fedora 11 installed.
/dev/sdb4 - [Remainder of disk is an Extended Partiton]
/dev/sdb5 - 5GB linux-swap Partition.
/dev/sdb6 - 100GB NTFS Partition. 'Programs'
/dev/sdb7 - 600GB NTFS Partition. 'Data Files'
/dev/sdb8 - 100GB FAT32 Partition. 'Back-Up'
/dev/sdb9 - 70GB NTFS Partition. 'Downloads/Drivers'
*I partitioned this hard drive myself using the gparted 0.4.6-1 bootable CD.
This is what I would like to be able to do:
1) Boot Windows XP normally when my external hdd is not attached (or atleast have my boot loader bring me to a menu and let me choose XP), because this is a notebook computer and I will not always have the external hdd with me.
2) Choose between booting Windows XP, Ubuntu 9.04, and Fedora 11 when my external hdd is attached.
And this is my problem:
I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on the /dev/sdb2 partition using the Live CD. I chose the mount point '/'. At this point I could boot Ubuntu with no problems. I then installed Fedora 11 on the /dev/sdb3 partition using Fedora's Live CD. Unfortunately I get an error message stating that "Bootable partitions cannot be on an ext4 filesystem," so at this point I changed the mount point for the Ubuntu partition to '/boot' and the mount point for the Fedora partition to '/' and I was able to proceed with the installation. At this point I could only boot Fedora. If I chose Ubuntu from Grub's boot list (which, unfortunately did not include Windows XP as an option), I would instead boot into Windows XP. So, naturally I thought I could trick my system (great idea, right?) and I decided to run the Ubuntu install again and reset the mount point to '/'. I then installed WinGrub .0206 because I figured this would recognize my Windows OS since Fedora's version of Grub did not. Now when I boot up I can choose to boot either Ubuntu 9.04 or Windows XP, but Fedora does not show up. Furthermore, if my external hdd is not present when I boot, I get a Grub error (error 17, I believe) and I am unable to boot Windows at all.
Phew, I'm sorry to be so long-winded, but I figure it's better to give too much information than too little. I guess my big questions are, how should I mount my linux partitions so that I am able to boot either one (Ubuntu or Fedora), and how can I fix the problem of Grub requiring my external hdd be present for me to boot correctly?
Thanks so much for any wisdom you can impart!