Windows XP in Grub but can't boot to it

[SteadyEdward]

I've searched as best I can for my specific situation but can't find a solution (and I don't know Ubuntu enough to make educated guesses) but I've installed 9.10 to dual boot with my XP Home system. Everything is fine with Ubuntu (and it's great..)..but, although XP is showing in my boot list, when I select it the screen blanks for a second then returns to the boot list. I can mount the Windows partition (/dev/sda2) and browse the files etc (and the 3 files, boot.ini,NTLDR,NDETECT.COM are present). Boot.ini seems to show the windows partition correctly (see below)
========================
GNU nano 2.0.9 File: /Win/boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fast$
========================

========================
edward@edward-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfbbc7c52

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1669 13406211 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 1670 13903 98269605 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 13904 19457 44612505 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 13904 19224 42740901 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 19225 19457 1871541 82 Linux swap / Solaris
edward@edward-laptop:~$
==========================
My grub.cfg (extract)
==========================
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,5)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 580ecce0-8424-4293-b82f-770afa5e1446
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=580ecce0-8424-4293-b82f-770afa5e1446 ro vga=773 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,5)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 580ecce0-8424-4293-b82f-770afa5e1446
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=580ecce0-8424-4293-b82f-770afa5e1446 ro single vga=773
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod fat
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 320d-180e
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
=========================
I'm sure there's a simple solution but Ubuntu is new to me (at this level)
Regards, Edward

[blue99]

I have the exact same problem. Did you find a solution?

[Jeff Anthony]

http://ms-sys.sourceforge.net/


apt-get install ms-sys
sudo ms-sys -m /dev/sda2

warning to blue99 and others: don't follow these steps unless you're sure sda2 is the correct partition the same way SteadyEdward did


sudo fdisk -l

[SFCampbell]

Blue,

Mr. Anthony's post will fix the MBR (master boot record) of your windows partition which could resove your problem, however if your problem persists then it may be caused by a bad directer in your GRUB configuration. Depending on the path that your '/boot/grub/grub.cfg' has to point to your windows partition you may have to toy around with it.

When you boot up your machine and you reach the GRUB menu, try selecting your Windows boot option and press 'e' for edit, then delete the line that specifies your UUID and hit CTRL+X to see if that works. This change is not permanent so even if it doesn't work no harm will be done.

Please post your machine's fdisk -l and /boot/grub/grub.cfg if the problem persists.

[Bucky Ball]

If you have XP in there not sure why you have it on a FAT32 partition. NTFS better.

... and under the windows entry try:

hd(0,1)

[efflandt]

It looks like the UUID for the Windows entry in your grub.cfg might have either gotten mangled or is for your Compaq recovery partition:

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 320d-180e

On my HP it looks like this, where the first entry is the HP recovery partition and 2nd with (loader) is the XP Home partition. But I have grub2 on a partition, in which case it does not specifically identify which Windows version. It could just be that your UUID is shorter because it is FAT32 (like my HP partition) instead of NTFS (like my XP partition):

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda1)" {
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
insmod fat
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2e35-2ef9
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) (on /dev/sda2)" {
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c644a78244a77439
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}

Does your boot.ini really have a $ at the end, or were you viewing it in a not wide enough terminal with nano? Mine has other stuff in it I need to remove from when I had WinXP 64 beta, but my entry for XP Home on same partition as yours:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

[oldfred]

I am posting this until I am blue in the face. About 75% find it works, a few need other fixes. See the boot info script referred to in link.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector

If this does not fix it each poster should start their own thread and post the results.txt (see link above and link on that site).