Any version of ubuntu wouldn't dual boot with Windows Vista

[epz]

Hello,
I recently had to add a Windows Vista partition to my beloved laptop which has Xubuntu installed.

I preferred wiping the whole hard disk and installing vista first so i wouldn't have to reset grub but, when i boot xubuntu (tried all of them by the way) it won't be able to see (nor mount unless i mount it with ntfs-config or mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda2).

Seeing this I thought it wouldn't have been a problem at all, rather an advantage, since without me the Vista partition wouldn't mount (pretty useful according to me).
Now the problem is that after i do that my vista partition won't start properly, I'll still find it in the grub (as Windows Vista (loader)) but it won't start, once selected it will load, prompt me to the loading windows (where you see all that junk about copyright by microsoft) and restart, without any error or such.

Here my partitions
/dev/sda1 Xubuntu ext4
/dev/sda2 Vista NTFS (of course lol)
/dev/sda3 swap
/dev/sda5 Fat32 (was meant to not make me mount ntfs but i forgot it lol)

If the informations I given are little or not enough please ask more and if you think you have enough i'd be very pleased if anyone of you might help me sort it out, i'd really be upset if now ubuntu started giving me pains since i hadn't any in like 4 years? and that's great compared to windows >.<

Thanks alot

ps: hope you'll forgive my english I'm not anglophone and I wouldn't define my english that great lol.

ps2: please don't suggest to use my laptop as freesbie or to suicide, i thought about it and i actually don't feel like it, also, i dislike windows so noone flame it please or i'll have to agree =D. Oh and , yes, UBUNTUforums means that you aren't supposed to help me here but probably someone had my same problem? hopefully =P

[X-Windows]

Open the terminal and enter sudo update-grub. That should refresh your grub loader and check for other operating systems. There are more advanced ways to configure the grub others can help you with if that fails.

[epz]

thank you very much for your answer, sadly i tried it earlier and it didn't do anything.
At the moment what rly makes me go O_O irl is the fact that the loading screen loads, after loading restart, this is sooo bad, i'll have to add sugar and like it tho since it's requested =/

[epz]

mmm do I have to assume im in troubles? 1 answer so far lol

[darkod]

I'm not sure I understood properly what is the problem? After you mount the vista partition, it can't boot properly? And as long as you never mount it, it boots fine?

You can run the boot info script to show any possible issues and post the content of the results file. There are instructions here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8844901&postcount=4

[epz]

yes you got it, i mounted my vista partition from ubuntu (to move some files) when i restarted to use them (drivers and sp lol) it didn't work, vista goes to loading screen and then restarts with no errors. About the script, do i need to be in a live session? Because its pretty painful here without nvidia drivers and i'll need to download xubuntu live (i used alternate >.

[darkod]

No, it works from hdd installation or live mode. Usually it's for people who can't boot ubuntu or at all, so the post is mostly written from the aspect of live mode. :)

[epz]

Here it is, sorry for the delay, been a little busy and thanks for your help so far.


Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for /boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows Vista
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 2,048 245,762,047 245,760,000 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 245,762,048 467,914,751 222,152,704 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 467,916,798 487,444,479 19,527,682 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 467,916,800 483,538,943 15,622,144 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 483,540,992 487,444,479 3,903,488 b W95 FAT32


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b ext4
/dev/sda2 3E16216E162127FB ntfs
/dev/sda3: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda5 02313af6-738b-413a-8c78-3e4b664348a8 swap
/dev/sda6 A397-F2C8 vfat
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
error: /dev/sdb: No medium found

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=it
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 3e16216e162127fb
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=02313af6-738b-413a-8c78-3e4b664348a8 none swap sw 0 0

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


17.3GB: boot/grub/core.img
17.3GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
15.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
15.5GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
25.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
.2GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic
15.5GB: initrd.img
15.4GB: initrd.img.old
.2GB: vmlinuz
25.9GB: vmlinuz.old
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader on sda3

00000000 10 3f 2a e7 a6 84 44 40 8b e5 a7 e1 a1 aa 56 bd |.?*...D@......V.|
00000010 28 3d 8e ae 02 2b eb 7f 48 7a 44 65 13 cf 7c df |(=...+..HzDe..|.|
00000020 1d 32 17 83 30 92 b1 b5 b3 90 b7 ba 58 06 c4 de |.2..0.......X...|
00000030 9e 65 f0 c9 de d4 5b 05 6c f0 27 06 7f b2 38 bd |.e....[.l.'...8.|
00000040 8d 08 a7 86 ff 8b 8c af 86 9c ba 59 1c bc 5a d4 |...........Y..Z.|
00000050 4a c7 0c 46 63 00 38 27 8e cb 3b 86 17 57 78 65 |J..Fc.8'..;..Wxe|
00000060 a7 ed e3 e4 a5 8d c3 2a f8 16 25 e0 43 b5 da ea |.......*..%.C...|
00000070 a9 89 2c 9f 88 77 57 ef 5b 26 5a 89 7a f3 9e 8f |..,..wW.[&Z.z...|
00000080 1b f2 90 d4 51 6b 0b 6d aa c0 09 a6 ee 95 e1 1f |....Qk.m........|
00000090 3b db d0 e3 84 0c 59 d3 37 8a 1b 0f 99 80 d5 00 |;.....Y.7.......|
000000a0 ad 96 12 af 12 17 dd 55 f9 99 fa 27 d0 84 0b f7 |.......U...'....|
000000b0 5f 57 2f e0 2c 88 91 bc 69 dd 01 e6 ae 01 d8 c2 |_W/.,...i.......|
000000c0 17 e4 35 dd b5 a6 c0 4a 44 f6 f3 5a a5 6d ad c9 |..5....JD..Z.m..|
000000d0 54 1d 59 2d 20 c0 85 88 e9 98 5b da c6 7d 8b 32 |T.Y- .....[..}.2|
000000e0 48 5a 21 c6 0c 00 f6 ed 46 00 5a bb 84 f0 a7 dc |HZ!.....F.Z.....|
000000f0 2c a2 ea 78 3f 35 9d d9 a4 33 1d 6d 42 8a f1 b0 |,..x?5...3.mB...|
00000100 29 53 eb b2 3d 38 2a 7d 4f 51 f8 3b 38 0a 56 cb |)S..=8*}OQ.;8.V.|
00000110 79 dc 7a 6e 03 77 13 be 42 95 bb fe 15 3b dd c0 |y.zn.w..B....;..|
00000120 54 19 12 0b f0 e2 31 65 71 a9 5b 1a 0b 85 2d 6b |T.....1eq.[...-k|
00000130 5e a4 1b 93 63 17 cf 05 86 c5 63 ac e1 db 56 b0 |^...c.....c...V.|
00000140 ed 32 83 4b b3 82 49 49 0d bb 4e d6 51 2c ff 4d |.2.K..II..N.Q,.M|
00000150 b6 c2 3b 23 50 4b 9b 7f 01 5c dd 7a 4b 6f 0b e4 |..;#PK...\.zKo..|
00000160 9d 53 1f 9f 28 43 c3 f8 ec 79 c8 0e 82 9c 93 32 |.S..(C...y.....2|
00000170 b6 07 bb c3 cc e2 ed ed a3 51 e9 34 3e ae 4a 48 |.........Q.4>.JH|
00000180 3c 39 ed a2 5f 94 28 72 c9 3d 10 fb ba a0 4b 32 |<9.._.(r.=....K2|
00000190 04 64 ea 49 ce bd 48 17 4f 84 fb c8 c6 e9 74 28 |.d.I..H.O.....t(|
000001a0 f2 72 1b 47 8f 2b 76 cd 66 a9 86 1a 01 46 de 92 |.r.G.+v.f....F..|
000001b0 97 9b 00 1f 7b 1b a9 68 48 ab 76 f9 a3 69 00 fe |....{..hH.v..i..|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 00 60 ee 00 00 fe |...........`....|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff d5 65 ee 00 2d 92 3b 00 00 00 |.......e..-.;...|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200


=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sdb

[darkod]

I can't see anything wrong with it. :(

And I have no idea why mounting the vista partition would "break it". Ubuntu usually plays nice with other OSs.

But we can make a test. Lets see if mounting it with a command in terminal will do the same. If it's still set to mount automatically with ntfs-config or similar, open the program and disable the auto mount. Also if there is entry in /etc/fstab, comment it out with # in front.

Do you expect vista to boot after that?

[epz]

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=07896113-4cbc-4c72-b70d-103ebd810e9b / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=02313af6-738b-413a-8c78-3e4b664348a8 none swap sw 0 0


unless I'm blind (probably lol) but this is ok according to me.


and about unmounting i tried it, and to mount i used both ntfs config (first install then wiped hd) and terminal with mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda2


still thanks for your help so far.

[epz]

News: I noticed that after some trying the safe mode starts (vista), I don't know if that would ever help (last time i used windows was like...3 years ago?), would it mean anything?

[fidelfloris]

No, it works from hdd installation or live mode. Usually it's for people who can't boot ubuntu or at all, so the post is mostly written from the aspect of live mode. :)


Dear Ubuntu user,

I have a simular problem, if you tell me what you need to know maybe you can help me to?

Greetings Fidel

[epz]

Another thing, if I use gparted to mount the NTFS partition it will say that the device drive is locked, same with the fat32 partition I made to not make vista crash (use it to transfer files lol) even if i make it with gparted it wont mount because it's locked. I had to use ntfsconfig to mount that but if i use it with Vista's partition it won't make it start (the main problem).

[darkod]

Another thing, if I use gparted to mount the NTFS partition it will say that the device drive is locked, same with the fat32 partition I made to not make vista crash (use it to transfer files lol) even if i make it with gparted it wont mount because it's locked. I had to use ntfsconfig to mount that but if i use it with Vista's partition it won't make it start (the main problem).

Can you boot vista at all? Without trying to mount it in ubuntu or anything?

Maybe it would be good to run chkdsk on the vista partition. Could it be that the filesystem is corrupted in a way? So mounting it is making it even more messed up.

You could also do basic ntfs fix from ubuntu, but the main thing is to run windows tool chkdsk. Usually it would create a setup to start chkdsk the next time you try to boot windows.

Try booting ubuntu, don't mount the vista partition, unmount it if it's mounted, and try to execute:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda2

After it's finished restart and select vista from the boot menu. Hopefully it will trigger a windows chkdsk, it should do that.

PS. If it says there is no ntfsfix you might need to install ntfsprogs:

sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs

[epz]

Sorry I don't get what you meant.

If i don't touch Vista's partition it boots, at the moment i wiped again the hard disk (lol either it works or i'll break it mwahaha)
and if I don't mount vista (but i can mount the support partition to move files) it will load without any error.

OFF TOPIC

next pain is: finding drivers -.- it pretends to find them on internet without being connected lololol. <-- this is a problem I can solve on my own once the main is fixed =P just some gossip lol

[darkod]

OK, so did you reinstall now or what?

If you didn't, if you still have the same vista, boot it and run:

chkdsk c: /f /r

[epz]

zomg, all was fine I installed vista SP2 (from dvd) and bam, dead again lol.

do i have to run both command? (first the one you suggested earlier and then the last)

[darkod]

zomg, all was fine I installed vista SP2 (from dvd) and bam, dead again lol.

do i have to run both command? (first the one you suggested earlier and then the last)

No, if you reinstalled I don't see much point in running them.

So the new install of vista is getting corrupted again if tried to be mounted right?

I have no ideas right now. :(

[epz]

trying vista disk (i don't know how to translate in english lol system repair? , not a recover from backup a check for errors) it said I installed drivers which might not work O_O (sp2 is a driver now?)