About to install 64 bit Maverick onto multi HDD system. Advice please?

[Glennk]

I've got two HDDs, One a 320GB that runs XP and Win7 and the other is my new replacement drive 2TB with just a bare Win7 on it, and a 105GB spare partition ready for Ubuntu.

My intent is to move from the old 320GB drive in time to the new 2TB drive with just Win7 and Ubuntu 10.10 64bit. For the moment I just want to correctly install Ubuntu AND maintain my Multiboot menu.

I've attached two screenshots of the partitioning layout. So sda1 hosts my XP OS and sda2 my old Win7 OS. And sdb1 hosts my new Win7 OS and sdb2 is empty ready for Ubuntu 64bit.

Booting from my Live Disc, I am given various choices on where to install Ubuntu to. I will select sdb2.
BUT it asks where I want the GRUB bootloader to be installed to. It proposes sda1. Please can someone advise that this will preserve my current multiboot menu (XP, oldWin7, Win7)? And whether I need to set more options during this install to ensure I can still boot to any OS?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[oldos2er]

Do you have a Win7 boot disk, or recovery disk?

I would allow grub2 to install to the MBR of sda. It should recognize and create menu entries for your other OSes, but if for some reason it does not, when you reboot into Ubuntu, run sudo os-prober

More info on grub2 here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Dual boot: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

[oldfred]

Grub may offer partitions but usually complains about installing to partitions. And if you install to the windows partition it breaks windows as windows had part of its boot code in the windows partition boot sector. You want to install to sda. Grub will not let you directly boot each of the windows installs as windows moves essential boot files from a second install to the first one that has the boot flag. The second install is not directly bootable.

I also prefer to set up partitions with small system partitions and large data partitions. If sharing with windows then I use a shared NTFS partition for any data I might want in either system. Ubuntu will show you all the hidden files & folders that windows tries to protect you from and you can accidentally move of delete the wrong file.

For the Total space you want for Ubuntu:
Ubuntu's standard install is just / (root) & swap, but it is better to add another partition for /home:
1. 10-20 GB Mountpoint / primary or logical beginning ext4(or ext3)
2. all but 2 GB Mountpoint /home logical beginning ext3(or ext4)
3. 2 GB Mountpoint swap logical

Depending on how much memory you have you may not absolutely need swap but having some is still recommended. I do not hibernate (boots fast enough for me) but if hibernating then you need swap equal to RAM. And if dual booting with windows a shared NTFS partition is also recommended. But you usually cannot create that as part of the install, just leave some space. Or partition in advance (recommended).
One advantage of partitioning in advance is that the installer will use the swap space to speed up the install. Thanks Herman for the tip.

[Glennk]

Thanks guys.

I'll give that a go. Install Grub to sda1. Use the pre-formatted NTFS 105GB partition with an Ext4 ubuntu / mountpoint around 20GB size. Set a /swap of 4GB (I have 4GB RAM).

Not clear about the /home or 'shared NTFS' bits. I know ubuntu can 'browse' into the NTFS partitions but Writing to them I'm not confident that Win7 will be happy with all it's security descriptors etc...

Choices:
1. Do I format the remainder to Ext4 and create /home,
2. Or - I leave the remainder as NTFS that ubuntu can write to and (hopefully Win7 can share R/W data)?

Thanks.

[oldfred]

My suggestion is both. If you are going to put most of your data in a shared NTFS partition /home does not have to be large. You will find over time that whatever you do now, it will not be want you want after using the system for awhile.

I started with a shared NTFS partition with my XP and no separate /home. After using Ubuntu for a while I wanted the separate /home, but then started to multi-boot different versions of Ubuntu and wanted to experiment with others so now I have a separate /data for Linux data that windows will not ever need to see. I am in XP so little now, that my NTFS shared partition does not grow, but I still have not moved that data back into my Linux /data partition (yet). Maybe with the next new drive I buy.

[Glennk]

Ok. Will do later.

Thanks.

[Glennk]

All done!

Everything preserved. Many thanks for your help.

But in my excitement I've fubar'ed my Netbook boot menu. I had both XP and Win7 partitions. I overwrote the old XP one and left the Win7 one. Booted up. Grub didn't see Win7 at all. Tried reinstalling Grub2, sudo update-grub. All no good. Sudo os-parser does not find Wn7. But I can see the partition on the Disk Utility all fine and dandy.

Your expert help please...

Thanks.

[oldfred]

If XP was you first install, windows then moved the win7 boot files into the XP partition. You need to make sure you have the boot flag on the win7 partition and run win7 repairs.

You can use gparted, right click on partition & manage flags, Disk Utility, or command line:
set boot flag on for sda2 (off on others)
sudo sfdisk -A2 /dev/sda


To see exact configuration:
Boot Info Script courtesy of forum member meierfra
Page with instructions and download:
http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/
Paste results.txt, then highlight entire file and click on # in edit panel(code tags) to make it easier to read.
Or You can generate the tags first by pressing the # icon in the post's menu and then paste the contents between the generated [ code] paste here [ /code] tags.

oldfred's Windows Vista/Win7 repair links posts #7 & #9:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9826152
Make sure boot flag is set for any partition you try to repair.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
http://www.w7forums.com/startup-repair-t441.html
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html
I

[Glennk]

Tried that. Boot flag is set on sda2. Win7 is bootable. And No - Grub does not see it. So here's the boot_info Results.txt for you to interpret:

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 (,msdos1)/boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab
/boot/grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 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 63 104,890,687 104,890,625 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 110,752,110 234,436,544 123,684,435 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 104,892,414 110,751,743 5,859,330 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 104,892,416 110,751,743 5,859,328 82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/mmcblk0p1 A88E092E8E08F69A ntfs
/dev/sda1 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ext4 Ubuntu
/dev/sda2 01CAAC22FA331E00 ntfs Win7
/dev/sda3: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda5 fea35e5b-e88e-4b6c-8921-12ebc6ad26c2 swap
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/A88E092E8E08F69A fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)


=========================== sda1/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-legacy-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-25-generic
uuid 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic

title Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-25-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic

title Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-22-generic
uuid 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic

title Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic

title Chainload into GRUB 2
root 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Ubuntu 10.10, memtest86+
uuid 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

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

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

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

function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=800x600
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=15
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 2.6.35-25-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro splash vga=771 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-25-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-25-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro single splash vga=771
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro splash vga=771 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 ro single splash vga=771
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ "x${timeout}" != "x-1" ]; then
if keystatus; then
if keystatus --shift; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=0
fi
else
if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
fi
### 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 ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_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=54d62f15-ac06-4333-b3cc-82b185939606 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=fea35e5b-e88e-4b6c-8921-12ebc6ad26c2 none swap sw 0 0

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


36.7GB: boot/grub/core.img
43.1GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
51.7GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
.8GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
2.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic
36.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic
36.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic
2.4GB: initrd.img
.8GB: initrd.img.old
36.7GB: vmlinuz
36.7GB: vmlinuz.old


Advice please?

Thanks.

[oldfred]

You had the boot files from windows in another partition but the install is still in sda2. You need to run the windows repairs (posted previously) to install these two windows files to sda2.

/bootmgr /Boot/BCD

If you run the auto repair (or fixMBR), it will also put the windows boot loader in the MBR, but that also let you test that windows boots on its own. Then you will have to reinstall grub2 to the MBR.

#Comments are anything after the #, enter commands in terminal session
#Install MBR from LiveCD, Ubuntu install on sda1 and want grub2 in drive sda's MBR:
#Find linux partition, change sda1 if not correct:
sudo fdisk -l
#confirm that linux is sda1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
#If that returns any errors run:
sudo grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
# After rebooting into working system
sudo update-grub

You also have menu.lst from grub legacy. If you have problems we will have to uninstall both grub2 & grub legacy and reinstall grub2 cleanly.

[Glennk]

Thanks.

All fixed and running fine!

Boot menu shows Win7. And it boots fine. Well, as slow as it normally does. I'm thinking maybe Snow Leopard instead now....