Add Windows XP to Grub 2

[Equerm]

I recently installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and Grub2 followed with it. But my Windows XP installation did not follow in the Grub2 setup, does anyone know how to add Windows XP to grub2?

For the record Grub2 does not contain a menu.lst file, it got a grub.cfg file, this file does not use the standard grub code that i am used to. It looks like this

#
# 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 ###
set default=0
set timeout=5
set root=(hd1,7)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/ascii.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
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-10-generic" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-10-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro  quiet splash
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-10-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-10-generic (recovery mode)" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-10-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro single 
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-10-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-9-generic" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-9-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro  quiet splash
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-9-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-9-generic (recovery mode)" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-9-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro single 
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-9-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-8-generic" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-8-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro  quiet splash
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-8-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.30-8-generic (recovery mode)" {
	set root=(hd1,6)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c85c3571-0842-4cc7-bcf0-c4b02b43fbf6
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.30-8-generic root=UUID=7cece53a-77f2-4714-abd2-cd4d29e14c16 ro single 
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.30-8-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

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

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file is an example on how to add custom entries
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

[swerdna]

Add this entry with a sudo text editor (gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst):

title Windows bootloader access
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0) +1

You adjust hd(0,0) to match the partition where xp's boot.ini file resides.

Sometimes you have to add the map function if xp was installed on a different drive whaich was addressed differently after the addition of Ubuntu. That's like this:

title Windows bootloader access
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1,0) +1

[Ayrton]

Hi,

I have upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 recently, which resides in a partition of my first drive:

/dev/sda7: UUID="ddca03a1-2716-4b14-8436-f77784f25b88" TYPE="ext4"

Now I'd like to add the existing Windows XP boot to the Grub2 boot loader. The Windows XP boot.ini and the OS itself are in this partition of the second drive:

/dev/sdb5: UUID="4A6077FC6077ED57" LABEL="Windows" TYPE="ntfs"

I added the code below to menu.lst and then run 'sudo update-grub', but still no luck.

title Windows bootloader access
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,5)
chainloader (hd1,5) +1

I then added this at the bottom of grub.cfg:

menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) (on /dev/sdb5)" {
    insmod ntfs
    set root=(hd1,5)
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4a6077fc6077ed57
    drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
    chainloader +1
}

The menu entry is displayed in the Grub boot screen, but when I select the Windows XP Loader option, a blank screen appears. I guess I'm not addressing the partition correctly so the boot.ini file is not found.

Could somebody help me editing the Grub boot loader?

Thanks!

[Mark Phelps]

Add this entry with a sudo text editor (gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst):

Did you even bother to read the thread title? It clearly says "Grub 2" -- which does NOT use menu.lst!

[oldfred]

You should not directly edit grub.cfg. You can add entries to /etc/grub.d/40_custom or create new files with 2 digits and an underscore where the numeric order is where the custom entries get added into grub.cfg.

If you directly edit grub.cfg the next update will erase your entries.

Copy your entry to 40_custom but try changing the drivemap from hd0 to hd1.
drivemap -s (hd1) ${root}
Or try drivemap with hd0 and hd1 in place of the root
drivemap -s (hd0) (hd1)

I do not know if 40_custom defaults to executable or not but all files must be flagged executable to be included in grub.cfg.

Finally, don't forget to run either the 'sudo update-grub' or 'sudo grub-mkconfig' command.
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

[Ayrton]

Thanks a lot oldfred! I'll give it a try and let you know if it works.

[jheaton5]

I suspect you just need to run update-grub2 as root.