No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

Naik · 2016-09-01 07:34:40

Hello, fellow nixers!

I have a problem which is described very easy: There seems to be no dual-booting possible on my HP (Compaq nx6325) Laptop.
For whichever other OS i install (tried kali-linux, VaporOS, ZorinOS, Siduction, ElementaryOS, Opensuse, win XP, win 7, win 10) the install runs without problems but installing the bootloader to /dev/sda messes up the entire boot process and i have to restore the the Bunsenlabs grub from /dev/sda1 via Boot-repair. This usually works and the OS in question (/dev/sda4) gets recognised by os-prober but booting into it always fails with error like:

No such device "UUID-OF-SDA4"
setting disk type to: 0x7
attempt to read outside of device hd0*

*i translated this from germane on my own so never mind any obscure english terms...
I tried to switch from grub-pc to grub2, editing /etc/grub.d/40_custom to reflect the OS in question and some other things seen on the interwebs but allways with the same error.

my hdd set-up looks as follows:

naik@HP-D2:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 232,9 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000627b3

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2048 124022783 124020736  59,1G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       124022784 127969279   3946496   1,9G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3       127969280 387786751 259817472 123,9G 83 Linux
/dev/sda4  *    387786752 488396799 100610048    48G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I also would like to add the machine is running with a AMD Turion x2 cpu which is capable of 64bit actions but has always been used with 32bit OSs because the low resources of RAM and computational power won`t make 64bit systems of any advance as i figured. Also Grub sometimes tells something about efi which AFAIK hadn`t even been invented in the times this machine was build.
I brought any of the OSs in question to live in a singleboot set-up but having to swap hdds in order to boot different OSs seems not to be most fulfilling way.

Could it be possible the this Laptop simply doesn`t support dualbooting in any way?
another problem is that i got this as a gift with a BIOS-pw set which i never had been able to guess or replace so i am unable to look at the BIOS-configurations.

I consider switching to lilo and try my luck with this bootloader but it feels like trading a lightsaber in for hand ax.

any help on this is highly appreciated and i thank for it in advance.

naik --greetz

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-01 07:46:10

Naik wrote:

*i translated this from germane on my own so never mind any obscure english terms...

Please post the full output of:

sudo LC_ALL=C grub-mkconfig
sudo LC_ALL=C blkid

The "LC_ALL=C" bit just before the command will make it speak English

the machine is running with a AMD Turion x2 cpu which is capable of 64bit actions but has always been used with 32bit OSs because the low resources of RAM and computational power won`t make 64bit systems of any advance as i figured.

I would recommend running a 64-bit system for security reasons.

Why 64 bit?
It is faster under most circumstances and as an added bonus also inherently more secure due to the nature of Address space layout randomization (ASLR) in combination with Position-independent code (PIC) and the NX Bit which is not available in the stock i686 kernel due to disabled PAE.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fr … _64-bit.3F

another problem is that i got this as a gift with a BIOS-pw set which i never had been able to guess or replace

Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1oIYy8KqDY

Naik · 2016-09-01 08:13:50

naik@HP-D2:~$ sudo LC_ALL=C grub-mkconfig
Generating grub configuration file ...
#
# 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 $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

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 load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=1024x768x24
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=de_DE
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/gray-breeze/theme.txt
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
fi
insmod gfxmenu
insmod png
set theme=($root)/boot/grub/themes/gray-breeze/theme.txt
export theme
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=menu
    set timeout=5
  # Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  else
    set timeout=5
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
fi
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
insmod png
if background_image /usr/share/images/bunsen/grub/default.png; then
  true
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
	set gfxpayload="${1}"
}
set linux_gfx_mode=
export linux_gfx_mode
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
menuentry 'BunsenLabs GNU/Linux' --class bunsenlabs --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820 ro initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
}
submenu 'Advanced options for BunsenLabs GNU/Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820' {
	menuentry 'BunsenLabs GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae' --class bunsenlabs --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.16.0-4-686-pae-advanced-5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820 ro initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz quiet
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
	}
	menuentry 'BunsenLabs GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae (recovery mode)' --class bunsenlabs --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.16.0-4-686-pae-recovery-5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_msdos
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,msdos1'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae ...'
		linux	/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-686-pae root=UUID=5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820 ro single initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

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

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

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
  No volume groups found
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sda4
menuentry 'Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda4)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-3CE80E5AE80E12B6' {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ntfs
	set root='hd0,msdos4'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos4 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos4 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos4  3CE80E5AE80E12B6
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3CE80E5AE80E12B6
	fi
	parttool ${root} hidden-
	drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
	chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### 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  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
done

naik@HP-D2:~$ sudo LC_ALL=C blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="SYS" UUID="5c53b77d-850c-4f4b-b4ab-6a7a03367820" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="000627b3-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="63fab88a-3989-4196-b016-c18d17aad45f" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="000627b3-02"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="HOME" UUID="9837a692-fcd8-432f-aed6-5d07127a9e73" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="000627b3-03"
/dev/sda4: UUID="3CE80E5AE80E12B6" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="000627b3-04"

Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1oIYy8KqDY

Oh, thanks man, i knew about this connector which in fact i have here too but would never have tried to turn the machine on with anything disconected. anyone else just stated to leave it disconected for a couple of minutes (hours) and that didn`t work. i will tell you whether it worked or not.

EDIT: Managed to get rid of bios-pw and saw that there is only one option (possibly) referring
to my problem:
Multiboot: Enabled

I tried 64-bit as well but it comes with twice the amount of ram used in idle for instance and when there only are 1.85G the difference between 200M and 400M is memorable.
besides i dont really get the security point because i don`t use the non-pae version...

Last edited by Naik (2016-09-01 09:09:58)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-01 19:51:02

So it looks like os-prober can only "see" your Windows XP system.

Is there a GNU/Linux system on /dev/sda3?

You could try installing the system and skipping the bootloader step then reboot into BL and run:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

This should generate an entry in the BunsenLabs GRUB menu for the new system.

Bearded_Blunder · 2016-09-02 01:08:40

Another option is Easy BCD Community Edition with grub installed by each linux to it's own partition, that will then chainload grub from the windows bootloader, rather than grub doing the reverse.

I've used it successfully in the past, it's more pain to set up initially than having grub chain-load windows (usually) rather than the reverse. That said though if memory serves, windows start-up repair will then preserve the entries it's aware of if used, and if it nukes them, you still have Easy BCD installed, and adding your linuxes back to the windows boot menu is a painless GUI operation.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-02 07:01:17

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

grub installed by each linux to it's own partition

GRUB strongly discourages installation to a partition boot sector -- that setup is prone to breakage, especially during updates.

See this note in the ArchWiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … nless_disk

PackRat · 2016-09-02 11:32:02

but installing the bootloader to /dev/sda messes up the entire boot process

By installing to /dev/sda do you mean the MBR?

And what types of partitions are you dealing with - are they all primary partitions?

Is your goal to dual boot with Windows? If so it's best to install Windows first on primary partition /dev/sda - it will create some smaller partitions for it's boot files - normally those show up when you run fdisk, df etc ..., they appear to be missing on your system; then install your linux distros to their own partitions with grub installed to the MBR of /dev/sda.

You may be dealing with a corrupted partition table.

Last edited by PackRat (2016-09-02 11:34:11)

Tony · 2016-09-02 12:25:35

You could try booting from the windows install disc and repairing the boot loader. This should leave you with a system that boots into windows only. If it works you can chroot into Bunsen and reinstall grub.

http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=15351

This worked for me but I do have windows installed on sda1.

pvsage · 2016-09-02 12:52:50

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Bearded_Blunder wrote:
grub installed by each linux to it's own partition
GRUB strongly discourages installation to a partition boot sector -- that setup is prone to breakage, especially during updates.
See this note in the ArchWiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … nless_disk

I'm so confused by this; it tells me that everything I know (about GRUB anyway) is wrong. The Debian Installer recommends installing GRUB to the MBR of the primary HD...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-02 22:34:02

pvsage wrote:

The Debian Installer recommends installing GRUB to the MBR of the primary HD...

Yes, that is the "correct" approach.

I was recommending against using `grub-install /dev/sda2` (or whatever) rather than `grub-install /dev/sda`

Sorry for the confusion.

PackRat · 2016-09-03 14:17:25

pvsage wrote:

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
Bearded_Blunder wrote:
grub installed by each linux to it's own partition
GRUB strongly discourages installation to a partition boot sector -- that setup is prone to breakage, especially during updates.
See this note in the ArchWiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … nless_disk
I'm so confused by this; it tells me that everything I know (about GRUB anyway) is wrong. The Debian Installer recommends installing GRUB to the MBR of the primary HD...

That is the recommended/preferred way to do it, but I install it to sdb on the system I dual boot - Windows occupies sda by itself, Debian is on sdb with / on sdb1. I install grub to sdb so that the OS's do not co-mingle in any way. I do change the boot order so that sdb is first and grub handles the boot. I have had zero issues doing it that way for several years and multiple distors - Fedora, Slackware, Debian, Arch. That way if grub or linux gets borked, I can still boot Windows natively and get work (as in actual paid employment) done. Both the wife and I need to use Windows and Windows software for work related QA/QC requirements.

What you want to avoid is putting grub on the root (any) partition like sdb1. That can cause some trouble, especially when grub is updated.

Partitions on my dual boot 2 HDD -

Those small partitions on sda are the Windows 7/8/10 boot partitions and I think are required to be on sda - Naik is missing those (although he may have XP installed).

For a single harddrive, it works best (in my experience anyway) to create a partition for Windows and leave the rest of the disk unallocated space. Install Windows to sda, then Linux distro(s) to the unallocated space with grub installed on the MBR.

Last edited by PackRat (2016-09-03 14:32:17)

Bearded_Blunder · 2016-09-04 02:23:05

@critics
I'm aware my suggestion isn't the "recommended " (by grub) approach, from my reading the "correct" method has issues for the OP, however, if you ask Microsoft for recommendations, you get put grub on linux's partition, and use bcdedit to add it to the Windows OS selector & chainload grub from that, arguing that installing grub to the MBR is prone to breakage. Since startup repairs overwrite the bootloader they strongly discourage replacing the Windows one, a valid point. This then becomes one of those religious wars, rather like "which text editor is best". I don't want to get into one of those, among other reasons I don't have the time.

Now bcdedit.exe is a rather arcane command-line tool, with horrible syntax, for which I suspect the tool I suggested is a graphical front end, so I don't recommend using bcdedit directly myself, and please note my idea is offered in the spirit of:
"if [ $(all-else-fails) ] ; then"
there's a nice little article on how presented here written for Win8 but valid for Vista onwards. I had an old dell optiplex set up that way for about 18 months, booting Win7 + Linux in 3 flavours, it never broke for me, even when I upgraded 7 to 10. It has now been re-purposed, and runs Windows only.

Now if you want me to give a recommendation it would be:
Pick your main OS, pick your favourite hypervisor/pc-emulator software for that, and run the other operating systems each in their own VM.

This avoids any religious discussion about right and wrong methods, each OS does what they natively do by default, and they can be run concurrently if needed.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2016-09-04 02:27:19)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-04 12:50:51

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

@critics

My post was not intended as a criticism and I apologise if that is how it appeared, your contributions are very much appreciated.

I just wanted to make sure that the OP had all the relevant information to hand when making this decision.

Debian itself also provides a warning about installing GRUB in this manner, to see the message run this command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

if you ask Microsoft for recommendations, you get put grub on linux's partition, and use bcdedit to add it to the Windows OS selector & chainload grub from that

Please provide a link to these recommendations.

I would recommend using bcdedit to set the GNU/Linux bootloader as the default loader in UEFI systems by using this command in Windows (with Administrator privileges):

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\bunsenlabs\grub64.efi

However, BL does not support UEFI as stock and so the official recommendation from the BunsenLabs developers is *not* to install GRUB to a partition and instead install it to the MBR.

if you want me to give a recommendation it would be:
Pick your main OS, pick your favourite hypervisor/pc-emulator software for that, and run the other operating systems each in their own VM.

I would agree with this.

Naik · 2016-09-04 20:40:03

OK, thanks for the lot of answers i got here. i will try to make some things clear:

1. BL is spread across the first three primary partitions of sda (/ on sda1, swap on sda2 and /home on sda3)
2. right now win xp is installed (afterwards) on sda4
but i tried this with different linux distros too and came up with the same effect
3. I wouldn`t be able to tweak anything from inside windows or whatever lives on sda4 because i am unable to boot into this partition, no matter what OS it holds (as to easyBCD)
4. firing up win-repair cd reports "no errors during the start up process"
5. I have heard of and can confirm that first installing windows has allways been the better way to create a dualbooting system but that (as stated) shouldn`t touch dualbooting different debian flavors or linux installations. besides it would force me to erase the hole disk which isn`t that much of fun when it comes to rearranging my beloved BL.
6. there are no (and have not been during this process) any problems regarding the partition table.
7. On this old mashine of mine running a virtual-machine doesn`t bring much of a benefit especially when it comes to connecting third-party hardware (namely a plotter) which -on the other hand- is the only reason for me to ever even considre using windows.
8. Bootrepair had never been able to provide me with a state of grub which is able to boot sda4. it just managed to automate the "chroot into BL and get grub going again" anyhow.

so far i can`t see any thing in the posts here i haven`t tried or find to be unpracticable due to one of the statements above so i will thank you all again but keep the thread open. If any further informations are needed i will be pleased to provide them.

BTW: what would You think about switching to lilo in order to accomplish this task?

naik --greetz

Last edited by Naik (2016-09-04 20:51:11)

Bearded_Blunder · 2016-09-04 20:42:49

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Please provide a link to these recommendations.

I can't at present find or recall the site where I remember reading a much clearer recommendation, however, while discussing booting Linux and Dual booting with BitLocker support on Technet here Cyril Voisin, Security Advisor for Microsoft in France where he had already worked for 9 years as of 2006 is quoted as saying about loading from Grub:

Cyril Voisin wrote:

... However this would imply using files in the boot sequence that were not tested by Microsoft, which I would not recommend. Moreover, using original Windows Vista files offers you the benefits of code that went through the Security Development Lifecycle ...

I doubt the position is changed for later Windows versions.

The Microsoft Technet article here, discussing "How to Multiboot with Bitlocker, TPM, and a Non-Windows OS" Which also describes the method I mentioned earlier, using EasyBCD. states:

Technet Article wrote:

To be safe, just make sure that everything the other OS wants to do is pointed at partition #3.

Where partition #3 is the linux partition.

Seaching Microsoft Technet turns up no articles describing the use of Grub to chainload the Windows bootloader, for the simple reason it is not a supported configuration, even though it almost always works flawlessly, using the Windows bootloader to load another OS is supported. Whilst Grub do indeed say installing to a partition rather than the MBR is "not recommended", it's not "unsupported".

Searching Linux forums and wikis, of course, turns up the reverse they support the use of their own bootloader, not the one from that "other" operating system. You pays your money and takes your choice. I have no skin in the game either way, just offering an alternative I doubt anyone else here would. My granny always said there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'm as happy to accept Technet as being as valid a scource for Windows technical information as the Arch or Debian wikis are for Linux.

My own experience setting up computers in lots of "not recommended" configurations, and more than a few unsupported ones, is that the failure modes are almost exclusively "user error", the user error typically being they (I) forgot they (I) did things differently than the default, and consequently later bork things by blindly accepting defaults during updates or reconfigurations when tired.

While booting a live CD & chrooting into your Linux to fix Grub post a Windows startup repair in the Arch/Debian/Ubuntu etc. "approved" manner isn't rocket science, or particularly difficult, neither is it the trivial excercise of boot the Windows you just repaired, and do some pointing and clicking in EasyBCD. Fixing a busted Linux doesn't change much from if you'd installed things the default way, it's still boot a live distro and chroot in, with the caveat you must remember not to blindly accept Grub's defaults.

PackRat · 2016-09-04 23:42:45

BTW: what would You think about switching to lilo in order to accomplish this task?

Bad idea for dual booting. It has to reside on the MBR of the first harddrive and can be a pain to set up so that it chainloads other OS's. Also, since it's not a default for Debian, there is the possibility of "lilo" not being run after a kernel upgrade - the computer simply will not boot if that happens. You can check out a Slackware forum (SalixOS, LinuxQuestions) and get some of the gory details of using lilo for dual boot.

PackRat · 2016-09-04 23:44:53

3. I wouldn`t be able to tweak anything from inside windows or whatever lives on sda4 because i am unable to boot into this partition, no matter what OS it holds (as to easyBCD)

Are all your partitions primary partitions, or do you have an extended partition in there?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-05 06:45:34

Naik wrote:

EDIT: Managed to get rid of bios-pw and saw that there is only one option (possibly) referring
to my problem:
Multiboot: Enabled

Have you tried installing another operating system on /dev/sda4 since you made this change?

If "Multiboot" was disabled beforehand then that may be why the GRUB step was failing with other distributions.

If you still have those errors, reboot into BL and run this command and post any error messages here:

sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

As I said, I would recommend electing to *not* use GRUB when installing the new system and instead skip that step in the installation process.

You could then simply reboot into BunsenLabs and re-configure GRUB in that system to pick up the new distribution on sda4:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-09-05 06:48:28

Bearded_Blunder wrote:

I'm as happy to accept Technet as being as valid a scource for Windows technical information as the Arch or Debian wikis are for Linux.

The message given by APT when the `dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc` command is used is from the official Debian maintainer for that program, I would consider that to be more trustworthy than a commercial website that is attempting to sell a product.

Bearded_Blunder · 2016-09-05 07:05:12

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

...
I would consider that to be more trustworthy than a commercial website that is attempting to sell a product.

Since the discussion both here and at Technet is about dual-booting Windows with other operating systems. I think you can safely assume that a Windows licence has already been bought, and they're trying to sell nothing at that point, just discussing the supported methods of using what you have already bought..

@Naik If you're installing XP without service packs integrated, it MUST BE contained within the first 128GiB of the drive, 48 bit LBA isn't supported (natively) till after installing service packs, and it won't be able to access the portion of the drive it's on. I see it's installed beyond that in your setup, which won't work.

I'd suggest from a live session (bunsen will do fine, so long as you stop thunar auto-mounting) using gparted, removing the last primary, shifting everything linux to the right, by copying each to a new partition and deleting the one they were in (to keep the partition table order right), then installing XP to the first partition on the drive, ensuring it's sized less than 128 GiB (you can enlarge it after installing service packs, or editing the registry to enable 48 bit LBA if you wish).

Starting over would be less error prone.

It's sweepstakes odds problem isn't the order you installed, it's the order on the drive. The boot-loaders and how or what order they're configured are not relevant. There is a Microsoft bug involved, where the early XP installer is quite happy to create or install to partitions the subsequently installed OS doesn't support without registry changes.

The only alternative workaround I'm aware of is to install the universal ATA driver from here when XP setup asks you if you have third party mass storage drivers, that will overcome the issue, but in my experience performance of the installed system suffers horribly, or did, a long while since I used it, and several releases since. Might be worth trying.

Last edited by Bearded_Blunder (2016-09-05 15:12:21)

#1 2016-09-01 07:34:40

No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#2 2016-09-01 07:46:10

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#3 2016-09-01 08:13:50

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#4 2016-09-01 19:51:02

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#5 2016-09-02 01:08:40

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#6 2016-09-02 07:01:17

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#7 2016-09-02 11:32:02

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#8 2016-09-02 12:25:35

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#9 2016-09-02 12:52:50

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#10 2016-09-02 22:34:02

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#11 2016-09-03 14:17:25

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#12 2016-09-04 02:23:05

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#13 2016-09-04 12:50:51

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#14 2016-09-04 20:40:03

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#15 2016-09-04 20:42:49

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#16 2016-09-04 23:42:45

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#17 2016-09-04 23:44:53

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#18 2016-09-05 06:45:34

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#19 2016-09-05 06:48:28

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

#20 2016-09-05 07:05:12

Re: No Dualboot at all - grubs os-prober broken?

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