Multi Boot Ubuntu

[Jojoyee]

I have 3 OSes installed on a PC.

On starting up, I have a dual boot screen to Ubuntu 9.04 and Other Operating System (Windows). If I select the Other OS option, it goes to another dual boot screen to Win XP and Win7. (The first dual boot screen was edited by Grub, while the second by EasyBCD.)

How do I make the first dual boot screen to Ubuntu, Win XP and Win7, so that I do not need the second dual boot screen?

Any idea whether this can be done? Thanks.

[bob2345]

Grub is seeing your EasyBCD as another OS to boot. EasyBCD is hiding both wins from Grub, in effect. You'll need to uninstall EasyBCD and reinstall Grub. I have no idea how to go about doing this. Not sure if removing EasyBCD will remove Grub by placing the wins back in the MBR, or even if it will do that.

[wdhpr]

Paragon and Acornis have MBR repair after that you could then use your linux cd to reinstall grub. See if your other linux distro is seen when you do the reinstall.

I found grub unstable. I used this method instead: I have decided to install linux. How do I get started?

It has worked very well for me but can't guarantee the same for you.

Cheers
Wdhpr

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by wdhpr

I found grub unstable...

Thanks.

So instead of trying triple boots from Grub, I might want to try NeoGrub in EasyBCD to configure the boot entries to XP, 7 and Ubuntu when I get time.

[Jojoyee]

Yup, it's working now after spending some time, to multi-boot with BCD bootloader.

I have to use the latest EasyBCD 2.0 Beta, which supports Ubuntu 9.04, to modify BCD bootloader to give me a menu to select booting up Win XP, Win 7 or Ubuntu.

If Ubuntu item is selected in the first menu, it will go to the second menu (which I still prefer to have it) to show up for selection to either boot up Ubuntu or go back to the first menu. NeoGrub bootloader included in EasyBCD is used somehow for this purpose with the following configurations.

default 0
timeout 8

title Ubuntu 9.04
find --set-root /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic ro quiet splash root=/dev/sda4
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title Back to last menu
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Just to share a few points here.

[wdhpr]

default 0
timeout 8

title Ubuntu 9.04
find --set-root /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic ro quiet splash root=/dev/sda4
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title Back to last menu
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

I'm curious is this bcd's boot.ini file? or Grubs boot menu? Does bcd bootloader control the boot configuration ouside the MBR?
What I cant understand is why your xp and win 7 boot options are not listed?
MY boot.ini looks like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition" /FASTDETECT
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
C:\bootsect.lnx="mepis linux"

Dual boot setup. Windows xp and mepis and I also have the Ms recovery console.
As you can see C:\bootsect.lnx="mepis linux"
Refers to a bootsect.lnx file.

The bootsect.lnx file resides im my windows root directory C:\
I created the bootsect.lnx while in mepis and then copied it over to my C directory.

At boot up I'm presented straight away three options:
Win xp
Windows recovery
mepis

Of course what works for you will always be the right choice. What I like about my setup is it keeps my mbr clean. Grub corrupted my mbr on several occasions. With grub now installed into my linux root, I have not had any further problems

Update
Did some checking. It seems vista and win 7 bootloaders are different than winxp. Reading further if you want xp and win 7, one should install xp first. It also appears that BCD Bootloader is the tool of choice. Nice to know if I ever decide to install win7

Cheers
Wdhpr

[Jojoyee]

I used EasyBCD (version 2.0 Beta) to re-write Vista Bootloader into MBR, which was earlier over-written by the Grub loader upon installing Ubuntu 9.04.

Further, I installed NeoGrub loader (included in EasyBCD) into the 3rd entry. Upon starting a PC, bootmgr will show up the 3 items configured by EasyBCD as follows:

There are a total of 3 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7
Timeout: 8 seconds.
Boot Drive: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows XP
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: I:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #3
Name: Ubuntu 9.04
BCD ID: {26148567-0443-11dc-80ed-aee1952ea8b0}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\NeoGrub.mbr

Upon selecting Entry #3, bootmgr will chainload to NeoGrub loader to load the Ubuntu OS. NeoGrub is configured as follows:

default 0
timeout 0
hiddenmenu

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
uuid 9bad4b2d-43d9-432d-bcb8-308eca5ad6f0
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=9bad4b2d-43d9-432d-bcb8-308eca5ad6f0 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

This is my latest setup.

p.s I add this short reply for reference purpose as the previous one has disappeared.

[Jojoyee]

I note that latest build of EasyBCD (version 2.0.0.67) has promptly added Grub2 support, in response to the newly launched Ubuntu 9.10 using Grub2 loader, instead of the legacy Grub.

After I installed Ubuntu 9.10, it overwrote MBR to boot from Grub2. Now I use Easy BCD to reinstall the "Windows Vista/7 Bootloader" and write MBR, so that the PC will boot from this bootloader.

Next, I remove the NeoGrub loader entry and add a new entry to chainload to Grub2 to load Ubuntu, with the steps below using EasyBCD:

Add/Remove Entries -> Lunux/BSD
Select Grub 2 from "Type" drop-down menu
Click "Add Entry"

That's it. The settings viewed in EasyBCD now look as follows:

There are a total of 3 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7
Timeout: 8 seconds.
Boot Drive: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows XP
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: I:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #3
Name: Chainload to Grub2
BCD ID: {2614856a-0443-11dc-80ed-aee1952ea8b0}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\AutoNeoGrub0.mbr

[Jojoyee]

Now having installed Ubuntu 10.04, it overwrites MBR to boot from Grub2.

Upon reboot, Grub2 shows me a list to boot into Ubuntu 10.04 (Linux 2.6.32), Kubuntu 9.10 (Linux 2.6.31) or Window 7. (I have Win XP installed but not listed).

Using the latest EasyBCD (version 2.0 Beta -Build 93), add Linux Grub2 bootloader to the list and write MBR.

Upon reboot, the new MBR shows a list to boot into XP, Win7 and Kubuntu 9.10 (Linux 2.6.31), apparently this version of EasyBCD has not detected Ubuntu 10.04 installed in the harddisk.

Now Startup-Manager comes to my rescue. After booting into Kubuntu 9.10 and running Startup-Manager, it scans the harddisk and detects a bootloader to Ubuntu 10.04 (Linux 2.6.32). I've it updated in the list.

It works this way now, upon reboot, MBR written by EasyBCD 2.0 shows the main list to boot into XP, Win7 and NeoSmart Linux.

NeoSmart Linux will chainload to the second list (updated by Startup-Manager) to boot into Ubuntu 10.04, Kubuntu 9.10 or chainload back to the main list above.

[J_L]

Originally Posted by Jojoyee

Now having installed Ubuntu 10.04, it overwrites MBR to boot from Grub2.

Upon reboot, Grub2 shows me a list to boot into Ubuntu 10.04 (Linux 2.6.32), Kubuntu 9.10 (Linux 2.6.31) or Window 7. (I have Win XP installed but not listed).

Using the latest EasyBCD (version 2.0 Beta -Build 93), add Linux Grub2 bootloader to the list and write MBR.

Upon reboot, the new MBR shows a list to boot into XP, Win7 and Kubuntu 9.10 (Linux 2.6.31), apparently this version of EasyBCD has not detected Ubuntu 10.04 installed in the harddisk.

Now Startup-Manager comes to my rescue. After booting into Kubuntu 9.10 and running Startup-Manager, it scans the harddisk and detects a bootloader to Ubuntu 10.04 (Linux 2.6.32). I've it updated in the list.

It works this way now, upon reboot, MBR written by EasyBCD 2.0 shows the main list to boot into XP, Win7 and NeoSmart Linux.

NeoSmart Linux will chainload to the second list (updated by Startup-Manager) to boot into Ubuntu 10.04, Kubuntu 9.10 or chainload back to the main list above.

Wow.. Do you regularly use all of them? Personally I have a lot of virtual machines, but they're mainly for irregular testing and compatibility.

Edit:
Also, what's so different about Kubuntu (other than KDE) that got you to install it on your computer?