[zillah]

I have got two HDs, each one 40 GB. Connected to one cable to IDE0 (one hard disk master and the other is slave).

First HD (master or hda) is divided to :

15 GB NTFS for XP, 5 GB FAT32 for Storage, and 20 GB NTFS for win2003,,,,I had already installed both windows (XP and 2003).


Second HD (slave or hdb) is divided to :

20 GB Solaris (hdb1,,,to be installed later) , 5 GB NTFS for Storage (hdb2) , 500 MB Linux swap (hdb3), 14.5 GB ext3 Linux (hdb4).

I installed Linux FC4 on hdb4 and chose option for GRUB bootloader to be installed on : " /dev/hda Master Boot Record (MBR) ".

When I finished the installation of Linux, I was greeted by GRUB, but when I tried to boot into windows, I received this error message :

Booting "Windows"

rootnoverify (hd1,0)

chaninloader+1

Why was the partition for windows numbered with hd1,0,,,,it should be hd0 because both windows were installed on first hard disk (i.e hd0, not hd1) ?

[saikee]

Grub counts from 0.

The FC4 installer has mistakenly thought your hdb1 was a Windows. It is possble that you creatd the partition hdb1 in Windows and so it has an Windows ID of Fat32 or NTFS. That mistake should not have happened if your hdb1 has partition ID bf denoting it as a Solaris partition.

If your XP and Win2k were installed separately then these lines should boot both of them

title My Xp in hda1
unhide (hd0,0)
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title My Win2k in hda3
hide (hd0,0)
root (hd0,2)
makeactive
chainloader +1

If you installed Win2k with XP present then XP should be dual booting iWin2k already, in which case you only need the fiollowing lines to boot XP (and from XP to choose Win2k)

title My Xp in hda1
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

[zillah]

The FC4 installer has mistakenly thought your hdb1 was a Windows.

Does that mean I have to modify /etc/grub.conf ?

If I have to modify /etc/grub.conf ?,,,what should I add to grub.conf ?....do I need to add both windows (XP and Server,,,i.e. hda1 and hda3,,,in grub it will be hda0, and hda2),,,,because right now I have got only one entry for winodws.

[saikee]

To control Grub you modify its /boot/grub/menu.lst

[zillah]

What is the difference between :
/etc/grub.conf and /boot/grub/menu.lst ?

[saikee]

It appears to me /etc/grub.conf is a script file for Grub to setup itself in the MBR when the distro is first installed.

Grub's configuration file in booting is officially /boot/grub/menu.lst. That is the file I used to boot 100+ systems. I followed the Grub Manual from GNU/Grub site.

[zillah]

It is possble that you creatd the partition hdb1 in Windows and so it has an Windows ID of Fat32 or NTFS.

I have used cfdisk utility form Knoppix V4 to partition Slave HD (Second or hdb),,,,I have not used windows XP CD to partition hdb.

Then I used QTParted only to format hdb (hdb1, and hdb2, hdb3, hdb4).

That mistake should not have happened if your hdb1 has partition ID bf denoting it as a Solaris partition

I used falg df when I created solaris partition by utility cfdisk form Knoppix.

If your XP and Win2k were installed separately

What do you mean by separately,,,how can we achieve this ?The dual boot is achieved by default.

[saikee]

If one system is hidden while the other is installed then XP and Win2k are installed separately

[zillah]

If one system is hidden while the other is installed then XP and Win2k are installed separately

In this case how can we boot each OS ? Do we need use third party boot manager ?

[saikee]

You can round up all M$ systems in your box. Say you got 10 of them.

If you want to boot the 10th system you can ask Grub to unhide the 10th and hide the first 9.

If the the 10th is now in disk 4 but orginally installed in disk 1 you re-map the drives using Grub statements

map (hd3) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd3)

You don't get it done differently by choosing a 3rd party boot loader.

What Grub can do over and about the 3rd party boot loaders are

(1) Grub can boot Linux, BSD and Soloris directly as it can read their partitions and therefore can go inside to grab their kernels out to put them into the memory.

(2) Grub can play tones with the kernels by loading different parameters at boot time

(3) Grub can use Kernel of Linux A to boot Linux B.

(4) Grub can boot over 100 systems while the 3rd party boot loaders can't.

(5) You can use Grub to boot every system manually.

(6) Grub can be installed in a floppy, a CD, MBR or a root partition with or without an operating system.

[zillah]

Do we need use third party boot manager ?

My understanding form your explaination, the answer for the quoted statement above,,,,Yes we do need to use third party boot loader,,,but you prefer to use GRUB (which is I have no doubt ) than the other bootloadres

[zillah]

To control Grub you modify its /boot/grub/menu.lst

When I checked this file,,,it was empty!!!

But When I checke /boot/grub/grub.conf (not /etc/grub.conf),,,I was able to see the informatios.

[saikee]

If you have an empty /boot/grub/menu.lst then the installation has not been 100% successfull.

/boot/grub/menu.lst is the offical Grub configuration file as documented in Grub Manual from GNU/Grub site.

This thread show a working /boot/grub/menu that has over 600 lines.

There is a symbolic link to /boot/grub/menu.lst but I am not sure if it is universally implemented in all Linux.

As far as my experience goes Grub is controlled by /boot/grub/menu.lst in

Dos (may accept /boot/menu.lst also)
Linux
BSD
Solaris

If Grub cannot find this file it defaults to a Grub prompt.

If a user has no root privilege the menu.lst in /boot/grub directory is often loacked and cannot be open in many Linux.

[zillah]

If you have an empty /boot/grub/menu.lst then the installation has not been 100% successfull.

I found the informatins ,,,I do not how.



I have got very strange thing I checked the grub.conf,,,I found this :

title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4)
root (hd 0,3)
Kernel-----------------


As you know my linux partitions on hdb not hda,,,how does the root become hd 0 ?

Linux FC4 can boot normaly without any problem.,,,,,Do I need to modify it as well ?

[saikee]

Current version of Knoppix supports Grub. You can invoke a Grub shell by typing

grub
unhide (hd0,0)

ALternatively you can use fdisk or cfdisk to set partition ID back to normal. Partition ID 6, b or c and 7 are for Fat16, Fat32 and NTFS whereas when hidden they will shown up as 16, 1b or 1c and 17 respectively.

I would have thought all software are compatible in the hdiing and unhiding of a partition. It is usually done by flipping the 5th bit of the byte used to identify the partition ID.

If you have a Grub floppy created according to Chapter 3.1 of the Grub Manual then you can still boot a Linux without a boot loader installed, otherwise I am not aware of any technique that can boot it when it hasn't got a boot loader inside. If you have another Linux boot loader then show me the files in /boot. I may be able to come up amendments for the Linux boot loader to boot your Fedora C4.

There is an off chance you may have told Fedora to use Lilo. If that is the case you would have a non-empty /etc/lilo.conf. You can then boot Fedora and the rest of the systems by Lilo. Lilo requires extra work but it is a respectable boot loader, totally capable if you don't ask it to boot more than 27 systems.

Knoppix would not hide your partition. My guess is the hidden partition was done by an existing boot loader.