[larswebb]

Hi all,
I have been dual booting W2K and Ubuntu 9.04 successfully for some time now. I thought I'd add XP pro to the mix so I created another partition and installed XP. Now when I boot I only have W2K and XP on the boot list. My Ubuntu is still there I just can't boot to it.

[lotuseclat79]

Hi larswebb,

The way you installed WinXP toasted the Ubuntu entry in the boot startup list of alternative OSes to boot.

Here is a link to Ubuntu: Karmic User Guide. While it does not cover a triple boot, it does cover a procedure to follow for dual booting Windows and Ubuntu.

Essentially, your dual-boot MBR record was toasted (the Ubuntu entry was lost) and the Ubuntu /boot/grub/menu.lst file needs to be edited to include all three OSes, and the MBR needs to be rebult with all the needed information. You can do this with a Live CD environment without your system being connected to the Internet.

See the signature block of TSG member saikee for links and information on how to resolve this problem - i.e. bring up the Advanced search feature and search for member saikee posts in this forum. His links do cover multi-booting.

One thing I recommend is after you correct the problem, save your MBR from your Ubuntu environment using the dd command into a file that you can get to from a Live CD in the future should your MBR become retoasted. The command to do this is in the attached file and includes how to restore the MBR.

-- Tom

[larswebb]

Thanks for the reply Tom,

I found a lot of information at this website concerning my problem I am currently trying to restore by grub. It's still going.......

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...tallingWindows

[TRS-80 vet]

So when you say that only XP and W2K are the only choices, are they on the GRUB menu, or are they on a MS bootloader menu???

I'm guessing the latter, since you say restore GRUB:

I am currently trying to restore by grub.

Restore GRUB is not difficult, and there are a few different ways. Google 'Restore GRUB'.

[larswebb]

They are on the MS bootloader I think....

[larswebb]

First I tried overwriting the Windows bootloader but that didn't work so I figured I try restoring Grub. I'm following the directions from the website in my second post.
It's still going! "Probing devices to guess Bios drives"

[TRS-80 vet]

Try this procedure:
http://www.sorgonet.com/linux/grubrestore/

Ubuntu Community Forums has good stuff, and LOTS of extra stuff too... Maybe keep it a little simpler.

[larswebb]

I will try that! But I might as well wait a little longer the probing message says it might take a long time. I'll give it another hour. When I try to close the terminal a message says it's still working...

[larswebb]

Well I went ahead and tried http://www.sorgonet.com/linux/grubrestore/[/URL]
and this is what I got -


[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
the first word, TAB lists possible command
completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

grub>

I may just delete my ubuntu and start over with 9.10

[larswebb]

This is what Easeus Partition Master and Partition Magic sees.
If I boot to the live CD I can mount my ubuntu volume and access all my files. Can I some how save my files to transfer to the new installation? Or can I repair my grub using the grub folder contents?

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Larry,

See: Install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched.

The above is just one of several links I recommended you grab from member saikee's signature. Take a look at this post#3 ubuntu partition removed now GRUB Error 17 and you can click on the signature links and bookmark them for future reference.

Just to recap - your MBR was hosed by installing WinXP which deleted Ubuntu from the Windows boot menu which needs to be repaired with the Ubuntu information while keeping both the W2K and WinXP boot information. Note: the MBR contains boot loader and partition information links (which were hosed).

Study saikee's signature links and you will be sure to find a solution. If not, send saikee a PM as he is the best for sorting out these multi-boot issues.

It might help if you post the full output from a Linux Live CD for the command:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
or
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
# fdisk -l

Then post the complete contents of your Windows boot menu that is hosed now and should only have entries for Win2K and WinXP.

-- Tom

[larswebb]

Tom,

I tried the solution (ubuntu partition removed now GRUB Error 17) I ran fixmbr but nothing changed. I also tried (auto super grub disk 1.7) and was able to get a boot option for ubuntu but it said files were missing and didn't work.
I ended up reinstalling ubuntu 9.04 and I can use all 3 OS's. The only thing is I get two options, ubuntu and windows loader. Hit windows loader and I get two more options XP and 2000. I will probably try and merge the two bootloaders.
Thank you and the others for your help. I will mark this solved even if not the way it should of been.

[LinuxHacker]

Sounds like you need a new solution instead of fixing the problem? Have you ever looked into VMWare? You need to virtualize. 3 different boots is a pain.

[larswebb]

Your right.. it is a pain. I'll check out VMWare, I have heard of it. I might get rid of one of the Windows too. I'm not really that knowledgeable about Windows or Linux. I just like to play around.

[TRS-80 vet]

Originally Posted by LinuxHacker

Sounds like you need a new solution instead of fixing the problem? Have you ever looked into VMWare? You need to virtualize. 3 different boots is a pain.

Well, maybe not...

When no stage1 file was found, it was then time to find what partition 'root' was on, to THEN install GRUBloader.

No reason to keep re-writing over and over again. Get to the ROOT of the problem, and get it right. THEN put on mvware/underware/whateveryware, etc.