I have 2 sata hdd,sda has WinXP and sdb has suse 11.1. I have to unplug one from the mobo to use the other. How can I use grub to be able to choose the one I want to boot into when they are both plugged into the mobo?
You need to plug the suse hd in the first sata socket and in the mobo bios make sure that it is set as first boot hd. Once you have suse booting with both hd’s connected we can show you how to add a entry to grub to boot windows.
Sorry for the delay in posting. Suse has the drive listed ad sda and it boots first if I don’t unplug it from the mobo. Both drives are plugged into the mobo. I don’t know how to access the bios in suse to check boot order.
The BIOS in your Motherboard
Usually when you reboot you will see info on how to access it:
eg: Press Delete to enter bios setup
or Press Esc to enter bios setup
OK. The hdd boot priority is suse with XP as the second boot hd. How do I get grub to show both drives and give the option of booting to either drive?
If the suse drive is booting first, then suse should be booting. Maybe you mean you want to add an entry for xp in the suse boot menu?
If so, boot in to suse and open a terminal and become su and type:
fdisk -l
Post result here
Here is the output:
hock@linux-rcz0:~> su
Password:
linux-rcz0:/home/dshock # fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x178e7c28
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2611 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2612 30401 223223175 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdg: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000de2ee
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdg1 * 1 9728 78140128+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
linux-rcz0:/home/dshock #
You need to edit a file /boot/grub/menu.lst
To open it you need to do either (depending if you use gnome or kde)
kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst
gnomesu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Add this under the failsafe section:
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1,0)+1
Save
Hopefully this will work.
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.25-0.1
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.25-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500AAJS-22VTA0_WD-WMART1964017-part1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x345
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.25-0.1-default
Where exactly do I enter these comments? Do I leave the kernel information intact or change the whole thing to these short comments?
You enter it separately so it will look like this:
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.25-0.1
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.25-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500AAJS-22VTA0_WD-WMART1964017-part1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x345
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.25-0.1-default
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1,0)+1
Of course your default suse boot will be above the failsafe entry!!
OK… I am showing windows in the boot menu but I get
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1,0) +1
as an error message during boot. What do I need to fix?
If make a note of the error and post it here, we might be able to help?
penguinluver wrote:
> OK… I am showing windows in the boot menu but I get
> rootnoverify (hd1,0)
> chainloader (hd1,0) +1
> as an error message during boot. What do I need to fix?
There should not be a space before the +1.
Larry - You absolutely sure? I was reading a post by swerdna on this recently and he was correcting himself about the space or NOT?!
I’ll have to try and locate it.
Worth a try though. But the error would be good to see.
Could try
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 0###
title windows temporary test
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
The boot process seems to be hanging at this point. Since the system is not booted yet, I can’t do screen shots or copy & paste.I get the same screen on both versions:
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1,0) +1
your second suggestion gives:
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader+1
The screen hangs at this point during boot. I have to manually reboot.
You could edit out any changes you have made, so it looks like your original. Now boot to suse and use Yast Bootloader
Add
Chainloader…follow it thru, fill in as needed and select the partition
SOLVED!
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
You almost had it but you forgot to map the 2 drives. The above comments in the grub conf file will let grub boot windows from linux. Thanks for your help.
Good to know you sorted it.