I have installed Suse 11.3 on /dev/sdc which is a hard drive connected to a usb port. Windows 7 lives on /dev/sdb in the box. Another drive sda is in the box also. I configured bios to boot the usb drive first. Grub is installed on /dev/sdc mbr. My scheme is to allow me to boot directly to Windows if the usb drive is not powered up, and directly to Suse if it is powered up. That all works. However, I would like to bypass the grub menu and boot right into Suse, like what happens with Windows, not having to select an entry from that pesky grub menu.
What is the best way to configure the system so that this can work? I’ve done a lot of searching but there are too many grub horror stories in the haystack to find this particular needle. Also, I’ve had my share of problems recently after losing control of the boot process somehow and not being able to boot into Suse at all. All of the postings I found on the net about recovering from that turned out to be phoney in some way and I had to reinstall to bet better. I’d like not to repeat that scenario.
@caf4926, yes, but the way I read the OP was like Windows pressing the F8 key to get the boot menu (openSUSE press esc), then it’s hidden and no timeout so it boots without sitting at the grub menu for 8 seconds.
If possible I don’t want to see the grub menu and I want it to boot right into Suse with no intervention required. I’ll try malcolm’s technique tonight.
If possible I don’t want to see the grub menu and I want it to boot right into Suse with no intervention required. I’ll try malcolm’s technique tonight.
Thanks!
Stumped, what I do is to install ALL of openSUSE to an External USB hard drive. By all I mean the Grub Boot Loader and all openSUSE partitions. I leave Windows loaded as normal on the Internal Hard drive. You must go into your BIOS and select the USB hard drive as the boot drive and you can still have a grub menu option to load Windows if you like. If you disconnect the USB hard drive (while shut down) and then turn on your PC, it should boot normally from the internal hard drive.
On some BIOS’, you set a boot order in general groups like floppy, then CDROM, then USB and Then Internal Hard Drives. On Other PC’s, its the same EXCEPT, you do not designate between USB and internal hard drives as all hard drive types are listed together in a single list where you would place the USB hard drive as booting first.
So to recap you must modify the install Section of the openSUSE Installation to direct every bit of the openSUSE OS to go to the new hard drive. You must realize that the boot order will be different from the default and you must for instance designate say hard disk sdb as booting before sda. What ever disk boots first then becomes HD0 to the Grub Boot Loader. You must be able to select the USB hard drive as your boot drive in your BIOS setup.
And that is it in a nutshell. I do it all of the time. If interested, I can provide more detail, if this sounds like what you want to do.
It works as desired. Boots right into Suse if the external drive is running, and right into Windows if not. Also hitting esc at the appropriate time still brings up the grub menu.
It works as desired. Boots right into Suse if the external drive is running, and right into Windows if not. Also hitting esc at the appropriate time still brings up the grub menu.
Perfect!
Thanks to all.
george
I am very happy to hear of your success george. As a relative new user in these parts, here some more information for you to use here:
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