Lost Grub from dual boot after Vista install over Windows XP

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Dual boot with OpenSuse 12.3 and Windows XP was working well. When replaced XP with manual load of Vista, could only boot to Vista. All the partitions are there so I have two operating systems but grub is no longer accessible. How can I reactivate Grub that was installed by 12.3 ?

2

A while back, I think Windows 7 (and I assume Windows Vista) got an update to make them play more “nicely” with other Operating Systems on the same machine. Unfortunately, it rarely works and is completely unnecessary. My memory is very poor, so I may not have remembered this correctly, but as far as I can remember it works by making the windows partition be the bootable partition instead of a partition with GRUB installed on it and then rarely sks you which OS to start when you switch on your PC. Even when it does ask there’s only ever the option to start Windows. I don’t remember exactly how I got around it when it first happened to me, but just check that your partition with GRUB in it is bootable. It would also be sensible to check in your BIOS to make sure that the hard drive with grub on it is the highest up the list of the hard drives from which you can boot (it doesn’t need to be highter up than any non-HD devices like CD drives etc. though).

3

There may be an easier way but this one always works https://forums.opensuse.org/content/128-re-install-grub2-dvd-rescue.html

The rescue cd can be found here or I think you can use your install DVD. The rescue cd is nice because it has a xfce gui to work with.

4

Many thanks Anika. I have made a note of all the commands from your reference for future use, if necessary. I say this because just before reading your message I managed to solve the problem using EasyBCD with the following commands in NeoGrub:

gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/message
color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8

title linux
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda vga=791 resume=/dev/sda9
initrd /boot/initrd

title windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title failsafe
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.shipped root=/dev/sda6 ide=nodma
apm=off acpi=off vga=normal nosmp maxcpus=0 3 noresume
initrd /boot/initrd.shipped

To my relief it worked a treat. I can now use yast2 to configure the boot file to its original state.

thanks again

5

CORRECTION: please replace sda by sda6 in title linux above.