Currently I am running a dual boot with Windows 7 and openSUSE 11.3. Windows has two partitions, one for the system partition and another for the OS. I have 3 Linux partitions (swap, root, and home). Obviously I am running GRUB to boot, but this seems to be impacting my ability to install Windows 7 SP1. I would like to revert back to the Windows boot loader, install the Service Pack, and then revert back to GRUB. How do I do this? Thanks
If I need to supply more info let me know.
You need to read my article on the subject right here:
openSUSE Dual Booting with Windows 7 AND Loading Service Pack 1 for Windows 7
Thank You,
Thanks a million. I’ll comb through this and let you know how it works out.
James,
When I ran your findgrub script this is what returned:
Find Grub Version 2.3 - Written for openSUSE Forums
You can add the following entry to /boot/grub/menu.lst :
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: WindowsBootLoader###
title Windows on /dev/sda1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
It looks like GRUB is loaded on Partition 3 and the Windows Boot loader is on Partition 1. So this first condition listed in your article applies to me? Also, could I use Partition Magic to set the active partition or should I really use the GParted?
The Windows 7 Partition is not Marked Active for Booting.
The Grub Boot Loader is loaded into the Master Boot Record (MBR)
The Hard Drive Windows 7 is loaded on is not the selected BOOT Drive in your BIOS.
First off, findgrub was written by please_try_again, one our super smart users that seems to know more about disk partitions than I will ever know. You can always thank him if it helps you get the Windows 7 SP1 installed. Based on what I see from Findgrub, I would boot from the GParted CD, as recommended by caf4926 and set /dev/sda1 as Active for booting, reboot and see what happens. If openSUSE still boots up and not Windows 7, it means that the MBR is loaded with grub, but I don’t see that comment on your findgrub listing. Getting rid of an MBR with grub requires more work to fix.
Thank You,
I’m not sure if this helps but this is what I got from the fdisk. I’m going to download the Gparted and go from there. Thanks again.
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 13 10260 82302976 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 10260 30402 161792000 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 10260 10522 2110464 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 10523 13133 20971520 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 13134 18356 41945088 83 Linux
Do you actually have a windows DVD?
Check what I did, it worked without a hitch
openSUSE Dual Booting with Windows 7 AND Loading Service Pack 1 for Windows 7
I went into Windows 7 → Disk Management and changed the first partition (System Reserved) as Active. Then I was able to install the SP1 without issue. Now I need to merely set partition 3 as Active again and then I’ll get back to GRUB?
Use parted Magic to take the boot flag off the windows partition, chances are there is still a boot flag on sda3 as well, which is OK.
If it doesn’t boot after that. You will need to follow my guide to re-install grub
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic
Be sure to use the Parted Magic Version from my guide
I’ll work on reinstalling GRUB tomorrow morning.
Just try taking the boot flag off windows first, and see if it works, make sure the flag is on sda3.
If it doesn’t work, then re-install grub
In your instructions, what is a RoxTerm? Also, when I boot from the DVD it gives me 7 different ways to start.
Since I knew that GRUB had been installed on partition 3, I just went into the Partition Editor from the Parted Magic Desktop. I merely moved the boot flag from the first partition to the third, rebooted, and GRUB was running as it should.
So I didn’t have to actually reinstall GRUB after all.
Thanks everyone for your time and effort…
Next time I have to do this, it will be much simpler 
Since I knew that GRUB had been installed on partition 3, I just went into the Partition Editor from the Parted Magic Desktop. I merely moved the boot flag from the first partition to the third, rebooted, and GRUB was running as it should.
So I didn’t have to actually reinstall GRUB after all.
Thanks everyone for your time and effort…
Next time I have to do this, it will be much simpler
Happy to hear of your success there imterpsfan2. Based on the findgrub output, you only needed to make the Windows partition active with GParted, boot into Windows, load the Service Pack, then use GParted to make your openSUSE partition active again and then boot back into openSUSE. Like most things, once you have done it once, it will be easier next time. Of course, new Windows Service Pack’s don’t come out all that often. Should you reload Windows for any reason, you should always reload that service Pack before loading openSUSE just to make your life more simple next time.
Thank You,
From my understanding, Windows 7 Service Packs are different from prior Windows Service Packs. Windows 7 creates a System Reserved partition of 100 MB at the first partition. If this is not marked as the active partition, the Service Pack installer won’t recognize the Linux active and through an error.
So for future Win7 Service Packs, it looks like you’d have to run through the same operation.
Sorry for talking too much about Windows ;). But it’s helpful for us who want to dual boot Windows and Linux.
