openSUSE 12.2 prevents Windows boot?

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello All,

I apologize in advance- I am new to Linux, not to mention openSUSE, but I am quite confused and not sure where I went wrong with this one. I just completed a semester of an introduction to Linux course, and thought it would be a good idea to have one HDD with a Red Hat version of Linux and one with a Debian version, so that I might be able to compare the two through basic use.

I installed Fedora 18 with no issues on one HDD, but when I installed openSUSE on a separate HDD, now I have problems. First a little system specs: I have my primary OS, Windows 7 on an Intel 120GB SSD, my files on a WD 10Krpm 500GB HDD, Fedora 18 on another 500GB HDD and now openSUSE on an 80GB HDD, which is currently installed in a hot swap bay that takes the place of a 5.25" bay: one of these.

Other Specs:
Intel i7 3770K
Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H Mobo
Nzxt Phantom full ATX case
32GB RAM

Ever since I installed openSUSE 12.2 on the 80GB HDD, the problem is: When the computer boots, it brings up this screen:

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/prandamy/2013-05-10_21-43-37_696.jpg](http://s99.photobucket.com/user/prandamy/media/2013-05-10_21-43-37_696.jpg.html)

The system will not function correctly (with Windows) if I remove that 80GB HDD from the hot-swap bay ever since I installed openSUSE. When I was going thorough the installation steps, I thought I made sure that openSUSE would not affect any of my other HDD’s, but apparently it did. I MUST have that 80GB HDD in my hot-swap bay in order to boot, otherwise I get this:

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/prandamy/IMG_0383.jpg](http://s99.photobucket.com/user/prandamy/media/IMG_0383.jpg.html)

Since the installation of openSUSE 12.2, I have downloaded and installed all of the updates (as of yesterday), so the OS should be up to date. As I mentioned earlier, I thought I isolated this installation to the 80GB HDD ONLY. Not sure why this is happening.

  • little help?

Thanks

2

grub2 includes multiple drivers that can be loaded dynamically at run time. grub2 boot image contains minimal set of drivers needed to access /boot/grub2 filesystem which contains everything else and grub2 configuration itself (menu that is presented on the first screenshot).

It appears that you istalled openSUSE 12.3 on external drive but grub2 boot image on internal primary HDD MBR. So BIOS loads grub2 which tries to find /boot/grub2 and fails if it is not present.

So now you should first repair your internal HDD MBR using either Windows or Fedora, depending on what you used as primary bootloader before installing openSUSE.

3

I was using Windows as the primary bootloader, but how can I remove files that openSUSE installed on that drive if those files do not show up in Windows? I do not see my two Linux HDD’s in Windows Explorer - only in Disk Management.

4

Content of MBR will never show in Windows nor in Linux - it is outside of filesystem. You need to boot into Windows recovery console (I really do not know how it is called in Windows 7) and repair boot configuration. Ask on Windows forums how to do it.

5

Linux disk partitions using the normal partition type of EXT4 or SWAP can not be mounted or viewed in Windows. Use the openSUSE YaST Partitioner to remove Linux Partitions you no longer want. You can use the Windows partition program to remove openSUSE partitions if you do not intend on using openSUSE anymore and then create a Windows NTFS partition or expand existing NTFS partitions to reclaim any vacant space.

Thank You,

6

If you are using Windows as the primary boot loader, then you must update the Windows boot manager whenever grub is reinstalled. You can do that updating from a rescue boot. You only need to update the boot sector file that Windows Boot Manager is using.
See Using Windows boot manager and updating for a discussion of this.