Prob booting Suse 11.1 and Win xp x64

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I had installed both windows xp 64bit and OpenSuse 11.1 on my hard disk.
The Grub utility was unable to add a windows entry on boot menu;
When I click “propose new configuration” it only add suse entries.
Moreover I can’t see folders on partition where windows is instaled.

#2

Try selecting Reread configuration from disk.

#3

I tried that, still suggesting me the same list.

#4

Start Yast- Partitioner and check that your Windows partition is still there. If not, you might have deleted it by repartitioning the drive during install. This would mean there is no Windows anymore which in return would explain the fact that GRUB cannot install a Windows entry

#5

If that doesn’t work make sure run the online update first. There’s a patch for grub. In the meantime, we’ll need additional information about your setup:

  1. Open a konsole window and type in “su” (without quotation marks) followed by your password

  2. Type: fdisk -l (that’s l for lamp)

Copy and paste the results to your reply.

  1. Type: cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Copy and paste the results to your reply.

#6

The windows partition actually exist and I can boot from it (if I disable Grub).
I can see all partitions when I start the partionner but it show me the following error:

The partitioning on disk /dev/sda is not readable by the partioning tool parted, wich is used to change the partition table.
You can use the partitions on disk /dev/sda as they are.
You can format them and assign mount points to them, but you cannot add,edit,resize or remove partitions from that disk with this tool.

#7

Results of fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2c614aaf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 31872 256011808+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 31873 60799 232356127+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 31873 57368 204796588+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 57369 57495 1020096 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 57496 58817 10618933+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 58818 60801 15936448+ 83 Linux

Results of cat /boot/grub/menu.lst:

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Mar 22 19:01:41 CET 2009

default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr

#8

It appears that nothing is in menu.lst You should have something.
Example:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Mar 16 10:34:34 EDT 2009
default 0
timeout 3
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.19-3.2-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAKS-00YGA0_WD-WCAS85664685-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAKS-00YGA0_WD-WCAS85664685-part3 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31a
    initrd /initrd-2.6.27.19-3.2-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.19-3.2-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAKS-00YGA0_WD-WCAS85664685-part2 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x31a
    initrd /initrd-2.6.27.19-3.2-default

I’ve noticed that you have installed openSolaris. However, one more option is to start Yast → System → Another feature that grub has is to Propose and Merge with Existing Grub Menus.

Give it a try.

#9

The reason you see nothing from this command:

 cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

is because the file menu.lst cannot be read by a normal user; it can only be read by root. So to list it you must use this command:

sudo  cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

There are two NTFS partitions on the drive, sda1 and sda5. Probably windows’ bootloader is on sda1. You could try editing this extra stanza into menu.lst:

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: Bill & Melinda's SuperAnn ###
title Winlows Loader
    rootnoverify (hd0,0)
    chainloader +1

So the question is: What now? I suggest you edit in the stanza I gave you and reboot, see if it works. Menu.lst is a simple text file. There is a superuser GUI for modifying it. Here’s how you open the menu.lst file in the superuser GUI for editing:
If you use KDE the GUI is activated with this:

kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst

If you use Gnome the GUI is activated with this:

gnomesu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Get it open and make a space so you don’t interfere with existing stanzas. Copy/paste in the code I gave you. Save. Reboot. See what happens.