First the configuration:
I have Windows Vista installed on an SATA drive by itself.
I have OpenSUSE installed on an IDE drive.
/dev/sda1: NTFS
/dev/sda2: FAT
/dev/sda3: swap
/dev/sda4: /
My SATA drive is set as boot priority… I have been trying to use EasyBCD or the manual bcedit method to use the windows bootloader to launch my OpenSUSE installation. I’ve installed GRUB into the “root partition” and “boot partition” but I am still not able to boot into my linux partition.
Even if I boot from the linux DVD and select “Boot System from Disk” the system will not boot. I have reinstalled several times.
Am I missing something here?
FYI: Vista has been genetically programmed to incorporate a file called boot.ini if it is located in the partition where vista keeps its standard bootloader files.
Here’s a way that uses that FYI to boot from the vista bootloader to Suse:
- Install Grub to Suse’s root partition
- Copy the Suse root partition’s Boot Record into a file (e.g. call it suse.bin).
- Place that file in the partition where vista keeps it’s bootloader files
- Create a file called boot.ini in the partition where vista keeps its bootloader files and put a pointer to the file suse.bin in the file boot.ini so vista can find it.
FFI: Boot Multiboot openSUSE Windows (2000, XP, Vista - any mix) with Windows bootloader.
Results in a flashing cursor as the top left of the screen… 
When I was using only one partitioned drive I never had this problem. Now that I am installing linux to a secondary IDE drive I’ve had no end of trouble.
If I install GRUB to MBR I can’t boot windows.
If I install Windows boot loader to MBR I can’t boot linux.
Is there a problem booting to a second drive from an MBR on the first?
My temporary solution was to install GRUB to the MBR of the second hard drive and hit F12 on startup to select the boot drive… If anyone else knows a way of enabling the windows bootloader to load linux from a second (IDE) hd please let me know.
Thank you for the help.
There may be. But, frankly, we need a lot more information before knowing what to suggest. There are a myriad of variables. Simple hardware set ups are simple to dual-boot; there is something here that isn’t obvious or there may a mis-configuration.
To start with we need to know how each drive is connected, to see the partition table (fdisk -l), what is on the partitions, and how the boot loader is installed and configured. Do you have a Live-CD, that would be much easier at this point?
At this point I have found an alternative that happens to be more convenient then what I had originally intended.
I have installed GRUB into the MBR of the IDE drive and left the Windows bootloader on the SATA drive untouched. I added the following to GRUB:
title Windows Vista
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
I then set the boot priority to my IDE drive. Now I can access Vista, OSX, and OpenSUSE from GRUB… if the linux drive is removed (as it sometimes is) Windows boots fine. If the windows drive is removed linux still boots.
Thats enough of a solution for me.
Looks good. You discovered boot sector chain loading, and virtual drive mapping to mitigate Window’s first-drive phobia. Simple dual-boot setups are relatively simple to set up.