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**oshunluvr** · Dec 20, 2011, 09:17 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Some more detail on your current drive configuration is needed. You list four partitions, then say you added an extended (which I assume was the drive D: space) but then you say /boot is /dev/sda2 so the order your giving doesn't jibe with the list you've given. Start with a list of partitions by device name and what they contain.

BTW, /boot can be on a logical partition, linux doesn't have those rules. The only restriction is the file system of /boot has to be a readable type by GRUB. Since we're on the topic, the only reason to have a separate /boot is if you are in fact using a file system not readable by GRUB - which it doesn't seem you are - but that's totally up to you of course, and has no bearing on your problem.

You also state you "pointed the boot loader to /dev/sda2" which means you're planning on booting to Windows 7 and using it's bootloader to chain-boot to GRUB. If this is not what you've intended, herein lies your problem. AFAIK, no BIOS is capable of booting directly to a partition - the bootloader has to be in the Master Boot Record (dev/sda) not solely in a Partition Boot Record (/dev/sdaX). It's possible you've confused the bootloader location with the location of the boot manager's (GRUB) files. Which by default is /boot/grub/ and doesn't change if you move the bootloader.

If you did intend to boot to Windows 7 first and then chain-load GRUB, let me know and we'll proceed. BTW, I've never heard of or used EasyBCD so I can't say what it did to your setup and I won't be able to help you with that. It is fairly easy to correctly re-install GRUB without doing an entire install.

Some other opinions not related to your boot problem:

1. 8GB swap is unnecessarily large. For portable computers, matching your RAM size is sufficient. The extra 4GB simply won't ever get used unless you're doing major video editing or something like that, which is unlikely on a EeePC. On the other hand, you've plenty of drive space so it won't hurt anything. I just wanted to mention it for reference.

2. If you still intended on using a separate /boot, ext2 will be slightly faster for that partition. Journal-ing file systems are only really needed for file systems being used often. A /boot partition is mostly read-only (at least until you update your kernel). Again, this is not a problem - just my opinion based on my experience.

**Purplemess** · Dec 20, 2011, 09:38 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

I also removed the 15GB recovery partition to make room for /boot. This means that my current disk layout is (grabbing this from KDE partition manager from within the live environment of my USB install stick):
/dev/sda
- /dev/sda1 - 100GB NTFS - Houses the C: partition with Windows 7.
- /dev/sda2 - 256MB Ext3 - /boot
- /dev/sda4 - extended
- /dev/sda5 - 8 GB swap
- /dev/sda6 - 15GB Ext4 - /
- /dev/sda7 - 342GB Ext4 - /home
- /dev/sda3 - 16MB EFI stuff, has something to do with asus bootbooster or bios-stuff

Basically, the EFI stuff and the NTFS partition need to stay (and I'm not sure about the EFI stuff, but since it's only 16MB I won't touch it). Anything in between can change. Since /boot does not need to be a primary partition according to you, I could build it like this:
/dev/sda
- /dev/sda1 - 100GB NTFS - Houses the C: partition with Windows 7.
- /dev/sda2 - 4GB swap
- /dev/sda4 - extended
- /dev/sda5 - 15GB Ext4 - /
- /dev/sda7 - 347GB Ext4 - /home
- /dev/sda3 - 16MB EFI stuff
I like to keep things as simple as possible, so I might just do a reinstall of kubuntu with this layout.

Summed up, I want five partitions. C:, swap, /, /home and the EFI stuff.

As for the bootloader, I don't care which bootloader is used. What I want out of it is this: I want a menu, with Windows 7 and Kubuntu as the choice options, and I want it to default to Kubuntu after some timeout (like 5 seconds or so). The windows bootloader does give these options (I've gotten the menu structure, default option and timing easily fixed using that EasyBCD tool), but the actual booting into Linux does not work there. Don't know if it's a problem with the windows bootloader or something else though...

I have previously installed it (I'm at 3 tries now) while pointing the bootloader to /dev/sda (it's a dropdown menu when using manual mode to partition the disk), and it still did not work and booted straight into windows.

**oshunluvr** · Dec 20, 2011, 09:55 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Probably, you're running into Microsoft's latest attempt to stifle competition and your BIOS is "fixing" your MBR (Master boot record). I don't have any experience with the newer EFI BIOS so you'll have to wait for someone who knows to come along or look elsewhere. There might be some documentation with your computer that can tell you how to adjust this behavior.

AFAIK, you can install GRUB to the / partition and edit the Win7 boot manager using BCDEDIT or EasyBCD, If you're getting the grub> prompt, that usually means it can't find the boot files and needs to be reset.

Basically, booting to the USB and entering a few commands should do it. If you're going ahead with the re-install and re-partition do that first and report back when you're stuck again.

**ubuntuku** · Dec 20, 2011, 10:00 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Originally posted by Purplemess

I also removed the 15GB recovery partition to make room for /boot. This means that my current disk layout is (grabbing this from KDE partition manager from within the live environment of my USB install stick):
/dev/sda
- /dev/sda1 - 100GB NTFS - Houses the C: partition with Windows 7.
- /dev/sda2 - 256MB Ext3 - /boot
- /dev/sda4 - extended
- /dev/sda5 - 8 GB swap
- /dev/sda6 - 15GB Ext4 - /
- /dev/sda7 - 342GB Ext4 - /home
- /dev/sda3 - 16MB EFI stuff, has something to do with asus bootbooster or bios-stuff

Please run the following command:

Code:

sudo -s
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
ls -1 /mnt/boot #paste the output of this command.
umount /mnt/boot
exit

**Purplemess** · Dec 20, 2011, 10:12 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

@ubuntuku, here's the output:

Code:

root@ubuntu:~# ls -1 /mnt/boot
abi-3.0.0-12-generic
config-3.0.0-12-generic
grub
initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
lost+found
memtest86+.bin
memtest86+_multiboot.bin
System.map-3.0.0-12-generic
vmcoreinfo-3.0.0-12-generic
vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic

@oshunluvr, I'll reinstall it with the new disk layout. Simpler things means less places where it can go wrong. What should I choose in terms of the location of the boot loader? /dev/sda or /dev/sda5 (where /boot is going to be located)?

**ubuntuku** · Dec 20, 2011, 10:31 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Ok make sure you don't have any partitions mounted, run the following commands:

Code:

sudo -s
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
umount /mnt/boot
reboot

Let us know the result.

**oshunluvr** · Dec 20, 2011, 10:42 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

boot loader location is relevant to your desired setup, not the location of the boot files. If you, as you stated earlier, want to boot to GRUB then it needs to be on /dev/sda. If you're willing to use Windows boot loader then install it to /dev/sda5.

Assuming I'm right and EFI is interfering with your boot loader, we'll need to address that issue first.

In way of explaining in more detail: The "bootloader" is a 512 byte section that contains the drive partition table (the last 66 bytes) and points the system to the boot manager. That's it. All the fancy boot stuff is done by the boot manager. Point being is the boot manager and boatloader do not have to be on the same partition. Specifically, the bootloader can only reside in the MBR or a PBR and really doesn't reside in a partition at all. Rather, it's in a reserved bit of space.

**Purplemess** · Dec 20, 2011, 10:48 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

OK, I've pointed it to /dev/sda now. Theoretically, that should mean that upon next reboot grub will kick in, and direct me to Linux even while there is a windows OS present?

I'll post the results.

edit: the results
After installation, it's still the windows boot loader that is running the show. No sign of grub anywhere, and no improvement whatsoever (still can't get easyBCD to boot successfully into Linux).

Since my drive no longer has a separate /boot partition, I ran this code:

Code:

sudo -s
mkdir /mnt/root
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/root
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/root /dev/sda    (gave msg: Installation finished. No error reported.)
umount /mnt/root
reboot

This DID yield result, and gave me the "GRUB version 1.99-12ubuntu5" bootloader. Default option was "Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic" with a 10sec timeout, together with some others. One of those is "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)"

The default option booted me into Kubuntu 11.10, and the windows option booted into windows as it should. In short: big problem solved! Thank you both for helping!

In return a few smaller problems. First of all, I would like to have the timeout for the default option (Kubuntu) reduced to 2 seconds. That's enough time for me to give input if I want to go to windows, without increasing boot time heavily (assuming no user input in normal situation, when I want to go to Kubuntu). Secondly. I would like to be able to change the text of the boot options shown by GRUB. Purely aesthetic, but I like seeing "Kubuntu 11.10" more than seeing "Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic". Are these changes possible?
double-edit: It appears StartUpManager would work. I'll triple-edit with the results (for helping folks after me with the same questions).
triple-edit: It's gnome, which means it wants to download and install 84MB of other stuff. Nevermind the startupmanager stuff, I'll try the other suggestions below.

**dibl** · Dec 20, 2011, 11:51 AM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

The boot menu timeout adjustment is easy. The other one is not (well, I guess you could argue that editing /boot/grub/grub.cfg IS easy, but that edit won't survive the next update of a kernel or a grub package).

If you open the file /etc/default/grub with kate in superuser mode, the fourth non-commented line reads like this:

Code:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

Just change the 10 to a 2, and save it, and then run

Code:

sudo update-grub

in a terminal, and you've got it your way.

Setting aside the direct edit of /boot/grub/grub.cfg, I believe you'll have to go into the scripts in /etc/grub.d/ and make a study of "10_linux", which is an automated part of the Grub 2 menu builder. Be careful -- back it up before you do anything to it. I'm not enough of a programmer to understand exactly how it is forming the menu titles -- but I sure if it's important enough you can figure it out.

**ubuntuku** · Dec 20, 2011, 12:07 PM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

you need grub-customizer

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

[img width=400 height=311]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16223945/grub-customizer.png[/img]

**oshunluvr** · Dec 20, 2011, 02:43 PM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Nice tip Ubuntuku! I didn't know about that tool. I have done it the manual way in the past.

**Purplemess** · Dec 20, 2011, 02:45 PM

Re: Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Yup, that thing works really well. Basically got everything fixed just the way I want it. Thanks for all the help!

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Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

Grub/boot problem with dualboot of windows 7 and kubuntu 11.10

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