Problem Dual Boot Arch and Windows 7

**thinkanish** · 07-30-2012

Hi friends,

You may not read this, coz this is situation before problem:

First, I wanna tell my situation before I installed arch linux. I am a noob to the bootloader thing (I mean I know what is a boot loader and what it does but noob in case of installing it, configuring it). I first had opensuse with windows 7. I installed opensuse by creating root, home, boot, swap partitions on my extended partitions and windows takes up three primary partitions. When I switch on my computer, I would be greeted by the green suse login with options for suse and windows(Of course, I configured it to point windows). When I choose suse, I would be taken into suse. But when i choose windows, again a boot screen will appear asking for windows and suse (but this is a windows boot screen). Now, when i choose windows here also, it will boot into windows. But when i choose suse, i would be taken back to the suse boot screen, like a loop.This was my condition and I planned to switch to arch.

My probem:
I installed arch as indicated in the beginner's guide at arch wiki. I installed everything correctly and everything was fine... I also, installed osprober and included the windows option in grub. Now, also Its like the previous login... i.e, when i choose windows at grub, again a windows boot screen will appear. But the windows boot screen contained the SUSE name also, and when I click suse, it says, no such thing exists. So, I decided to delete it. I installed EasyBCD and deleted the SUSE entry in windows and there, I did a great mistake...! I issued command to write MBR and also to to install BCD! Now, everything got corrupted and no os boots. Then, finally, I used windows OS disk and performed startup repair. Now, when i start my computer, it goes straight to windows. I dont know what happened to grub.. and i know that the linux is intact. only the bootloader is corrupt. Some where, i got suggestion to reinstall arch. But I know there is a way to do it without reinstalling! Please help guys...

Thankyou for taking time to read.

**yancek** · 07-30-2012

But when i choose windows, again a boot screen will appear asking for windows and suse (but this is a windows boot screen).

I'm very surprised you saw an entry for Suse on the windows boot screen. Usually one would need to install third party software to enable this (EasyBCD).

Grub does NOT boot windows! It chainloads it which basically means it points to where the windows boot files should be, then the windows bootloader takes over so you should see the windows boot screen.

Where did you install Arch? Separate partition from Suse? Same partition as Suse thus overwriting it? The no such thing exists would indicate to the latter. What exactly did you delete? The Suse entry in windows boot menu? The Suse partition?

I would suggest you go to the site below and download the bootinfoscript. Read the documentation on how to use it first. You will need to use either the Suse or Arch (or any other Linux) CD to do this as it won't run on windows. There should be a results.txt file produced after running it. Post that file here as it will give a lot of information on your partitions and boot files and should help someone resolve your problem. Also indicate what (Arch, Suse) is still on the machine and where (what partition(s)) you believe they are on.

Boot Info Script | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net

**thinkanish** · 07-30-2012

Hi, yancek,
Thanks for your time and words.

Dont be surprised! Yes my mistake i didnt mention. I used EasyBCD to manually make entry of suse on windows boot screen.

And, I used the suse partitions for arch. ( I mean I killed suse)

And as i used the suse partition for arch, i just tried to delete the suse entry from windows boot screen!

I was working with both arch and windows fine till i did that.!

**darkomano** · 07-30-2012

You can boot Windows 7 now and know how to repair Windows boot porblems.
It would be easier for you to make a dual-boot based on Windows boot manager.

Read general tutorial on how to dual-boot Windows 7 with Linux or Unix - [boyans.net/DualBootWindows7andLinuxOrUnix.html]

Create a boot sector loader with the right boot sector code from Arch.

Use either "ext2fsd" or "ext2ifs" to map Linux partition in Windows so you have at least read access.
Go to /boot/grub directory and copy the boot sector file to Windows drive.

**thinkanish** · 07-30-2012

Hi, darkomao,
I tried the link provided by you, and followed what they told i.e., to install the grub on /boot partition.. but that didnt work either i got an error.
Here is what I get:

Code:

grub-install /dev/sda5
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives.
/dev/mapper/../dm -o does not have any corresponding BIOS drive

And regarding my drive partition structure, the output of fdisk command is this: I got this using live cd (arch)

Code:

Device                 Boot               ID                       System
/dev/sda1               *                 7                  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2                                  7                  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3                                  7                  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4                                  5                  Extended
/dev/sda5               *                83                 Linux
/dev/sda6                                 82                 Linux swap/Solaris
/dev/sda7                                 83                 Linux
/dev/sda8                                 84                 Linux
/dev/sda9                                 84                 Linux

Here, sda1 is the 100MB system reserved partition in windows. Windows is installed in sda2, sda3 used for some user files under windows.

sda5 is /boot
sda7 is /
sda8 is /var
sda9 is /home.

Kindly help me to sort out this problem friends.

**darkomano** · 07-30-2012

Hi claw,

using ext2fsd or "ext2ifs" you can map Arch "/boot" partition to a Windows drive say Q:
Then in Windows "Q:\boot\grub" you will have either
boot.img (GRUB2)
or
stage1 (GRUB Legacy)

The present file is the boot sector file.
Just copy to c:\boot.img and create boot sector loader pointing to the file copied.

**yancek** · 07-30-2012

If you haven't resolved this, you would be a lot better off getting the bootinfoscript and downloading it and running then posting the output here. You said your Arch install worked so are we safe in assuming you were able to boot it? Did you have a different entry in the BCD menu for Arch? If so, I don't see how deleting the Suse entry would affect that. Of course you did say you installed Arch to the same partition as you previously had Suse. When you did the repair from windows, it overwrote your master boot record. Use the bootinfoscript, it will be your best source of accurate information.

**thinkanish** · 07-31-2012

Dude, thanks for your reply. I downloaded the bootinfoscript. Now, I am having only the arch live boot. How to use the bootinfoscript there in live session and generate the result and copy it?

**yancek** · 07-31-2012

Near the top of the page in the link I provided for the bootinfoscript there is a Description box. In that box there is a link to instructions. You will need to open a terminal and log in as root. I don't use Arch so can't tell you how to find the terminal. You should be able to get root with "su -" (without quotes) and no password should be needed. Follow the instructions and post the output. You should be able to right-click the downloaded tar.gz file and extract it.

**thinkanish** · 08-01-2012

Hi, Yancek, here is the output.. I actually, downloaded the file, extracted in widows itself and run the script through arch live cd.
and /dev/sdb is my pendrive

Code:

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 7
    Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda7: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Arch Linux ()
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sda8: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda9: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb: ___________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Windows 7: FAT32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1    *          2,048       206,847       204,800   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2             206,848   122,879,999   122,673,152   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3         122,880,000   409,599,999   286,720,000   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4         409,600,000   488,397,167    78,797,168   5 Extended
/dev/sda5    *    409,600,063   409,889,169       289,107  83 Linux
/dev/sda6         409,889,233   411,881,229     1,991,997  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7         411,881,293   441,874,584    29,993,292  83 Linux
/dev/sda8         441,874,648   461,875,509    20,000,862  83 Linux
/dev/sda9         461,875,573   488,397,167    26,521,595  83 Linux


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs   
/dev/loop1       54d19f93-f878-4a22-9c38-d58dd04ac8a9   ext4       
/dev/loop2       54d19f93-f878-4a22-9c38-d58dd04ac8a9   ext4       
/dev/loop3                                              squashfs   
/dev/loop4       b6be6cf8-15c1-49ee-94f7-8cc33882096e   ext4       
/dev/loop5       b6be6cf8-15c1-49ee-94f7-8cc33882096e   ext4       
/dev/loop6                                              squashfs   
/dev/loop7       42ed7453-0a1a-42c9-b0a6-0de03a3fdfd8   ext4       
/dev/loop8       42ed7453-0a1a-42c9-b0a6-0de03a3fdfd8   ext4       
/dev/mapper/arch_lib-modules b6be6cf8-15c1-49ee-94f7-8cc33882096e   ext4       
/dev/mapper/arch_root-image 54d19f93-f878-4a22-9c38-d58dd04ac8a9   ext4       
/dev/mapper/arch_usr-share 42ed7453-0a1a-42c9-b0a6-0de03a3fdfd8   ext4       
/dev/sda1        BCCEB8C3CEB8776C                       ntfs       System Reserved
/dev/sda2        A632CE3732CE0C6D                       ntfs       Windows
/dev/sda3        A6D060A8D0608103                       ntfs       Stuff
/dev/sda5        b3d7f31e-7f0c-42a1-86cc-60902c8d691d   ext4       
/dev/sda6        cdb3bcaf-bc79-4481-a77d-86e77a2132fb   swap       
/dev/sda7        0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d   ext4       
/dev/sda8        61390451-78c6-4db1-9a0b-d166873a4487   ext4       
/dev/sda9        9beac6df-1556-49c1-87ed-9032f84d887b   ext4       
/dev/sdb         A056-990F                              vfat       SPARTA
/dev/sr0                                                iso9660    ARCH_201207

========================= "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: =========================

/dev/mapper:
arch_lib-modules
arch_root-image
arch_usr-share
control

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/loop0       /run/archiso/sfs/root-image squashfs   (ro,relatime)
/dev/loop3       /run/archiso/sfs/lib-modules squashfs   (ro,relatime)
/dev/loop6       /run/archiso/sfs/usr-share squashfs   (ro,relatime)
/dev/mapper/arch_lib-modules /usr/lib/modules         ext4       (rw,relatime)
/dev/mapper/arch_root-image /                        ext4       (rw,relatime)
/dev/mapper/arch_usr-share /usr/share               ext4       (rw,relatime)
/dev/sdb         /mnt/usb                 vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sr0         /run/archiso/bootmnt     iso9660    (ro,relatime)


=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

 195.320728779 = 209.724035584  grub/stage2                                    1

=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
set default="0"

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos7'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos7 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos7 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos7  0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch GNU/Linux, with Linux core repo kernel' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-true-0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d' {
	load_video
	set gfxpayload=keep
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos7'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos7 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos7 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos7  0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initramfs-linux.img
}
menuentry 'Arch GNU/Linux, with Linux core repo kernel (Fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-fallback-0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d' {
	load_video
	set gfxpayload=keep
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,msdos7'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos7 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos7 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos7  0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-BCCEB8C3CEB8776C' {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ntfs
	set root='hd0,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1  BCCEB8C3CEB8776C
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BCCEB8C3CEB8776C
	fi
	chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>	<dir>	<type>	<options>	<dump>	<pass>
tmpfs		/tmp	tmpfs	nodev,nosuid	0	0
# UUID=0297b703-fadd-405b-9b1d-670e6c5f018d
/dev/sda7           	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

# UUID=9beac6df-1556-49c1-87ed-9032f84d887b
/dev/sda9           	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

# UUID=61390451-78c6-4db1-9a0b-d166873a4487
/dev/sda8           	/var      	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

# UUID=cdb3bcaf-bc79-4481-a77d-86e77a2132fb
                    	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

 200.630785465 = 215.425665536  boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
 196.622633457 = 211.121945088  boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img              1
 196.584707737 = 211.081222656  boot/initramfs-linux.img                       2
 206.531950474 = 221.761993216  boot/vmlinuz-linux                             1

========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdc 

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

  No volume groups found
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically

I want to somehow repair this without reinstallation

... kindly help

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