Need to add a new OS entry to the GRUB boot menu !

**raedaljarrah** · 06-30-2004

Hi ,

I have installed three operating systems in the following order :

1 : Windows XP on drive C , a room was left for Linux before the 1024
cylinders limits .

2 : Windows 2003 Server on drive E .

3 : Logical drive D was then deleted to create a free space for the Red
Hat Linux 9 automatic installer .

GRUB boot loader was choosen and by which I can boot to either Windows or Linux . When I select windows ( or DOS as its named ) I have another menu from which I can choose either XP or 2003 .

I have tried to edit the /etc/grub.conf to add a separate entry for Windows 2003 . I have also tried to rename DOS into Windows XP . The file saves OK with no additional filename extension but when the system boots up , I see no changes ! .... its just the same original menu .

I know I have missed the chance to add bootable partitions to the GRUB menu during the installation process !

Is this file protected or perhaps linked to another file somewhere ?

How can I make changes to it ?

Thanks

**sarumont** · 06-30-2004

Mount /boot. Check /boot/grub/[grub.conf|menu.lst] (either of those files). menu.lst should be a symlink to that grub.conf, however it may link to /etc/grub.conf (I've never seen this, though...mine is linked to the /boot/grub/grub.conf).

That will be the file that you need to edit. I think that, even when you get the menu choices on grub, you will still have to change the choices in the Windows boot list. They probably both have both OS's, so you will probably have to delete one from the other's boot list and vice versa to avoid choosing at the second screen...but don't quote me on that.

**variant** · 06-30-2004

I dont know about fedora but with most distros /boot is mounted read only if it is mounted at all. you will need to mount it rw to make changes to files in boot (you allso need to be root)

here is some good information for booting multiple OS's:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...?part=1&chap=9

skip down to "code listing 5" and you will see a sample /etc/grub.conf you can ignore any gentoo specific parts. also lines beginning with # are comments and will be ignored.

**raedaljarrah** · 07-01-2004

Hi ,

By the way I am using Red Hat Linux 9 and not Fedora ( if there is a difference ) .

I have edited the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and added a third entry for the Windows 2003 partition which is on hda3 .

Now the boot menu has changed and is showing a list of three operating systems including Linux , XP & 2003 .

Selecting the 2003 does not boot it and gives an error message which is probably related to the grub.conf entries of 2003 .

What I did is that I have changed the grub.conf file to look like this :

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE&#58;  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root &#40;hd0,6&#41;
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda8
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=&#40;hd0,6&#41;/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux 9 &#40;2.4.20-8&#41;
	root &#40;hd0,6&#41;
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/ hdd=ide-scsi
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
title Microsoft Windows XP
	rootnoverify &#40;hd0,0&#41;
	chainloader +1
#   Here are the changes to include Windows 2003 Server
title Microsoft Windows 2003 Server
	rootnoverify &#40;hd0,3&#41;
	chainloader +1

Is this the correct way to add a new OS entry ?

By the way , selecting Windows XP again gives me the choice of either XP or 2003 as expected from the Windows boot.ini file .

Thanks

Mod edit - added code tags

**Dolda2000** · 07-01-2004

Well, that's the correct way of adding it, providing it actually is on that partition. =)

Can you post the exact error message you get when you try to select it?
Also, can you post the output of "fdisk -l" in Linux (you need to run that as root)?

**sarumont** · 07-01-2004

You put the wrong partition in the second rootnoverify statement. It should be (hd0,2).

**Dolda2000** · 07-01-2004

You sure about that, sarumont? If he has some non-{FAT,NTFS} partition in between, Windows will simply skip that one and still assign E: to (hd0,3).

**sarumont** · 07-02-2004

Originally Posted by raedaljarrah

I have edited the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and added a third entry for the Windows 2003 partition which is on hda3.

**Dolda2000** · 07-02-2004

Ah, time for me to start reading the posts, perhaps? =)

**Blario** · 11-12-2006

Originally Posted by Dolda2000

Well, that's the correct way of adding it, providing it actually is on that partition. =)

Can you post the exact error message you get when you try to select it?
Also, can you post the output of "fdisk -l" in Linux (you need to run that as root)?

I'm having the exact same problem, and trying to accomplish the same thing. I have Windows 2003 previously installed on my computer, on the 2nd partition within an extended partition (hda5) of my hard drive. I installed Ubuntu over my XP partition (first partition=hda1), and since haven't been able to boot the Win2k3. The same as the original poster, I get an error when I try to boot it. I have this same configureation on my laptop dual booting XP and have no problem from it, so I figure it's a win2k3 specific problem, like the original poster suggested.

Here is the entry I have in /boot/grub/menu.lst (where GRUB 0.97 boot menu config file is).

Code:

title           Windows Server 2003 Enterprise
rootnoverify    (hd0,4)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader     +1

The error that I get is ..

Code:

Error 12: Invalid device requested

When I use "root" instead of "rootnoverify" in the config file, I get a more specific error that says this, in addition to

Code:

Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7

Perhaps there is something specific needed in order for it to be able to read the version of ntfs that win2k3 uses at boot-time properly.

Here is what I have as output from fdisk -l & parted print (two ways of looking at it)

Code:

$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1        2549    20474811   83  Linux
/dev/hda2            2550       14593    96743430    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5            2550        5100    20480008+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6            5100        5292     1542208+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7            5292        7841    20480008+  83  Linux
/dev/hda8            7841       14593    54235408+   7  HPFS/NTFS

$ sudo parted print

Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0kB - 120GB
Disk label type: msdos
Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
1       32kB    21GB    21GB    primary   ext3
2       21GB    120GB   99GB    extended               lba
5       21GB    42GB    21GB    logical   ntfs
6       42GB    44GB    1579MB  logical   linux-swap
7       44GB    64GB    21GB    logical   ext3
8       64GB    120GB   56GB    logical   ntfs

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