Ubuntu/Vista dual boot or alternative?

[ukbuckstop]

Hi all.. after two weeks happily fiddling around with Ubuntu 9.04 on a duel boot vista/ubuntu laptop, I began to have problems and eventually found I couldn't boot into windows vista at all. This was necessary on occasions as I had programs that would only work in vista, and needed to use them...eg Nokia PC suite..

Anyway, aftwer finding out I couldn't boot into vista, I reinstalled it. All went well, but then I was unable to boot into Ubuntu. So I gave up altogther, and reformatted my whole partitioned hard drive (vista/ubuntu) and resinstalled vista over the lot... regrettably. Windows workd fine now.

I am missing my Ubuntu desktop and functionality already, and want to try again, but I would like some guidance on this. Has anyone sucessfully operated a dual boot system well?

Also, I installed Ubuntu on an old external hard drive before getting rid of it on my PC, which I thought would be good so I could boot into Ubuntu from the external as I wished to, and keep windows on my laptop. However, when I connected up my external to boot from earlier, changed the boot sequence etc, it failed to recognise it? Even when I connected the drive up in a vista environment, it didn't show up either (it installed drivers etc, but that's all?! - strange)

So I can't run Ubuntu from my external.... what am I doing wrong? any ideas?

PS..I ran the 'live session' Ubuntu disc and it worked fine, and when I connected the hard drive that showed up no problems. So no hardware faults...

Suggestions welcome anyone? What's the best way to run two operating systems on one hard drive, or an internal and external simultaneously?

I would really like to go full Ubuntu eventually, but fount it very hard to navigate, with all the new terminolgy and programs functions etc etc... hence my wish to 'break in slowly' I could just run from a 'live session' cd everytime, but that's not very efficent at all...

Thanks

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, lots of people successfully dualboot between Windows, and Linux. I used to dualboot but finally gave up on Windows so I reformatted the entire drive, loaded Linux, and have lived happily ever after.

The thing about Windows is that it will always overwrite the MBR if you install it after installing Linux, and it won't give you the option to boot Linux, so the best approach is to always install Windows first, then Linux.

[yancek]

Has anyone sucessfully operated a dual boot system well?

???You're kidding, right. Hundreds of thousands of people have for over a decade as you will find out with a little research. Ozar explained one problem you encountered with windows. overwriting the mbr.

The external drive, did you have it attached to your PC or your laptop. Was there another drive? Which one had the bootloader files in the master boot record. If the external doesn't boot when it is set first boot priority then it is unlikely that you put the stage1 file of Grub in the master boot record which you would need to do in that situation.

[ukbuckstop]

Hi chaps. Thanks for your replies. You see, I am a novice somewhat when it comes to Linux/Ububtu, but last night I managed sucessfully to re-install both Vista and Ubuntu on my hard drive by doing the following..

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

used windows disc managemment to shrink volume on c drive

installed ubuntu on the new partition

configured it during installation to add the bootlogger to the partition

then added easyBCD to vista, and used that to change the organsise the boot sequence


Now, what happens is vista and ubuntu load up using the MBR (I think) and then it gives me the option either Windows Boot or Grub Boot (which is in the new partition)

this seems to be effective at the moment and may (or may not ) be a rather long winded way of doing things? what do you think?

forget booting from the external drive for now, although it would be useful if I had problems..

however, Yancek, could you explain how to put the 'stage1 file of Grub in the master boot record' of the external drive?

thanks a lot

[yancek]

EasyBCD seems to be a good way to boot non-windows systems from vista. I've not used it so I don't know exactly how it works but I expect it starts vista bootloader and gives you options in your menu and points to the Grub bootloader to take over when you select Ubuntu.

however, Yancek, could you explain how to put the 'stage1 file of Grub in the master boot record' of the external drive?

I don't know your partition information so I can't explain exactly. Assuming your drive with vista is seen as sda and the external with Ubuntu is sdb and Ubuntus' root partition is sdb1 you would open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo grub (you'll need to enter your password here, hit enter key and should get grub prompt which looks like: grub>)
from the grub prompt, type: root (hd1,0) (hit enter key; this assumes Ubuntu Grub files on sdb1)
at grub prompt type: setup (hd1) (places stage1 in mbr of sdb pointing to sdb1 root partition)
quit (exits Grub)

You should get your partition information running the fdisk -l command so you are certain which partition Ubuntu is seen as before using these commands.