GRUB2 for LinuxMint KDE and Win XP on different harddisk

[zlix]

Hi, im a newbie in Linux
I have 2 hard drive, I install linux to my first hard drive and second hard drive I installed XP.

I have tried to install the GRUB2 to second hard drive, but the error message

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grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /boot/grub

and I also have tried to install GRUB to first hard drive by adding a boot menu for xp

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/etc/grub.d/40_custom

with

echo "Adding Windows OS to Grub 2 menu"
cat << EOF
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" {
set root=(hd1,5)
makeactive
chainloader +1
}
EOF

but the error message is

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error: unknown command 'makeactive'

where should I install grub2, first or second hard drive?
and how to edit boot menu for Linux and XP?
thanx

[Leppie]

as linux is installed on the first drive and windows on the second, i would recommend to install grub to the mbr of the first drive.
did you do an upgrade, or was this a clean install of Mint Helena?
could you download and run the boot info script and post the generated RESULTS.txt?

[zlix]

did you do an upgrade, or was this a clean install of Mint Helena?

this a clean install of Mint Helena

could you download and run the boot info script and post the generated RESULTS.txt?

this is the RESULT.txt

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                Boot Info Script 0.55    dated February 15th, 2010                    

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

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

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Fat16
    Boot sector info:  
    Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

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

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Vista: Fat 32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda6: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Vista: Fat 32
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda6 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda7: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Linux Mint 8 Helena - KDE 
                       Community Edition
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sdb1: _________________________________________________________________________

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

sdb5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sdb5 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  Windows XP
    Boot files/dirs:   

sdb2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Vista: Fat 32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

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

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x43ca43c9

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sda1    *             63     3,903,794     3,903,732  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2           3,903,795    80,276,804    76,373,010   f W95 Ext d (LBA)
/dev/sda5          33,126,093    59,793,929    26,667,837   b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6          59,793,993    80,276,804    20,482,812   b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7    *      3,903,921    33,126,029    29,222,109  83 Linux


Drive: sdb ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 20.8 GB, 20847697920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2534 cylinders, total 40718160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x25c68385

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sdb1              16,065    16,386,299    16,370,235   5 Extended
/dev/sdb5              16,128    16,386,299    16,370,172   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2          16,386,363    40,708,709    24,322,347   b W95 FAT32


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL                         

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs                                 
/dev/sda1: ambivalent result (probably more filesystems on the device)
/dev/sda5        8811-7DD2                              vfat       DATA                          
/dev/sda6        CC1A-3CC1                              vfat       GALLERY                       
/dev/sda7        ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0   ext4                                     
/dev/sdb2        44F7-3EB1                              vfat       DATA_MASJID                   
/dev/sdb5        46A00E73A00E6A2F                       ntfs                                     

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev  output: ===========================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

aufs             /                        aufs       (rw)
/dev/sr0         /cdrom                   iso9660    (rw)
/dev/loop0       /rofs                    squashfs   (rw)


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

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

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
  have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
  saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
  save_env saved_entry
  prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,7)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
    # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
    # understand terminal_output
    terminal gfxterm
  fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/07_mintkde_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,7)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmintkde.png ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/07_mintkde_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Linux Mint 8 Helena - KDE CE, linux 2.6.31-16-generic (/dev/sda7)" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
	set quiet=1
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,7)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0 ro   quiet splash
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
}
menuentry "Linux Mint 8 Helena - KDE CE, linux 2.6.31-16-generic (recovery mode)" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,7)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0 ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### 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.
echo "Adding Windows OS to Grub 2 menu"
       cat << EOF
       menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" {
       set root=(hd1,5)
       map (hd1,5) (hd0,7)
       map (hd0,7) (hd1,5)
       makeactive
       chainloader +1
       }
       EOF

### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

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

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=ae1c3313-ad4c-4a40-8cb4-6e2b9c506fc0 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=23615bc9-9515-4484-9b32-1256453c0c70 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

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


   6.5GB: boot/grub/core.img
   6.5GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
   5.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
   5.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic
   5.6GB: initrd.img
   5.7GB: vmlinuz
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader  on sdb1

00000000  ff a1 00 00 44 00 00 00  69 fd 29 4b 69 fd 29 4b  |....D...i.)Ki.)K|
00000010  69 fd 29 4b 00 00 00 00  00 00 01 00 08 00 00 00  |i.)K............|
00000020  00 00 08 00 01 00 00 00  0a f3 01 00 04 00 00 00  |................|
00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  01 00 00 00 c1 2e 00 00  |................|
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000060  00 00 00 00 56 66 42 62  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |....VfBb........|
00000070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000080  1c 00 00 00 14 45 91 21  14 45 91 21 14 45 91 21  |.....E.!.E.!.E.!|
00000090  69 fd 29 4b 14 45 91 21  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |i.)K.E.!........|
000000a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000100  a4 81 00 00 98 10 00 00  34 13 ef 4a 69 fd 29 4b  |........4..Ji.)K|
00000110  34 13 ef 4a 00 00 00 00  00 00 01 00 10 00 00 00  |4..J............|
00000120  00 00 08 00 01 00 00 00  0a f3 01 00 04 00 00 00  |................|
00000130  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  02 00 00 00 6b 2a 05 00  |............k*..|
00000140  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000160  00 00 00 00 57 66 42 62  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |....WfBb........|
00000170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000180  1c 00 00 00 14 45 91 21  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |.....E.!........|
00000190  69 fd 29 4b 14 45 91 21  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |i.)K.E.!........|
000001a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01  |................|
000001c0  01 01 07 fe ff fb 3f 00  00 00 fc c9 f9 00 00 00  |......?.........|
000001d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|
00000200

[Leppie]

there are 2 problems here:
1. grub2 has not been installed to any mbr. install grub2 to the mbr of sda, leaving the windows drive as is (which will save you problems when removing a drive from your system). booting off the mint livecd, issue these commands to install grub2 to the mbr of your linux drive:

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sudo mount /dev/sda7 /mnt
sudo grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

NOTE: /dev/sda is not a typo, this indicates the drives mbr rather than any partition

2. your 40_custom script has a syntax error, please note the ">&2" part at the end of the first iine of your actual menu entry:

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#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# 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.
echo "Adding Windows OS to Grub 2 menu" >&2
       cat << EOF
       menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" {
       set root=(hd1,5)
       map (hd1,5) (hd0,7)
       map (hd0,7) (hd1,5)
       makeactive
       chainloader +1
       }
EOF

also not that the 2nd line should not be commented out:

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exec tail -n +3 $0

after this, run update-grub:

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sudo update-grub

[zlix]

thank you for your advice,
but after carrying out your second suggestion I still find error messages:

error: unknown command `makeactive'

where the cause?
and how Ican fix it?

thanx.