Mint 10 & winXP dual boot. Log in screen ok. Can only get Mi

[ooj]

Log in screen OK
When I hit Windows after 2 seconds linux is marked. Wont boot into windows, will boot to Mint.
It was so and with Paragon Partition manager I updated MBR. No change, it is still so.
I have 2 primary NTSF partions (the first active with Windows) and Mint on an extended partition. Windows files looks ok.
This is some of what I found in grub.cfg:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Linux Mint 10, 2.6.35-22-generic (/dev/sda6)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 10, 2.6.35-22-generic (/dev/sda6) -- recovery mode' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

(something more)

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2c306940306911e1
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

[Elisa]

Try to check this - http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=59349
if u can set it the same way as described there.
also useful might be: http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_linu ... _first.htm

[mads]

Hi ooj. From what you've said I see that you only have one drive, so I think the best and quickest method would be to reinstall the Grub.
A. Boot with Mint CD/DVD to Desktop
B. Go to Places - Computer, right-click the partition with Mint installation on it and mount it
C. Now go to /media folder (your partition is mounted there) and note the mounted partition's name which is also it's UUID
D. Run this command from Terminal (replace XXXX with your partitions UUID):

Code: Select all

sudo grub-setup -d /media/XXXX/boot/grub /dev/sda

E. Reboot
F. Update Grub with sudo update-grub

[ooj]

Elisa and mads, thanks a lot.
Elisa, I am new to Linux and I did'nt find exactly what I was looking for via that link you proposed but you inspired me to read a lot. So I am reading and reading about Grub, still not enough though
Mads, its right, I have just one disk with 3 partitions.
The first 2 partitons are primary ntfs-formatted with winXP on the first which is set active and data on the second The third partition is the Mint partition and I had made it extended before I installed Mint.
No problems with booting into Mint and the the boot menu looks correct with Windows placed right.
Still it doesn't work. When I click Windows the screen is blank for two seconds and then the boot screen comes back with Mint marked because I have it as default and Mint starts.

I think I tried what you said, but:
B) I could see just my two windows partitions (recognized them because of their danish labels, no UUID) and something called File System.
I guessed that this last one was my Mint partiton but rightclicking gave no possibility to mount".
Anyway, I opened the folder and found File System/ dev/disk/ and here I found 4 maps (by id, -label, -paths, uuid) and found here, I think, the long number for my Mint partition and it was the same number as shown in grub.cfg.
C) My mediafolder showed my floppy only. No partitions.
D) Ran sudo grub-setup -d /media/c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8/boot/grub /dev/sda but got this error:
grub-setup: error: cannot stat `/media/c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8/boot/grub'.

If you do not have a new solution maybe I should try set Windows as default to see what happens?

[ooj]

Tried the last: to set Windows as default. Of course it didn't work. Same as before.

[ooj]

Now I had read something and made a file 35_windows in /etc/grub.d and updated grub. At first glance it seems ok as it shows up in the boot menu, but the result is the same as with the windows entry which the installation made, can still boot to Mint onlys.

My homemade file says:

#!/bin/sh -e
echo "Adding Windows to GRUB 2 menu"
cat << EOF
menuentry "Windows" {
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1
}
EOF

Shouldn't grub be in MBR of the first partition (the Windows one)? And if, how do I find out of whether it is there? And if it is not, is that then the problem?

[mads]

ooj, try this.
Restart again from live CD. Then:

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l

Here you see all partitions, incl. the partition with linux on it, i.e. /dev/sdaX (replace X with your partition number in the next command). Then:

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sdaX /media

Finally (we know already your UUID, but you could open /media to double-check):

Code: Select all

sudo grub-setup -d /media/c7eff31a-55c9-420f-8e11-b46d8cb06de8/boot/grub /dev/sda

[ooj]

Mads, I did what you said, at least tried to, but I couldn't get it work as you see. Don't know if this here beneath is any help to help

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00046f8b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1275 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 1276 2550 10241437+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2551 10012 59934886+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5 2551 4981 19524085 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 4981 9827 38922240 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 9827 10012 1486848 82 Linux swap / Solaris


mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount dev/sda6 /media
mount: special device dev/sda6 does not exist

Extra :

mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount dev/sda5 /media
mount: special device dev/sda5 does not exist

mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount dev/sda7 /media
mount: special device dev/sda7 does not exist

mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount dev/sda3 /media
mount: special device dev/sda3 does not exist

(I don't understand why I have this /dev/sda )

[mads]

Hi ooj, I can't figure out why your partitions cannot be mounted. fdisk shows your drive and partitions!
Perhaps starting a new thread: "can't mount my partitions", would be a better/faster way to get you to a solution.

[Elisa]

...

Then I'd try as the last shot to use pysdm or gparted app from repo (or even other utility like Disk Utility etc.) which can comfortable way to mount anything (if there isn't any significant problem).

[ooj]

Dear mads and Elisa

Thank You very much for your help, from which I have learned a lot!
I have a kind of frustration over that I did not succeed in finding out to solve my problem without to do what I did, but, anyway, everything is fine now.
I found in the Grub manual under 4.2.3 DOS/Windows this: "Another problem arises if you installed more than one set of DOS/Windows onto one disk, because they could be confused if there are more than one primary partitions for DOS/Windows. Certainly you should avoid doing this..." and that was what I had, namely two primary ntfs formatted partitions with winXP on the first.
So I deleted everything and made one primary partition with winXP and an extended ntfs for data. Then I new installed Mint on the unused space and everything works now, I can dual boot Windows or Mint.
Once again, thank you to both of you! Thank you very much