Fresh Vista install, now it won't boot...

[shayney]

Just did a fresh install of Windows Vista.

Everything installed and went as expected then I ran a Mint cd to re-install grub to mbr.
Reboot and grub came up as expected but when I tried to select vista I got a message about no bootmgr.
I've tried various combinations of entries in my menu.lst and either get the same message or "invalid device".

These are my menu.lst entries I've tried:

Code: Select all

title 		Windows Vista
root 		(hd0,11)
makeactive
chainloader 	+1 

title 		Windows Vista
rootnoverify 		(hd0,11)
makeactive
chainloader 	+1 

title 		Windows Vista
rootnoverify 		(hd0,11)
makeactive
savedefault
chainloader 	+1 

root 		(hd0,11)
map          (hd0,0) (hd0,11)
map          (hd0,11) (hd0,11)
makeactive
chainloader 	+1

With Vista being on /dev/sda11 of course.

For comparison here is my Windows XP entry which boots fine:

Code: Select all

title		Windows XP
rootnoverify	(hd0,0)
savedefault
chainloader	+1

[Fred]

shayney,

I think I have bad news for you. It appears you have Windows on sda12. That has to be a logical partition. Do you have any primary partitions before sda12? If so there is your problem.

You can't boot Windows on a logical partition that follows a primary partition with grub. At least I have never been able to do it.

Sorry.

Fred

[shayney]

Oops.

Indeed sd12 IS a logical partition and my only primary partition sda1 which already contains XP.

Though I have successfully booted a windows install from a second hard drive with grub on the mbr of the first before now.

Looks like I need a rethink

[shayney]

Indeed, trashed my XP install which was on sda1 (I installed it in VirtualBox) and installed Vista over it and it's booting fine now.
Vista doesn't work well for me in VirtualBox and for some strange reason it has problems validating, on hard drive it validates fine.

[atlef]

Indeed, trashed my XP install which was on sda1 (I installed it in VirtualBox) and installed Vista over it and it's booting fine now.
Vista doesn't work well for me in VirtualBox and for some strange reason it has problems validating, on hard drive it validates fine.

This one is self-explanatory:

Vista doesn't work well for me in VirtualBox and for some strange reason it has problems validating, on hard drive it validates fine.

The reason for this is that you have already validated your Vista machine at some point, probably when you booted Vista for the first time. So, unless you get a new licence, you will have to turn to another crowd, one that does not care about piracy.

atlef.

[Fred]

shayney

Fred wrote:
You can't boot Windows on a logical partition that follows a primary partition with grub. At least I have never been able to do it.

This still leaves you a lot of choices. Just a few off the top of my head:

1) Put both you windows systems on primary partitions on the same drive.

2) Put one Windows system on a primary partition on one drive and the other system on a primary partition on another drive.

3) Make all your partitions logical partitions and put your Windows systems anywhere you want. (Windows does prefer primary partitions though)

4) Use a boot method other than grub.

5) Run Vista from the first primary partition and run XP from a virtual machine inside of your Linux system.

Just a few thoughts.

Fred

[shayney]

Well I chose option 5

Of course the other option is to not bother with XP or Vista since I haven't used any windows OS in the past 3 years

But it's a bit like one of those special offer snack deals...

I wanted the drink and sandwich but wasn't bothered about the crisps but I ate them anyway just cos they came with it

This one is self-explanatory:

Vista doesn't work well for me in VirtualBox and for some strange reason it has problems validating, on hard drive it validates fine.

The reason for this is that you have already validated your Vista machine at some point, probably when you booted Vista for the first time. So, unless you get a new licence, you will have to turn to another crowd, one that does not care about piracy.

atlef.

I just discovered actually that Windows OS's aren't actually allowed to be used in virtual machines

[atlef]

I just discovered actually that Windows OS's aren't actually allowed to be used in virtual machines

This is not true, I run Win7, Vista and XP in VirtualBox.
As I said, you can not activate in the virtual machine unless you never installed your Windows.

atlef.

[shayney]

No, it turns out they CAN be used in virtual machines but they are considered a seperate machine according to their licensing so you are not allowed to run them on a physical machine AND a virtual machine as it is considered the same as running one copy on two different machines, even if that virtual machine is on the physical machine the copy is licensed to.

[atlef]

No, it turns out they CAN be used in virtual machines but they are considered a seperate machine according to their licensing so you are not allowed to run them on a physical machine AND a virtual machine as it is considered the same as running one copy on two different machines, even if that virtual machine is on the physical machine the copy is licensed to.

Go figure.

atlef.

[shayney]

Does that mean my XP install is actually illegal?
It was installed with my old computer which died so naturally I installed it on my new one alongside Vista (originally, now in virtualbox).
Since it's licensed to the original machine, I've committed a sin by installing it on the new box and AGAIN by now installing it in virtualbox.
Meaning my XP license only lasts as long as the hardware does, not as long as the operating system does?
If so that's a tas de merde (if you'll pardon my French)

[atlef]

No, it is not illegal, but you can only install Windows in 1 machine. So when your old computer died, you are allowed to install Windows on a new machine, you just need to re-activate the licence. And you can run it in a virtual machine, but won't be able to activate it, unless you do something illegal (like cracking Windows Genuine Advantage).

atlef.