Dual boot Ubuntu/Vista Question

Message

#1 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:00 pm

On my T61 I currently dual boot XP and Ubuntu. I plan to replace XP with Vista Home Premium and keep Ubuntu untouched. What do I have to do to prepare for this OS replacement and what steps do I need to take to restore the MBR so that GRUB is back in control with Vista and Ubuntu as boot selections?

dk · #2 Post by dk » Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:43 pm

You could backup the MBR with dd, install Vista (which will replace the MBR), then restore your backed up MBR with DD. Alternatively, use a Live CD (ie. SystemRescueCD) and restore grub. The link below covers both scenarios nicely:

http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2005/10/20/ ... p-the-mbr/

Derrick

kebomix · #3 Post by **kebomix** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:43 pm

i think after u install vista , u have to install grub again for ubuntu , so it can give u ubuntu operating system menu in the begin .

and u do this installation by ubuntu Live CD

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:37 am

Thanks for the replies. Both of you mention solutions which call for using an Ubuntu Live CD, which I have. I like the dd solution, it seems easy and elegant. I'll just need to figure out if the lines in GRUB that will be required to boot Vista are the same as those required to boot XP, then change GRUB accordingly.

poshgeordie · #5 Post by **poshgeordie** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 4:13 am

This post should help with modifying grub

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recov ... ingWindows

#6 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 5:16 am

Great link, thanks.

lifrancis · #7 Post by **lifrancis** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:14 pm

poshgeordie wrote:This post should help with modifying grub

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recov ... ingWindows

Thanks for the link. As a newcomer to Ubuntu, I have been trying to modify grub to put Windows as the first item in the boot menu. I have not been successful until I saw this link.

#8 Post by **Harryc** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:28 pm

Worked for me too. I just installed Vista yesterday and fixed GRUB this morning. All is well in dual boot land ...

Stargate199 · #9 Post by **Stargate199** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:34 pm

I tried to dual boot vista and ubuntu. I used VistaBootPro (freeware) to modify Vista's bootloader to add ubuntu to its list. I would first install Vista, then restore GRUB. If you do not have the R&R partition on your computer, then GRUB will work fine, HOWEVER if that partition is still on there, GRUB might think the recovery partition is the default Windows partition and not give you anyway to boot into vista. Since you have a Vista DVD (I assume), load that puppy back in there and restore Vista's boot manager. GRUB should still be the default bootloader at this point and you may continue to use it. There are instruction out there that will tell you how to add Ubuntu to Vista boot menu if you want to do that.

Dual boot Ubuntu/Vista Question

Dual boot Ubuntu/Vista Question

Who is online