Boot Loader problem

[Ruger22C]

Windows 7 installed first.
Ubuntu (the new one.. 10.4???) installed second.

PC automatically goes to w7, no option for ubuntu.

Now what?

 

[lxskllr]

Win7 uses a small boot partition, ~200mb. I think formatting that would get it to work, but you're on your own. I've never done it, and I'm not sure what the ramifications are regarding grub.

 

[MrColin]

If you have separate hard drives for each OS, go into the BIOS and set the ubuntu disk as the first boot device which should load grub and give you the OS selection screen at boot.

If the two OSes share a disk, probably you will need to boot a live CD and re-install grub.

I'm assuming here that you installed by booting to an install disk and not using wubi from within windows correct?

 

[joetekubi]

You should have installed Grub to the MBR (master boot record). If you did not, or are not sure, you can boot a live linux distro and check your Grub setup.
Here's some link helps:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

If this seems to hard for you, you can use "Super Grub Disk" to automatically install Grub in the MBR:
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

Note, anytime you mess with boot records, there is the possibility of messing up your current OS boot. Strongly suggest you backup windows before you do any of this.

 

[VinDSL]

[Y]ou will need to boot a live CD and re-install grub.[...]

You should have installed Grub to the MBR (master boot record).[...]

Strongly suggest you backup windows before you do any of this.

Golden! 😉

Here are the commands that I use to reinstall GRUB2 (in run order):

$ sudo mv /boot/grub /boot/grub_backup

$ sudo apt-get purge grub grub-pc grub-common

$ sudo mkdir /boot/grub

$ sudo apt-get install grub-pc grub-common

$ sudo apt-get clean

$ sudo grub-install -v

$ sudo update-grub

$ sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

The optional 'recheck' on the last line assumes /sda as the target device.

Your boot drive could be something like /dev/hda or /dev/sda1, et cetera.

Adjust the command accordingly...

 

[Ruger22C]

Thanks gents.

 

[TBSN]

What about for multi-disk installs? I did an install on an IDE drive and my main system is on a SATA which is first in the boot order. For some reason though there is a boot menu that asks which to load, then when loading win7 (it calls it "vista" in the menu), it says there something wrong with windows load .exe (I forget the exact name of it) and that I should use my windows cd to repair.