I blogged more than a year ago (nearly two years ago) about my first Ubuntu (Linux) install, dual booting with XP. I chronicled my growing pains as I had to work in under the hood in Linux to get Ubuntu to type in Japanese, to recognize my graphics card, to run my dual-monitor set-up at the native 1440x900 resolution, etc.
All this I succeeded in doing, and I truly love Ubuntu.
However, recently, Brian and I invested in the new(ish) Vista OS from Windows. Like it or not, Vista is the Windows of the future, so we figured we'd better learn it. So, we installed Vista on a separate partition of our drive, keeping our XP in tact. In my case, I installed it on an entirely separate drive, since I bought a terabyte a while back and it's been sitting empty in my pc.
We had been (and still are) reluctant to fully migrate to Vista due to all the complaints that have arisen. Most of the dissatisfaction is in regards to un-supported hardware. And I do agree, we've had some hardware issues. Lucky, my main problem is that my graphics card (the low-end nVidia GeForce 5200) is unsupported, and now my wide-screen monitor cannot be viewed at 1440x900 resolution. I will work more on this tomorrow.
For today, my main concern was that, after installing Vista, the Vista bootloader over-wrote my Grub (Linux) boot loader, and I was only offered two boot options: XP and Vista. Where oh where was my Ubuntu??
So I spent lots of time researching and working on this problem, and was able to solve the issue with a combination of techniques.
First issue: I could not, even with IFS tools, access my Ubuntu partitions from either XP or Vista. Something had occured to render those partitions "RAW".
So, I burned a bootable Ubuntu disk, which also runs as a live CD.
I put the cd in my drive, rebooted, and the PC booted from the CD, and began to run Ubuntu from the CD.
Once there, I could freely navigate my entire pc, including the Ubuntu files. I went to the boot/grub directory and copied menu.lst (my GRUB boot menu file) to a clip drive. I then rebooted in Vista.
In Vista, I downloaded this free utility - EasyBCD. And then I followed part five of this tutorial here - http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_linux_is_already_installed.htm?page=5 (If you're installing Vista from the beginning, start with the beginning of the tutorial).
So, in EasyBCD I created a NeoGrub boot option (by clicking on the NeoGrub tab). I rebooted, and voila - with a minimum of anything really technical, I managed to get my Ubuntu back!
(click for a larger image)
3 comments:
Anything worth having is worth working for... good job!
OMG - I at least understand a little Nihongo ... but not a word of the computer-ese. Well, I understand the names - Vista, SP, etc. But that's about it.
Sigh. I have tried to keep up, (and in my own aged circle, I am ahead of many) but alas, I seem to have fallen completely off this fast-moving train.
But, the good news is --- that's what the next generation (read: you)is for!! :-)
Keep up the good work!!!
Vista is not the OS of the future - even MS recognizes that now and plans to replace Vista in the near future with Windows 7 which goes into pre-beta testing next month - way ahead of original scheduling. You will notice that you cannot change you file types and associations anymore in Vista - and gone is the option to "Open with" - I like to choose which media player I want to use for particular file types you cannot do that anymore in Vista. Also you cannot override the Autoplay feature on disks by pressing the shift key - though you can still disable it in control panel but changes are global so if you change it for one device it changes it for all devices! There are many other changes - it really is a completely different OS that wants you to use your computer the way Microsoft thinks you should use your computer. (Apple does much the same thing).
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