On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 3:21 AM, Magnus Therning wrote:

On 30/10/09 07:00, Preston C. wrote:

...

Hi, I have two hard disks installed in my computer. One for Windows and the other for Arch Linux. I have tried to install Arch several times but get a message write after I click "Arch Linux" from the boot menu- it has something to do with "Error 17".

I have come to see that my Grub configuration file is not configured properly. The problem is I do not know how to configure it properly- so that I can use Windows and Arch.

The way I would like to go about choosing which OS I would like to use is by selecting it from the Grub boot menu. Although, if I have to choose a disk to boot from in the BIOS, than that is not a problem either.

I have read on the Arch Wiki and the Grub Wiki, yet, do not know exactly how to properly configure the Grub configuration file to handle both OS's.

This shouldn't be too difficult to do.  Just make sure that Grub itself is on the disk that BIOS boots from.  Then then you need stanzas for each system, and since they are on different disks then the root will be different. Assuming you have Arch on your first disk, and Windows on the second something like this ought to take you in the right direction:

title  Arch Linux root   (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/mapper/tatooine-root vga=773 ro initrd /kernel26.img

title Windows rootnoverify (hd1,0) makeactive chainloader +1

/M

-- Magnus Therning                        (OpenPGP: 0xAB4DFBA4) magnus＠therning．org          Jabber: magnus＠therning．org http://therning.org/magnus         identi.ca|twitter: magthe

Thank you Magnus, very much. Windows is on the first SATA port, though. Any difference in the configuration of Grub since Windows is on the first SATA port?

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 4:26 AM, Thomas Bächler wrote:

That's difficult indeed. Grub will be installed in the MBR of the first disk and as far as I know will need its files to be on the same disk - in a FAT32, ext2/3/4, xfs, jfs, ... (not NTFS) partition.

Having Arch on the first BIOS disk including grub is probably easier, but you have to do some magic device-swapping in Windows' grub entry, which will otherwise refuse to start. I don't exactly remember the details.

Do you think I should physically swap the hard disk locations? Such as put Windows on the second SATA port and Arch on the first SATA port? Thanks.

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 8:26 AM, Thomas Bächler wrote:

Preston C. schrieb:

...

Thank you Magnus, very much. Windows is on the first SATA port, though. Any difference in the configuration of Grub since Windows is on the first SATA port?

That's difficult indeed. Grub will be installed in the MBR of the first disk and as far as I know will need its files to be on the same disk - in a FAT32, ext2/3/4, xfs, jfs, ... (not NTFS) partition.

I can't find any mention of such a limitation for grub. Looking at grub-install one can put grub on the boot sector of any device, and specify a root-directory for its files. No mention of the boot sector and the root having to be on the same device. Do not I haven't got a system that I'm willing to play around with, so nothing's tested :-)

Having Arch on the first BIOS disk including grub is probably easier, but you have to do some magic device-swapping in Windows' grub entry, which will otherwise refuse to start. I don't exactly remember the details.

IIRC it was quite a long time since Windows gained the ability to deal with not being installed on C:, so I'm not sure that device swapping is necessary. Another option would be to keep Window's boot loader on the first disk, install Grub on the boot sector of the second and have Windows chain load Grub. It's a bit ugly, and adds one layer on the boot sequence, but I know it works. As you can tell I'm not very familiar with the limitations of Grub, but as long as OP makes a backup of the original boot sector (using dd) and keeps a Live CD around for emergency restore of the boot sector he should be all right with doing some experimentation :-) /M -- Magnus Therning (OpenPGP: 0xAB4DFBA4) magnus＠therning．org Jabber: magnus＠therning．org http://therning.org/magnus identi.ca|twitter: magthe

Preston C. schrieb:

...

Swapping the boot device order in BIOS will do the same.

Well that is good news. Now I do not have to open the computer!

Magnus I have done some research, your way is right, although, it seems I should do something more like this. With the "map" parameter:

# (2) Windows XP title Windows XP map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) rootnoverify (hd1,0) makeactive chainloader +1

Is the mapping parameter necessary?

You have to try. I think it is, but Magnus claims that this is old news. Just pick a configuration that works and stick with it.

On 31/10/09 01:41, Preston C. wrote:

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Thomas Bächler wrote:

...

You have to try. I think it is, but Magnus claims that this is old news. Just pick a configuration that works and stick with it.

Well I tried it and it worked, :-). I did change the /root ext. 4 partition in Grub from (hd1,0) to (hd0,0). Then I applied what I posted for the Windows configuration and it worked. Thanks for the help.

Excellent news :-) Just a reminder, it is always useful to have a LiveCD around for emergency configuration tasks (basically when you manage to hose your system by mistake :-). This is doubly true when one has systems with slightly advanced Grub setups. /M -- Magnus Therning (OpenPGP: 0xAB4DFBA4) magnus＠therning．org Jabber: magnus＠therning．org http://therning.org/magnus identi.ca|twitter: magthe