MultiBoot System (DOS,XP,7 and Ubuntu) how can I arrange to boot each from Grub2?

Asked by KSousa

The installed version of Ubuntu I'm running is 14.10. Each operating system works fine I can boot from the grub2 into the windows loader from which i can boot 7 or into the xp loader from which i can boot XP or MS-DOS.

My goal is to be able to skip all the extra boot loader steps and be able to semi directly or directly boot into each operating system from the Grub2 interface. I'm having some very preliminary trouble such as editing the the grub2 menu via the grub.d file and using the os-prober command both of which i have not done successfully yet, hopefully we can change that.

First of all what additional information can I add that would be helpful?
How can I accurately identify which partition belongs to which OS? (I think i know based off the order i installed them being DOS -> XP -> 7 -> Ubuntu but how can i confirm)

I'm incredibly interested in Ubuntu (or even just Linux) and i wan't to figure out how to make these things work for me so that i can gain a better understanding of the entire OS as a whole. So can anyone help me? :D

Thank you,

KSousa

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#1

Why a boot to DOS?

You can run DOSBox in Ubuntu or even in Virtualbox.

Seems strange

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#2

The DOS OS is preference of our teacher (who was been around since the dawn of computers) so I don't have much option personally I would have just run it in Virtualbox but such is life I suppose. Any ideas how I can work with this? And what other information I can provide?

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said :
#3

What is the output of the terminal commands

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo update-grub

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#4

This is the result of running those lines: ksousa@BAN-KSousa-Linux:~$ uname -a
Linux BAN-KSousa-Linux 3.16.0-23-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 21 18:00:35 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux
ksousa@BAN-KSousa-Linux:~$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.10
Release: 14.10
Codename: utopic
ksousa@BAN-KSousa-Linux:~$ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for ksousa:
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-23-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-23-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
done

Also note my computer is not directly connected the internet I'm trying to connect via a D-Link DWA-130 to a hidden network but for some reason that does not seem to be working either.

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said :
#5

Ok. Your output shows only Ubuntu and the Windows 7 loader, but no trace of XP or DOS.

What is the output of

sudo fdisk -l

For the problem with the WLAN device, you better create a separate question document.
As a starting point please provide the output of steps 1 to 6 in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WirelessTroubleshootingProcedure

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#6

Here is the output of sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 74.5 GiB, 80000000000 bytes, 156250000 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x7dc27dc2

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 63 8755424 8755362 4.2G b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2 8755488 57914324 49158837 23.5G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 57914386 156248063 98333678 46.9G f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 57914388 107073224 49158837 23.5G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda6 152346624 156248063 3901440 1.9G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 107073536 152344575 45271040 21.6G 83 Linux

sda1 is MS-DOS, and i think sda2 is Windows XP I'm not sure which one is 7 (maybe it's sda5?) and I assume the last one is Ubuntu.

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said :
#7

Running the bootinfo script might reveal some more information.

Please try these terminal commands

sudo apt-get install boot-info-script
sudo bootinfoscript --stdout

Then select all output and copy/paste into http://pastebin.ubuntu.com

and finally post the link that you get on pastebin into this question document.

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#8

This is what happened when i ran that code:

ksousa@BAN-KSousa-Linux:~$ sudo apt-get install boot-info-script
[sudo] password for ksousa:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package boot-info-script
ksousa@BAN-KSousa-Linux:~$ sudo bootinfoscript --stdout
sudo: bootinfoscript: command not found

I believe I'm going to need to find a way to connect this computer to the internet and see if i can update the repositories or w.e is necessary. Any thoughts? Do i just need to install something?

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said :
#9

Sorry, I missed to realize that this computer is not connected to the internet.

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#10

I've opened up a new question here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-nettool/+question/264160 regarding my D-Link which is my only option for connecting to the internet; However, is there anything in the mean time that I can do to possibly make progress on this problem?

Also Thank you so much for the help so far hopefully we can figure this out and I can learn a tonne from the process :)

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#11

It has been suggested to me to upgrade to Vivid as a possible solution to my separate D-Link DWA-130 connecting to hidden network problem would this severely hinder the progress to a solution with Grub2 that we're working on here?

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said :
#12

An upgrade from one Ubuntu release to another one should not change anything on your grub question/problem.
Just as additional information; Ubuntu vivid is currently in development, and will be officially published in about a month's time.

Do you have the possibility to connect your system to the router with a LAN cable?

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#13

Okay I just wasn't sure whether installing a new Ubuntu OS via clean install would wipe grub.

And if the files are small I might be able to convince someone to let me use their mobile data via a hotspot. I conclude I need the internet connected before I can troubleshoot this problem any further? Would it be of any use if I was able to get the internet working on on of the Windows ( I presume not but just checking)?

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#14

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

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KSousa (kristamapher) said :
#15

Okay so I have now managed to connect my computer to the internet but I have upgraded to Ubuntu 15.10.

Here is the output of each of the codes you guys asked me to run from post #3 and #5:
http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/10856006/

and the ones from #7:
http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/10856021/

Let me know if we can still figure this out and sorry for the long delay.

Thanks,
KSousa

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#16

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.