Ubuntu

I need a programme to make every partition had on it operating system have a single boot

Asked by GODSMACK

I need a programme to make every partition had on it operating system have a single boot like if it was in different hard disk not on the same hard hard disk but they are in the same hard disk

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Shriramana Sharma
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Shriramana Sharma (jamadagni) said : 		#1

Please can you clarify? As far as I understand, you have many partitions on your hard disk, and each partition has a different operating system. Now what do you want after this?

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GODSMACK (godsmack-dmx) said : 		#2

I got a 160 hard disk and it 3 partitions ok
first partition got on it windows xp and the second partition got on it ubuntu 8.04 ok

i want a programme that make every operating system have a single boot , for clarify : windows xp is unstable so that nearly every 4 or 5 months i setup it because xp have fall down and make too many error so i setup again and again and every time xp cancel the boot of ubuntu so i have to setup ubuntu as well as i setup xp .

so i need a programme to make every partition have operating system on it have single boot away from the other operating system that was on the other partition.

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GODSMACK (godsmack-dmx) said : 		#3

I got a 160 hard disk and it 3 partitions ok
first partition got on it windows xp and the second partition got on it ubuntu 8.04 ok

i want a programme that make every operating system have a single boot , for clarify : windows xp is unstable so that nearly every 4 or 5 months i setup it because xp have fall down and make too many error so i setup again and again and every time xp cancel the boot of ubuntu so i have to setup ubuntu as well as i setup xp .

so i need a programme to make every partition have operating system on it have single boot away from the other operating system that was on the other partition.

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Best Shriramana Sharma (jamadagni) said : 		#4

OK right now that is much better.

1. if you re-install Windows, it will overwrite your Ubuntu bootloader (called GRUB) - you can't do anything about that unless you buy Microsoft. ;)

2. after re-installing Windows, it usually does not overwrite Ubuntu itself (unless you told the Windows installer to format the Ubuntu partition) so you really don't need to re-install Ubuntu. All you need to do is, boot from an Ubuntu CD and do grub-install /dev/sda (or whatever device name your HDD has in your version of Ubuntu). This will re-install GRUB, an re-enable you to boot Ubuntu. There are more technical ways of doing this in a slicker manner, but you can kill you machine with them so I won't talk of them. (To others: using dd to backup the boot sector and restoring it after re-installing Windows is the more technical method.)

3. A good suggestion for maintaining Windows which I myself follow is to use partimage (do sudo apt-get install partimage for installing it and read http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page and all relevant FAQs before using it) to save a stable, working snapshot of your Windows partition. When you are sure that you have a clean stable working Windows installation, use partimage to save this partition to a file (which will occupy a few GBs) on your Linux partition. When Windows goes kaput, use partimage to restore this stable snapshot to your Windows partition. This way, you regain a stable system very quickly compared to setting up Windows and all the applications you were using on it. Of course, your Windows install will be a little out of date (since the snapshot was taken some time back) so don't forget to update your antivirus database etc.

4. so there is no programme to make every OS have a "single boot". You have one computer, and one computer means one boot menu. You are asking for a separate boot menu for each OS. This is not possible. At least with Ubuntu and other Linux variants, you can have the GRUB (boot loader) installed to the individual partition but Windows will automatically install its own boot loader to the Master Boot Record of your HDD, so it does not peacefully co-exist with other OSs (just like its creator, Microsoft).

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peter b (b1pete) said : 		#5

hello GODSMACK.

just a little piece of info

- first, on a clean, free of any partitions hd ALWAYS install windows FIRST ON THE FIRST PRI partition of hd, why? win boot record CAN NOT be inst BUT on MBR that's the way it's built; moreover, pls do not install linux/ubuntu IF win after install IS NOT PERFORMING flawlessly --> linux is v strict and precise when it comes to partitioning --> it'll check at every boot the other partitions validity

- second, UBUNTU CAN be installed on ANY type of partition be it first, second etc primary partition OR logical/volumes of EXTENDED partitions, however, --> this is v important!!

   - if you DUAL BOOT and win installed as above, UBUNTU AT INSTALL TIME MUST BE DIRECTED to install grub to THE / (or /boot) partition OTHERWISE grub default install is MBR and will overwrite win's boot record. watch v CAREFULLY the partition options at install time --> hint, I'm always using the alternate CD for install.

- third, your desire to have each os it's own boot item displayed to pick and choose --> good news, see url below for BootitNG, it has a trial time of 30 days, if you like it and want to keep it is some $30-40. Iit does much much more than that, I'm using it for years

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm

good luck,

peter b

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GODSMACK (godsmack-dmx) said : 		#6

Thanks Shriramana Sharma, that solved my question.