Ubuntu
grub package

lost option to boot Windows XP after upgrade to ubuntu 10.04

Asked by phil7784

I upgraded from ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 and cannot now get to Windows XP. Previously XP was the first option when the grub menu appeared. Now it is gone completely. Looking at my menu.lst file I see the section I need to be active but cannot edit the file - it is marked "read only". I just want to uncomment the few lines at the end of menu.lst so Windows XP will appear again as a choice. How can I do this? My system has one HDD with multiple partitions, one of which is devoted to Linux

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Ubuntu grub Edit question
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arjun
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Best arjun (arjunak01) said : 		#1

try running sudo update-grub in a terminal. if you need to edit any system files you need to open it using the command gksudo gedit /path/to/file/

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arjun (arjunak01) said : 		#2

or press ALT F2 and then type gksudo nautilus. but be careful when using it and always backup your file before editing

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Goh Lip (gohlip) said : 		#3

Sorry to interject, Arjun, but 10.04 is using grub2, not grub-legacy, so Phil will not be able to do anything to menu.lst. The file should be grub.cfg. Anyway, if Phil can boot to Ubuntu 10.04 and he didn't say he cannot, at terminal, do "sudo grub-install /dev/sda" if he is on grub2 and he should 'see' windows in the menu option.

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arjun (arjunak01) said : 		#4

grub2 might be already installed in his pc, only the 'windows' entry is missing, he can fix it by running update-grub, he doesn't need to reinstall grub

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Goh Lip (gohlip) said : 		#5

Beg to differ, since he cannot 'see' windows in grub, meaning it is not in the device map.
He can do 'sudo grub-mkdevicemap', then 'sudo update-grub' to handle this, but 'grub-install' covers all of these in one command.

Nevertheless, whether you or I are right, let's just get Phil's computer working. That would be the main objective. Take care.

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Goh Lip (gohlip) said : 		#6

Beg to differ, since he cannot 'see' windows in grub, meaning it is not in the device map.
He can do 'sudo grub-mkdevicemap', then 'sudo update-grub' to handle this, but 'grub-install' covers all of these in one command.

Nevertheless, whether you or I are right, let's just get Phil's computer working. That would be the main objective. Take care.

Revision history for this message
Goh Lip (gohlip) said : 		#7

Beg to differ, since he cannot 'see' windows in grub, meaning it is not in the device map.
He can do 'sudo grub-mkdevicemap', then 'sudo update-grub' to handle this, but 'grub-install' covers all of these in one command.

Nevertheless, whether you or I are right, let's just get Phil's computer working. That would be the main objective. Take care.

Revision history for this message
phil7784 (phil7784) said : 		#8

Thanks arjun, that solved my question.

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phil7784 (phil7784) said : 		#9

Thank you all. I was able to edit and get installation working.