Windows7 has been the talk of the town for quite a few months and it will be the favorites due to lower system usage than Vista.. Recently I gave the new Redmond OS a ride and found it reminiscent of Vista, in-addition to few cosmetic changes that it brings with it.



Well we are not here today to talk about what WIn7 is and what it does .This thread is for those people who intend to dual boot Windows 7 with any of the Linux Operating system.



Prerequisites : -

1. Windows 7 DVD
   
2. Any Linux distro with latest grub 0.99.x
   
3. A DVD/CD drive..
   

In this tutorial we will make Linux and Windows7 multi-boot in which Linux has been installed first.



Once you install Windows7 over any Linux installation, the Windows boot-loader will overwrite the existing grub boot loader and you will not get the Linux entry while booting you system.. In order to get a multi boot we have to restore the grub..



After installing Windows 7 over any linux distro. Insert the Linux Live Cd and boot through it. Once the desktop appears open the Terminal in Gnome or Konsole in kde . to open the respective command client you can either gain access from menu's or simply press ALT + F2 and type the following

Code:

 Gnome - gnome-terminal

KDE - konsole

This will open the command client in the respective desktop environment. Once it is open, we have to gain root privileges

Code:

 Debian based disto - sudo su root 

Rpm based distro - su -

After you have gain the desired privileges we will focus on restoring the grub and adding windows entries to it..



Type the following command as super user/root one by one

Code:

grub

find /boot/grub/stage1

This will show your Linux boot file location as following

Code:

 (hd0,1) # consider 0,1 as X,Y

Note the 1'st word 0 say X indicates the hdd entry number (hard disk number -1 ) in which you have installed Linux. For Example, if you have installed the Linux in hard-disk 1 the it will show the number as 0 and if you have installed in second hard-disk as set in BIOS then it will list the number as 1.



The second number output 1 say Y list the partition ( partition number -1) in which you have installed the distro..



Now once you get the numbers you have just to re-install the grub inorder to restore the default Linux boot manager

Code:

root(hd0,1) 

setup (hd0)

Note : Do not forget to replace the number with the output that you get..



Once we are done type quit and reboot the system in Linux.. Open the command client again [not in Live disc mode] and type the following commands after gaining root privileges..

Code:

 For Gnome user - gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst



KDE user - kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst

Add these lines at the end where other Linux entries are listed as well..

Code:

title Windows 7 (Loader)

root (hd0,0)

savedefault

makeactive

chainloader +1

Note : here first 0 indicate hard disk number -1 and second 0 indicate partition number -1.. I have installed Windows 7 in the first partition of my primary hard drive therefore the entries are shown as 0,0. It will vary with the partition and hard disk in which you have installed...

Ubuntu 9.10 Onwards : The Grub 2 Mumbo Jumbo

WIth the release of Ubuntu 9.10, the Canonical was quick to adapt with the venerable Grub2, even though the version 2 of the Gnu Bootloader is still under development the people behind ubuntu thought of including it even though its still not in final stage.



Since Ubuntu is one of the most popular distro out there, playing with Grub2 was an essential for almost all those who plan to use uBuntu, even if you don't plan to use it, getting something new under the hood isn't that bad ? Ain't it ?



To recover the grub after installing Windows over the Ubuntu installation, just follow these steps : -



1. Insert Ubuntu Disc 9.10 onward.

2. Enter sudo fdisk -l. Yo u will get output something similar to this :

Code:

shashwat@shashwat-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

[sudo] password for shashwat: 



Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x0009e36e



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1               1        4514    36258673+   7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda2            4515        8473    31800667+  83  Linux

/dev/sda3   *        8474       11802    26740192+  83  Linux

/dev/sda4           11803       77825   530329716+   5  Extended

/dev/sda5           11803       18800    56211403+  83  Linux

/dev/sda6           18801       48903   241802316   83  Linux

/dev/sda7           48904       63885   120342883+  83  Linux

/dev/sda8           63886       77518   109507041   83  Linux

/dev/sda9           77519       77825     2465946   82  Linux swap / Solaris

shashwat@shashwat-desktop:~$

Now my MBR is installed in the third partition of my hard disk. This means that the main booting parameters are stored here. In no sense this means that my Linux is installed in the same partition, the partition for linux installation can vary from the MBR partition. Just in case you don't rememebr the exact partition you can alway browse the partition using the inbuilt browser Nautilus in Ubuntu disc. Once you have got the partition located (say Ubuntu mount the partition as /media/disk) you can from here get the exact device status from df -h command.



4. df -h should show the following output

Code:

shashwat@shashwat-desktop:~$ sudo df -h

[sudo] password for shashwat: 

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/sda3              26G   22G  2.5G  90% /

udev                  1.9G  280K  1.9G   1% /dev

none                  1.9G  2.7M  1.9G   1% /dev/shm

none                  1.9G  328K  1.9G   1% /var/run

none                  1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /var/lock

none                  1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /lib/init/rw

/dev/sda7             115G   37G   79G  32% /media/hd0

/dev/sda6             231G  218G   13G  95% /media/hd1

/dev/sda8             105G   32G   73G  31% /media/hd2

/dev/sr0              683M  683M     0 100% /media/cdrom0

shashwat@shashwat-desktop:~$

Once you have got the exact partition under the belt its time for some mounting and installing.



5. Mount the partition using mount command. Make sure you umount all the partition before doing this.

Code:

 umount -a

Now mount that partition using mount command

Code:

mount /dev/sdaX /mnt

Here X refers to the partition number in which the linux (Ubuntu or distro with grub2 is installed). Replace sda with hda or whatever your fdisk -l or df -h output is.



Now install the grub again using the following command : -

Code:

grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

Once done just reboot and open ubuntu, incase your Windows entry is not showing just update the grub using

Code:

sudo update-grub

That is it . You have successfully dual boot Windows 7 and Linux in your machine..



This tutorial is also applicable in case where Windows is installed first. If some distro fails to add grub and windows entries you can use the above stated method to make a multi-boot solution...



I hope this tutorial helps you in multi-booting OS. You can multiboot any linux, windows or mac using the same procedure.



Please feel free to ask your doubts .



Also check : http://www.techenclave.com/guides-an...tu-137734.html



Regards

nice info !!