[gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

Hello,

I have real problem :-( On my laptop I have Gentoo and windows. At work I use
windows at home Gentoo. Now is the time to reinstall windows from the recovery
partition which is at end of the disk. I'm booting with GRUB which is in MBR.
So, in GRUB I have record for boot from recovery, but the recovery boot ends
with blue screen. I think the problem is that at the disk there are non
dos/wondows partitions and thus the recovery boot ends. And my problem is that
I'm not able to setup the recovery partition as bootable(active) and remove
all other partitions. I've used the fdisk, but it's not enough. Could someone
suggest a tool, which can help me to select bootable partition?

Thanks a lot !!!

     Pat
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Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Norberto Bensa]

pat wrote:
> it's not enough. Could someone suggest a tool, which can help me to select
> bootable partition?

What do you mean by "select bootable partition"?

-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Randy Barlow]

pat wrote:
> I've used the fdisk, but it's not enough. Could someone
> suggest a tool, which can help me to select bootable partition?

I'm not clear on this - did you type 'a' and select the recovery 
partition to make it bootable?  And did you set up grub to boot from 
that partition?  You probably need to use the chainloader command and 
such...

-- 
Randy Barlow
http://electronsweatshop.com

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people 
for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him 
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were 
not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received 
mercy, but now you have received mercy. ~1 Peter 2:9-10

-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:14:58 -0500, Randy Barlow wrote
> pat wrote:
> > I've used the fdisk, but it's not enough. Could someone
> > suggest a tool, which can help me to select bootable partition?
> 
> I'm not clear on this - did you type 'a' and select the recovery 
> partition to make it bootable?  And did you set up grub to boot from 
> that partition?  You probably need to use the chainloader command 
> and such...
> 
> -- 
> Randy Barlow
> http://electronsweatshop.com
> 
> But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a 
> people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the 
> excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his 
> marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's 
> people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received 
> mercy. ~1 Peter 2:9-10
> 
> -- 
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Hi,

Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot from
recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition bootable and
remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB configuration - and when
the /boot is removed then there's not possible to use GRUB, because of the
grub.conf, and that's why I need to set recovery partition bootable without GRUB.

Thanks a lot

     Pat
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 22:45:06 -0300, Norberto Bensa wrote
> pat wrote:
> > it's not enough. Could someone suggest a tool, which can help me to select
> > bootable partition?
> 
> What do you mean by "select bootable partition"?
> 
> -- 
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Hi,

Boot from this partition without GRUB, because I need to remove /boot
partition where the grub.conf is.

     Pat
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Neil Bothwick]

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Hello pat,

> Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot
> from recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition
> bootable and remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB
> configuration - and when the /boot is removed then there's not possible
> to use GRUB, because of the grub.conf, and that's why I need to set
> recovery partition bootable without GRUB.

Set the partition to be bootable in cfdisk, before removing the Linux
partitions.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Where the system is concerned, you're not allowed to ask `Why?'

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Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Mick]

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On Wednesday 04 July 2007 08:51, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> Hello pat,
>
> > Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot
> > from recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition
> > bootable and remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB
> > configuration - and when the /boot is removed then there's not possible
> > to use GRUB, because of the grub.conf, and that's why I need to set
> > recovery partition bootable without GRUB.
>
> Set the partition to be bootable in cfdisk, before removing the Linux
> partitions.

fdisk, cfdisk, etc. will all set the bootable flag.  The question is why do 
you need to remove a)grub, b)the /boot partition?  Is your Windows recovery 
partition script expecting Windows to be the first partition on the disk and 
you have moved it since installation?

Perhaps next time you'll use partimage with Gentoo to create a back up image 
of your Windows partition and so you will be able to restore it within 40 
minutes or so, depending on the speed of your machine.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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[SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:17:50 +0100, Mick wrote
> On Wednesday 04 July 2007 08:51, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > Hello pat,
> >
> > > Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot
> > > from recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition
> > > bootable and remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB
> > > configuration - and when the /boot is removed then there's not possible
> > > to use GRUB, because of the grub.conf, and that's why I need to set
> > > recovery partition bootable without GRUB.
> >
> > Set the partition to be bootable in cfdisk, before removing the Linux
> > partitions.
> 
> fdisk, cfdisk, etc. will all set the bootable flag.  The question is 
> why do you need to remove a)grub, b)the /boot partition?  Is your 
> Windows recovery partition script expecting Windows to be the first 
> partition on the disk and you have moved it since installation?
> 
> Perhaps next time you'll use partimage with Gentoo to create a back 
> up image of your Windows partition and so you will be able to 
> restore it within 40 minutes or so, depending on the speed of your machine.

Well, the recovery process requires whole disk space and "clear" MBR. Yes,
right now I've 'dd'ed fresh windows installation and next reinstall should be
really fast - expect 15 minutes instead of the whole day ;-)

Some information what I've used to remove GRUB from MBR. In windows (don't
beat me) there are tools 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' and Ive used them.

Probably last question: When I've tried to set the recovery partition 'active'
in fdisk, the system still boots from the GRUB and not from the 'active'
partition ... I think I've did it wrong, did I?

Thanks to all for help.

     Pat
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Mick]

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On Tuesday 10 July 2007 10:09, pat wrote:
> On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:17:50 +0100, Mick wrote
>
> > On Wednesday 04 July 2007 08:51, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > > Hello pat,
> > >
> > > > Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot
> > > > from recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition
> > > > bootable and remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB
> > > > configuration - and when the /boot is removed then there's not
> > > > possible to use GRUB, because of the grub.conf, and that's why I need
> > > > to set recovery partition bootable without GRUB.
> > >
> > > Set the partition to be bootable in cfdisk, before removing the Linux
> > > partitions.
> >
> > fdisk, cfdisk, etc. will all set the bootable flag.  The question is
> > why do you need to remove a)grub, b)the /boot partition?  Is your
> > Windows recovery partition script expecting Windows to be the first
> > partition on the disk and you have moved it since installation?
> >
> > Perhaps next time you'll use partimage with Gentoo to create a back
> > up image of your Windows partition and so you will be able to
> > restore it within 40 minutes or so, depending on the speed of your
> > machine.
>
> Well, the recovery process requires whole disk space and "clear" MBR. Yes,
> right now I've 'dd'ed fresh windows installation and next reinstall should
> be really fast - expect 15 minutes instead of the whole day ;-)
>
> Some information what I've used to remove GRUB from MBR. In windows (don't
> beat me) there are tools 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' and Ive used them.
>
> Probably last question: When I've tried to set the recovery partition
> 'active' in fdisk, the system still boots from the GRUB and not from the
> 'active' partition ... I think I've did it wrong, did I?

fixmbr will replace GRUB's boot code in the mbr with ntldr's (WinXP).  fixboot 
will replace the partition boot sector code with WinXP's.  You'll need to run 
the former on the drive and the latter on the partition in which the WinXP 
installation existed.  Not sure if you would need to run fixboot on your 
recovery partition, but I don't know how your 'recovery partition' works.  
Does it contain a complete image of your WinXP partition?  Usually, the 
conventional WinXP recovery partition only contains certain libs & 
configuration files, not a complete installation.  

> Thanks to all for help.

You're welcome.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Dan Farrell]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:09:07 +0200
"pat" <pat@xvalheru.org> wrote:
> Some information what I've used to remove GRUB from MBR. In windows
> (don't beat me) there are tools 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' and Ive used
> them.
You could try 'fdisk /mbr' from windows command line.  That should
replace your MBR with one which simply passess boot process off to
the active partition, which is -- i believe -- how windows does it.  
But, read on.  

> Probably last question: When I've tried to set the recovery partition
> 'active' in fdisk, the system still boots from the GRUB and not from
> the 'active' partition ... I think I've did it wrong, did I?

The boot process from a hard drive looks something like
Power button -> BIOS -> mbr boot -> partition boot -> OS init.

chances are that GRUB is on the mbr so the recovery partition's boot
record is never used.  Have you considered using GRUB to boot the
partition like you would a windows partition?  that would look
something like 
| # boot this partition's boot record
| rootnoverify (hd0,2) # corresponds to 1st hard drive ,3rd partition. 
|	       # set to your recovery partition instead.
| makeactive
| chainloader  +1
that, I think, will do about the same thing as 'fdisk /mbr' from
windoze but avoids the hosing of GRUB, which is actually a wonderfully
flexible and useful bootloader compared to the 'active partition'
scheme of windoze.  
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:34:28 -0500, Dan Farrell wrote
> On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:09:07 +0200
> "pat" <pat@xvalheru.org> wrote:
> > Some information what I've used to remove GRUB from MBR. In windows
> > (don't beat me) there are tools 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' and Ive used
> > them.
> You could try 'fdisk /mbr' from windows command line.  That should
> replace your MBR with one which simply passess boot process off to
> the active partition, which is -- i believe -- how windows does it.  
> But, read on.
> 
> > Probably last question: When I've tried to set the recovery partition
> > 'active' in fdisk, the system still boots from the GRUB and not from
> > the 'active' partition ... I think I've did it wrong, did I?
> 
> The boot process from a hard drive looks something like
> Power button -> BIOS -> mbr boot -> partition boot -> OS init.
> 
> chances are that GRUB is on the mbr so the recovery partition's boot
> record is never used.  Have you considered using GRUB to boot the
> partition like you would a windows partition?  that would look
> something like 

Yes, I've booted recovery partition from the GRUB (using cfg below), but the
recovery process replace whole disk with one big windows partition, so the
GRUB "configuration" partition (partition with /boot/grub/grub.cfg) is removed
and it doesn't update MBR to boot from active partition ... .

Thanks.

> | # boot this partition's boot record
> | rootnoverify (hd0,2) # corresponds to 1st hard drive ,3rd 
> partition. |	       # set to your recovery partition instead. | makeactive
> | chainloader  +1
> that, I think, will do about the same thing as 'fdisk /mbr' from
> windoze but avoids the hosing of GRUB, which is actually a 
> wonderfully flexible and useful bootloader compared to the 'active partition'
> scheme of windoze.  

-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[pat]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:51:30 +0100, Mick wrote
> On Tuesday 10 July 2007 10:09, pat wrote:
> > On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:17:50 +0100, Mick wrote
> >
> > > On Wednesday 04 July 2007 08:51, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > > > Hello pat,
> > > >
> > > > > Problem is that when there're any non dos/windows partitions the boot
> > > > > from recovery partition failed. So, I need to set recovery partition
> > > > > bootable and remove all other partitions including /boot with GRUB
> > > > > configuration - and when the /boot is removed then there's not
> > > > > possible to use GRUB, because of the grub.conf, and that's why I need
> > > > > to set recovery partition bootable without GRUB.
> > > >
> > > > Set the partition to be bootable in cfdisk, before removing the Linux
> > > > partitions.
> > >
> > > fdisk, cfdisk, etc. will all set the bootable flag.  The question is
> > > why do you need to remove a)grub, b)the /boot partition?  Is your
> > > Windows recovery partition script expecting Windows to be the first
> > > partition on the disk and you have moved it since installation?
> > >
> > > Perhaps next time you'll use partimage with Gentoo to create a back
> > > up image of your Windows partition and so you will be able to
> > > restore it within 40 minutes or so, depending on the speed of your
> > > machine.
> >
> > Well, the recovery process requires whole disk space and "clear" MBR. Yes,
> > right now I've 'dd'ed fresh windows installation and next reinstall should
> > be really fast - expect 15 minutes instead of the whole day ;-)
> >
> > Some information what I've used to remove GRUB from MBR. In windows (don't
> > beat me) there are tools 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' and Ive used them.
> >
> > Probably last question: When I've tried to set the recovery partition
> > 'active' in fdisk, the system still boots from the GRUB and not from the
> > 'active' partition ... I think I've did it wrong, did I?
> 
> fixmbr will replace GRUB's boot code in the mbr with ntldr's (WinXP)
> .  fixboot will replace the partition boot sector code with WinXP's. 
>  You'll need to run the former on the drive and the latter on the 
> partition in which the WinXP installation existed.  Not sure if you 
> would need to run fixboot on your recovery partition, but I don't 
> know how your 'recovery partition' works.  Does it contain a 
> complete image of your WinXP partition?  Usually, the conventional 
> WinXP recovery partition only contains certain libs & configuration 
> files, not a complete installation.

This one contains full WinXP install ... :-\

> 
> > Thanks to all for help.
> 
> You're welcome.
> -- 
> Regards,
> Mick

-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [SOLVED] Re: [gentoo-user] selecting boot(active?) partition

[Mick]

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On Thursday 12 July 2007 09:20, pat wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:51:30 +0100, Mick wrote

> > fixmbr will replace GRUB's boot code in the mbr with ntldr's (WinXP)
> > .  fixboot will replace the partition boot sector code with WinXP's.
> >  You'll need to run the former on the drive and the latter on the
> > partition in which the WinXP installation existed.  Not sure if you
> > would need to run fixboot on your recovery partition, but I don't
> > know how your 'recovery partition' works.  Does it contain a
> > complete image of your WinXP partition?  Usually, the conventional
> > WinXP recovery partition only contains certain libs & configuration
> > files, not a complete installation.
>
> This one contains full WinXP install ... :-\

In the future you may want to have a look at partimage.  I always create an 
image after I install MS Windows on a machine.  I set passwds, run all MS 
Windows upgrades, shut down all unnecessary services, close open ports, 
configure the firewall, install any drivers and then burn an image which is 
my back-2-basics backup.  I always keep users' data files on separate 
partition(s) and these are backed up separately.  Should things go south in 
the future, I format the partition and upload the image to it.  Then it's 
simply a matter of reinstalling applications.  In this way, I do not have to 
a)have MS Windows on the first partition, or even the first disk; b)hose my 
Gentoo installation because MS Windows proprietary recovery solutions are 
disrespectful of any other OS, or prior installation; c)hose Grub which is 
significantly superior to NTLDR; d)mess up previous MS Windows OS 
installations (e.g. DOS, Win98, Win2K) because WinXP overwrites their boot 
partition and bootfiles.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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