Help on triple boot: Ubuntu, Win 7, XP.

[GoFigureItOut]

I'm trying to triple boot my laptop for the first time. I started off with just Windows 7, and I installed Ubuntu 11.04. All went well from the dual-booting aspect. After installing Windows XP, I had to use Boot Repair, so grub will be the default boot loader. The only way I can boot into XP is selecting Windows 7 from the grub menu, then choose XP from Windows 7 boot manager. How can I add XP to Ubuntu boot menu? I've tried editing /etc/default/grub and using os-prober to no avail. Basically, I want to be able to use XP without going through Windows 7. I read some where that you can manually add entries, but I have no idea as to where. It goes something like this:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[newtekie1]

You can't, AFAIK, you have to select Win7, which initiates the Windows boot loader and then select between the different versions of Windows from there.

[temp02]

AFAIK

sudo update-grub

should pick both windows versions, as long as they reside on different partitions.

BTW, can you post the result of

sudo os-prober

?

[GoFigureItOut]

Originally Posted by temp02

AFAIK

sudo update-grub

should pick both windows versions, as long as they reside on different partitions.

BTW, can you post the result of

sudo os-prober

?

Here's the results from os-prober.

/dev/sda1:Windows 7: (loader):Windows:chain

update-grub finds only Linux and Windows 7; Windows XP resides on /dev/sda2

[temp02]

Since os-prober doesn't pick it up you can always add it to 40_custom and it will be added to grub.cfg every time update-grub is executed (these manual entries will be added after the entries found by os-prober during the update-grub process).

So

cd /etc/grub.d/
sudo gedit 40_custom

and paste the following on the end of the file (don't delete the top content of the file, also this is based on XP being on NTFS sda2)

menuentry "Windows XP" --class windows --class os {
	set root=(hd0,2)
	insmod ntfs
	chainloader +1
}

save and close GEdit.
After that, run

sudo update-grub

reboot and see if it works.
Good luck.

[GoFigureItOut]

Originally Posted by temp02

Since os-prober doesn't pick it up you can always add it to 40_custom and it will be added to grub.cfg every time update-grub is executed (these manual entries will be added after the entries found by os-prober during the update-grub process).

So

cd /etc/grub.d/
sudo gedit 40_custom

and paste the following on the end of the file (don't delete the top content of the file, also this is based on XP being on NTFS sda2)

menuentry "Windows XP" --class windows --class os {
	set root=(hd0,2)
	insmod ntfs
	chainloader +1
}

save and close GEdit.
After that, run

sudo update-grub

reboot and see if it works.
Good luck.

I followed your steps and successfully created the "Windows XP" entry on grub boot menu, but when booting from grub, I get NTLDR is missing error. However, when I select XP from Windows boot manager; it works. I'm assuming it has been overwritten by Windows 7. Does it matter in which particular order you install the OS'es? I installed in this order: Win 7, Unbutu, XP.

[temp02]

It errors at "missing NTLDR" because Windows XP boot loader wasn't installed on the partition with XP itself, so it relies on the Windows 7 loader. You might wanna do this:

• Boot Ubuntu;
• Run

  sudo apt-get install gparted

  then run it

  sudo gparted

• And you should see that the Windows 7 partition has a flag indicating that it is a boot partition, remove that flag;
• Reinstall Windows XP on sda2 (now XP should install its loader on sda2 too);
• Test if XP boots from GRUB;
• After this restore the boot flag on the 7 partition and test all OSs;

I remember doing something like this long time ago (Longhorn/Vista early days), but it was with two different HDDs so it was "kinda" easier.
Good luck.

[GoFigureItOut]

Originally Posted by temp02

It errors at "missing NTLDR" because Windows XP boot loader wasn't installed on the partition with XP itself, so it relies on the Windows 7 loader. You might wanna do this:

• Boot Ubuntu;
• Run

  sudo apt-get install gparted

  then run it

  sudo gparted

• And you should see that the Windows 7 partition has a flag indicating that it is a boot partition, remove that flag;
• Reinstall Windows XP on sda2 (now XP should install its loader on sda2 too);
• Test if XP boots from GRUB;
• After this restore the boot flag on the 7 partition and test all OSs;

I remember doing something like this long time ago (Longhorn/Vista early days), but it was with two different HDDs so it was "kinda" easier.
Good luck.

I did exactly what you said and came up with the same results. It doesn't really matter, though. It's just a slight inconvenience that I can overlook. However, I will remember the steps and commands your provided me for future reference. I appreciate your time and effort in helping me with this matter. One last question. Is it possible to have the following OS'es: Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Home Server, all without conflicts?