[ubuntu-uk] dual boot

[Matthew Daubney]

On 11/27/07, norman <norman at littletank.org> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 2007-11-26 at 22:37 +0000, alan c wrote:
> > norman wrote:
> > > I am thinking of adding a second hard drive to my PC on which I would
> > > have Windows for those very few occasions when I need it, like playing
> > > Bridge with my brother. Assuming that is possible what snags should I be
> > > aware of please?
> >
> > If you have just ubuntu on it at present, and then install windows
> > later, wherever, I think all you have to do is re install grub using a
> > live CD and a cli grub sequence in order to reinstate grub after
> > windows installer has overwritten the master boot record. If you do
> > not do this, ubuntu will not normally be available from a boot up menu
> > (grub)
>
> Perhaps I was not clear enough. I do not intend to install Windows on
> the same drive as Ubuntu but on another drive. I understand about one of
> the drives being master and the other slave but does it matter which is
> which?
>
> Norman
>
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
>

One of your drives will contain the Master Book Record (or MBR) this
is the bit which tells your computer what to load at start up. If you
install Windows onto a seperate hard drive it overwrites the MBR  so
that only Windows will boot. To fix this you have to boot into a live
cd, and then get grub to reinstall the MBR so that you can boot from
either PC.

Some computers allow you to select the device you boot from when you
switch it on (on my HP machine you push F6 I think and it gives you a
list of drives), however most I have played this don't let you do
that.

Before I switched entirely to linux, I had several machines that where
dual boots, with windows on one hd and linux on a seperate hd. The MBR
thing can be a pain, but if you follow the Grub instructions someone
else gave you when you had a previous windows problem (with your
daughter/grand daughters machine?) this should allow you to replace
grub after installing windows on your other hd.

It's a bit confusing (confused the hell out of me for a while) but
that's the way it is, unfortunatley. Hope that helps a little......

-Matt Daubney