SSD migration boot option problem

Mon Feb 25 15:52:15 UTC 2013

On 25-Feb-13 21:59:18 Nils Kassube wrote:
>Am Montag, 25. Februar 2013, 11:52:57 schrieb lazer100:
>> On 25-Feb-13 11:18:49 Nils Kassube wrote:
>> >title         Windows XP
>> >root          (hd0,4)
>> >makeactive
>> >chainloader   +1
>> 
>> ok, I'll try this,
>> 
>> the second number 4, is that the volume number minus 1?

>Yes.

>> and are sda,sdb,sdc,... the numbers 0,1,2,... for the first number?

>Yes.

>> what does the chainloader mean?

>Sorry, I don't know the answer - I just took the example and modified it 
>for sda5.

>> >> and where in the list can this go? anywhere?
>> >
>> >There is a hint in menu.lst:
>> >
>> ># Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST
>> >
>> >If you adhere to that advice, your manual entry should survive
>> >upgrades.
>> can I put it where the commented out example is?

>Yes.

>> I just wonder if they could put all the boot partitions, with
>> the ones they dont want active commented out with #

>What do you mean with "they"? The automagic kernel list is generated by 
>update-grub which is run by installation scripts e.g. for installing new 
>kernel packages. Your problem seems to be that the update-grub script 
>only finds a single Windows partition.

what I meant was the people who wrote the scripts that generate
/boot/grub/menu.lst

>> the full menu.lst follows, but I have replaced some of the UUID's by
>> zeros in case that is confidential,

>UUIDs are not confidential - they are just random numbers. They are used 
>to identify individual file systems because the device names (sda, sdb, 
>etc.) are not guaranteed to be the same after a reboot. While you should 
>not post your passwords, I would recommend to post the original UUIDs. 
>Then it might be easier to determine if there are errors in your 
>configuration.

ok, in future I wont redact the UUIDs

>> titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic

>I hope you are aware that this is an ancient Ubuntu version for which 
>the support has ended nearly 3 years ago ...

yes, but I prefer it to later versions, and it has everything that I need!

later versions are becoming more like Windows,

There is still a problem, I made the change, see below for the 
modified /boot/grub/menu.lst

By the way can I attach files on this list, or do they have to be 
included in the text?

what happens now, is that the new boot option appears, but when
I boot from it, I get the following error:

Error 12: Invalid device requested
press any key to continue...

which then returns back to the boot options.

I think the problem is that I have installed Windows XP to 
a logical partition, and grub probably only recognizes
OS's in the 3 or 4 top level partitions.

But Windows XP installation accepted a logical volume for the
installation, and it booted fine from this.

the reason I installed XP from a logical partition, is
that would allow me to have 3 Ubuntus and several XP's installed
from one drive. Ubuntu I think can only be installed
from a top level partition.

as there are a maximum of 4 top level partitions, and
a swap partition is necessary for Linux, if you 
only use top level partitions you can only have at most
3 OS's. 

But by using logical volumes for Windows, I could have
3 Ubuntus, eg 32 bit, 64 bit, and a scratch installation
in case I lose the boot options,

volume 1: Ubuntu 32
volume 2: Ubuntu 64
volume 3: Ubuntu 32 scratch version to retrieve boot options
volume 4: extended partition:
   volume 5: Ubuntu swap partition
   volume 6: Windows
   volume 7: Windows
   volume 8: Windows
   ....

I probably have to reinstall everything from scratch 
with the OS's all to top level partitions, right now
I have lost the solid state logical drive XP installation

the new /boot/grub/menu.lst is:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default
entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# titleWindows 95/98/NT/2000
# root(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader+1
#
# titleLinux
# root(hd0,1)
# kernel/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747
kernel/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747 ro quiet splash 
initrd/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747
kernel/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747 ro  single
initrd/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

titleUbuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid5504e82b-69d0-4878-bb94-9ae462b50747
kernel/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
titleOther operating systems:
root

# sda5, see 20130225 email
titleWindows XP Bristol
root(hd0,4)
makeactive
chainloader+1

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sdb1
titleMicrosoft Windows XP Home Edition
root(hd1,0)
savedefault
map(hd0) (hd1)
map(hd1) (hd0)
chainloader+1

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb3.
titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (on /dev/sdb3)
root(hd1,2)
kernel/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=9c08a8cf-8bf2-4179-95e2-51b53c5140fb ro quiet splash 
initrd/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb3.
titleUbuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdb3)
root(hd1,2)
kernel/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=9c08a8cf-8bf2-4179-95e2-51b53c5140fb ro single 
initrd/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb3.
titleUbuntu 8.10, memtest86+ (on /dev/sdb3)
root(hd1,2)
kernel/boot/memtest86+.bin  
savedefault
boot