[opensuse] Older install won't boot
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. I used this setup to migrate from one install to another over time, keeping everything under / on each separate partition. The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2. So to separate the 2 different issues. 1. Originally after a new clean install of 12.3, the 11.4 install worked fine and I had that set as the boot default. I seem to recall I had to manually set Grub2 to boot the 11.4 install but got that working. The 12.1 installed worked fine. After some time, the 11.4 install would not always boot, giving an error stating: "booting openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) (on /dev/sda5) error: file /vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop not found error: you need to load the kernel first. Press any key to continue..." The thing is, sometimes it would boot, other times not. But it has not booted in a long time now. Many months. 2. As stated the 12.3 install was working fine. Recently, after I select that install to boot in the Grub2 menu, it says 'doing fast boot', then proceeds, but does not get past the green bush with Cammie on it. It starts out muted green and gets brighter, but never proceeds past that. I suspect that this is a disk issue. I ran Spinrite on it to check the physical disk on that partition and all the others on that drive, no issues shown. I booted the opensuse 12.3 install disk, and ran rescue system and ran 'e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sda6' which says that the file system was modified. System still did not boot. I ran e2fsck twice again, the first showed file system modified, second time not, but it still won't boot, hangs in process as before. Both partitions are EXT4. I do have /dev/sda5 set to mount on boot of the 12.3 install, as well as another physical drive, not sure if this could freeze the boot process or not. Most of my files are on the 11.4 install partition, and I intend to overwrite the 12.3 install with leap 42, but wanted to get either install to boot to look around first. Any pointers most welcome. Thanks, Jim F -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 08:09:35PM -0600, Jim Flanagan wrote:
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. I used this setup to migrate from one install to another over time, keeping everything under / on each separate partition.
The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2.
So to separate the 2 different issues.
1. Originally after a new clean install of 12.3, the 11.4 install worked fine and I had that set as the boot default. I seem to recall I had to manually set Grub2 to boot the 11.4 install but got that working. The 12.1 installed worked fine. After some time, the 11.4 install would not always boot, giving an error stating:
"booting openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) (on /dev/sda5) error: file /vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop not found error: you need to load the kernel first.
Press any key to continue..."
The thing is, sometimes it would boot, other times not. But it has not booted in a long time now. Many months.
Did you check the kernel file (vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop) is really there on your boot partition (/dev/sda5)? The messages suggested that it's booting a menu entry with title created by os-prober. The menu entry won't update with your openSUSE 11.4 kernel update as that happens without any notice to the 12.3. You may need to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg from 12.3 to have os-prober to rescan 11.4's boot config and obtain the updated new kernel file to get it corrected. Thanks, Michael -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Michael Chang composed on 2016-02-24 12:43 (UTC+0800):
Did you check the kernel file (vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop) is really there on your boot partition (/dev/sda5)?
The messages suggested that it's booting a menu entry with title created by os-prober. The menu entry won't update with your openSUSE 11.4 kernel update as that happens without any notice to the 12.3. You may need to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg from 12.3 to have os-prober to rescan 11.4's boot config and obtain the updated new kernel file to get it corrected.
If the Grub2 menu would automatically use the always-existing-on-openSUSE-installations kernel and initrd symlinks for the alien installations then it wouldn't matter what kernel versions they were using - no updates would be needed on account of updates on alien installations. Chainloading their native bootloaders should work just as well. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 03:41:17AM -0500, Felix Miata wrote:
Michael Chang composed on 2016-02-24 12:43 (UTC+0800):
Did you check the kernel file (vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop) is really there on your boot partition (/dev/sda5)?
The messages suggested that it's booting a menu entry with title created by os-prober. The menu entry won't update with your openSUSE 11.4 kernel update as that happens without any notice to the 12.3. You may need to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg from 12.3 to have os-prober to rescan 11.4's boot config and obtain the updated new kernel file to get it corrected.
If the Grub2 menu would automatically use the always-existing-on-openSUSE-installations kernel and initrd symlinks for the alien installations then it wouldn't matter what kernel versions they were using - no updates would be needed on account of updates on alien installations. Chainloading their native bootloaders should work just as well.
But how to know the bootargs for those symlinks if they are not in use ? And chainloading may not always succeed as many distribution out there won't install stage1 on volume boot record and setup may also go pretty wild (for eg, the setup would put stage1 in extended partition in order to be chainloaded by mbr, rather than in any one of those logical partitions). Thanks, Michael
-- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Michael Chang composed on 2016-02-25 12:23 (UTC+0800):
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 03:41:17AM -0500, Felix Miata wrote:
If the Grub2 menu would automatically use the always-existing-on-openSUSE-installations kernel and initrd symlinks for the alien installations then it wouldn't matter what kernel versions they were using - no updates would be needed on account of updates on alien installations. Chainloading their native bootloaders should work just as well.
But how to know the bootargs for those symlinks if they are not in use ?
[all I write following presumes BIOS booting] How does os-prober know them? I would expect any yast dev who actually understands Grub2 to be able to come up with a procedure that works. :-) In multiboot, how much does it matter? Keep booting what is bootable until those appropriate can be determined and configured, much easier from installed system boot than typical rescue boot situations.
And chainloading may not always succeed
And on any given day your wife might burn your toast. Nobody guarantees marriage is anything like easy, much less guaranteed. :-) Multiboot can't be guaranteed simple either; not yet at least - maybe someday EFI will make it so. :-p
as many distribution out there won't install stage1 on volume boot record and setup may also go pretty wild (for eg, the setup would put stage1 in extended partition in order to be chainloaded by mbr, rather than in any one of those logical partitions).
That's why the general rule here is bootloader goes where I choose to put it, or nowhere at all. More KISS policy here includes having most booting done via Grub installed by me from Grub prompt, and from boot menu configured by myself using mcedit, without calling on any scripts. Using symlinks works just fine as long as os-prober and other Grub2 utils don't get a chance to tangle with them. e.g., all my Fedora installations made after 12.3 was released are being booted using binary content from 13.1's grub-0.97-194.1.2.i586.rpm (IIRC - there may be one or two using 42.1's 0.97). -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2/23/16 10:43 PM, Michael Chang wrote:
On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 08:09:35PM -0600, Jim Flanagan wrote:
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. I used this setup to migrate from one install to another over time, keeping everything under / on each separate partition.
The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2.
So to separate the 2 different issues.
1. Originally after a new clean install of 12.3, the 11.4 install worked fine and I had that set as the boot default. I seem to recall I had to manually set Grub2 to boot the 11.4 install but got that working. The 12.1 installed worked fine. After some time, the 11.4 install would not always boot, giving an error stating:
"booting openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) (on /dev/sda5) error: file /vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop not found error: you need to load the kernel first.
Press any key to continue..."
The thing is, sometimes it would boot, other times not. But it has not booted in a long time now. Many months.
Did you check the kernel file (vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop) is really there on your boot partition (/dev/sda5)?
The messages suggested that it's booting a menu entry with title created by os-prober. The menu entry won't update with your openSUSE 11.4 kernel update as that happens without any notice to the 12.3. You may need to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg from 12.3 to have os-prober to rescan 11.4's boot config and obtain the updated new kernel file to get it corrected.
Thanks, Michael
Sounds reasonable. Once I get 12.3 to boot I'll try it. Although I might just overwrite 12.3 with a clean install of Leap 42.1. I do need to keep 11.4 until I get my files off that one. Thanks, Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2/23/16 10:43 PM, Michael Chang wrote:
On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 08:09:35PM -0600, Jim Flanagan wrote:
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. I used this setup to migrate from one install to another over time, keeping everything under / on each separate partition.
The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2.
So to separate the 2 different issues.
1. Originally after a new clean install of 12.3, the 11.4 install worked fine and I had that set as the boot default. I seem to recall I had to manually set Grub2 to boot the 11.4 install but got that working. The 12.1 installed worked fine. After some time, the 11.4 install would not always boot, giving an error stating:
"booting openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) (on /dev/sda5) error: file /vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop not found error: you need to load the kernel first.
Press any key to continue..."
The thing is, sometimes it would boot, other times not. But it has not booted in a long time now. Many months.
Did you check the kernel file (vmlinuz-3.0.101-71-desktop) is really there on your boot partition (/dev/sda5)?
The messages suggested that it's booting a menu entry with title created by os-prober. The menu entry won't update with your openSUSE 11.4 kernel update as that happens without any notice to the 12.3. You may need to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg from 12.3 to have os-prober to rescan 11.4's boot config and obtain the updated new kernel file to get it corrected.
Thanks, Michael
So I did a clean install of opensuse 13.2, reformatting the partition that the 12.3 install was on. That got that partition booting to a running install, and, that installation found the 11.4 install and made an option for it in grub2. Both are booting fine now. The new installation did it on its own, no need for me to adjust anything. Thanks, Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-25 05:49, Jim Flanagan wrote:
So I did a clean install of opensuse 13.2, reformatting the partition that the 12.3 install was on. That got that partition booting to a running install, and, that installation found the 11.4 install and made an option for it in grub2. Both are booting fine now. The new installation did it on its own, no need for me to adjust anything.
But you should know what its choices were, and find out what are those of the 11.4 partition. Notice that doing certain things or applying certain updates, will touch its own grub, which may cause the new grub to fail if you don't do it right. You have to make sure that 11.4 is set to a) not touch the MBR b) install grub on "/". Or no grub at all, as Felix does. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE Leap 42.1 x86_64 (test)) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Carlos E. R. composed on 2016-02-25 09:31 (UTC+0100):
Jim Flanagan wrote:
So I did a clean install of opensuse 13.2, reformatting the partition that the 12.3 install was on. That got that partition booting to a running install, and, that installation found the 11.4 install and made an option for it in grub2. Both are booting fine now. The new installation did it on its own, no need for me to adjust anything.
But you should know what its choices were, and find out what are those of the 11.4 partition. Notice that doing certain things or applying certain updates, will touch its own grub, which may cause the new grub to fail if you don't do it right.
You have to make sure that 11.4 is set to a) not touch the MBR b) install grub on "/".
Agreed, except...
Or no grub at all, as Felix does.
Context matters. I install "no Grub at all" only during new installations that do not offer to install Grub *and* configure it as bootloader during initial installation. 13.2, 42.1 and TW *do* still offer the Grub package, which I *do* have included in every installation[1]. The installer simply will not make it usable as a bootloader for initial boot. Post-installation of openSUSE and Fedora releases and pre-releases, I most definitely *do* install/configure Grub, on each's / partition. What I don't do is install Grub2 (except on the / partition of a Kubuntu installation). In this thread, installation is not the context. Here there are two existing installations that need to be configured not to interfere with each other. 11.4 can be reconfigured to have bootloader only on its on /, easily with YaST2, less easily otherwise. Another option is to edit 11.4's /etc/sysconfig/bootloader to have none in place of grub for LOADER_TYPE, which should halt any possible future bootloader configuration activity, were any to be expected of an out of support installation. [1] grub 0.97.x may not be on DVD, but I do installations via HTTP, from which it is available. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-24 03:09, Jim Flanagan wrote:
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. ...
I'll assume NON-GPT partitions.
The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2.
Well, ideas. Notice that with a generic master boot sector (MBR) you can not boot a logical partition (#5 or #6). You need to have Grub installed either in the MBR, or in a primary. A possibility is the extended partition (the container). Notice that if you place Grub in the MBR, when you install the second Linux, it destroys the bootability of the first one, on its own. And viceversa (an update of the first may destroy the bootability of the second). This may be what happened. In this situation, it is typical on the secondly installed Linux to allow grub2 installation to probe for other systems and place entries for them in the menu. But if you update the kernel on 11.4, grub on 12.3 will not know about it, and may refuse to boot 11.4. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE Leap 42.1 x86_64 (test)) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2/24/16 3:11 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2016-02-24 03:09, Jim Flanagan wrote:
Greetings. I have two older installs on one machine, neither will now boot up. Different issues I believe. The first install is openSuse 11.4. Second is 12.3. These are on the same physical disc, both on separate partitions under an extended partition on that disk. 11.4 is on /dev/sda5, and 12.3 is on /dev/sda6. ...
I'll assume NON-GPT partitions.
The 11.4 install was working fine, and I installed 12.3 on /dev/sda6 overwriting the previous install that was there, I don't recall which version of openSuse was there. But 12.3 brought along Grub2.
Well, ideas.
Notice that with a generic master boot sector (MBR) you can not boot a logical partition (#5 or #6). You need to have Grub installed either in the MBR, or in a primary. A possibility is the extended partition (the container).
Notice that if you place Grub in the MBR, when you install the second Linux, it destroys the bootability of the first one, on its own. And viceversa (an update of the first may destroy the bootability of the second).
This may be what happened.
In this situation, it is typical on the secondly installed Linux to allow grub2 installation to probe for other systems and place entries for them in the menu. But if you update the kernel on 11.4, grub on 12.3 will not know about it, and may refuse to boot 11.4.
Grub is in the MBR. For some reason I thought that was best. What is the preferred place for Grub? A separate partition on a primary? So /boot?? Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-24 15:36, Jim Flanagan wrote:
On 2/24/16 3:11 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Grub is in the MBR. For some reason I thought that was best. What is the preferred place for Grub? A separate partition on a primary? So /boot??
It is fine, but there is only one MBR per hard disk. Only one Linux can be there. And the other Linux must be started by the first Linux, either chainloaded, or directly the kernel. The other Linux must have its grub installed on its own root partition. When Linux goes to the 5th partition, my guess is that Windows is on partitions 1, 2 & 3, and the extended on #4 (or a similar distribution). In this situation, I would use a generic MBR, with grub on the extended partition, booting one Linux and chainloading the other. The other Linux must have its grub installed on its own root partition. If you have freedom to use the primary partitions, then I would use generic MBR, with the two grubs going to their own root partitions in two primaries, marked bootable. All this is assuming traditional partitioning, not GPT. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE Leap 42.1 x86_64 (test)) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Carlos E. R. composed on 2016-02-24 20:17 (UTC+0100):
...there is only one MBR per hard disk. Only one Linux can be there. And the other Linux must be started by the first Linux, either chainloaded, or directly the kernel. The other Linux must have its grub installed on its own root partition.
*IF* the other has Grub, it needs to be on a partition not controlled by the first. But only one bootloader is needed per system. No bootloader has always been my selection in openSUSE installations since Grub2 became the only Grub option during installation.
If you have freedom to use the primary partitions, then I would use generic MBR, with the two grubs going to their own root partitions in two primaries, marked bootable.
The generic MBR option depends on the boot flag, which can only go on one primary at a time. Any or all bootable primaries would still need to be set up either to chainload, or move the flag, or load alien kernels and initrds. In effect there isn't a lot to distinguish it from putting Grub on MBR. Another MBR option is to put your choice of bootloader on a single primary, and manage it entirely yourself, never mounting it on /boot unless doing a first installation to virgin or wiped media, and then only temporarily. openSUSE makes this conceptually easy, because the default kernel and initrd always have symlinks called vmlinuz and initrd. Thus, once your personally maintained bootloader is initialized, the only maintenance required results from adding installations. Enabling non-default kernels does require either extra maintenance, or chainloading the native bootloader offering the non-default kernel, but the virtually exclusive way to prevent booting any among a multiboot installation is through your own fault. It's a configuration that all but excludes one installation from interfering with another's bootloader. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-25 04:52, Felix Miata wrote:
Carlos E. R. composed on 2016-02-24 20:17 (UTC+0100):
The generic MBR option depends on the boot flag, which can only go on one primary at a time. Any or all bootable primaries would still need to be set up either to chainload, or move the flag, or load alien kernels and initrds. In effect there isn't a lot to distinguish it from putting Grub on MBR.
I assumed initially that Windows was also installed, and in that case, there is a distinct advantage with not placing grub on MBR. Service packs and certain updates requires Windows be in control of booting, meaning generic booting and its partition marked bootable, at least temporarily. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE Leap 42.1 x86_64 (test)) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2/25/16 2:26 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2016-02-25 04:52, Felix Miata wrote:
Carlos E. R. composed on 2016-02-24 20:17 (UTC+0100):
The generic MBR option depends on the boot flag, which can only go on one primary at a time. Any or all bootable primaries would still need to be set up either to chainload, or move the flag, or load alien kernels and initrds. In effect there isn't a lot to distinguish it from putting Grub on MBR.
I assumed initially that Windows was also installed, and in that case, there is a distinct advantage with not placing grub on MBR. Service packs and certain updates requires Windows be in control of booting, meaning generic booting and its partition marked bootable, at least temporarily.
There is no Windows on this machine. I set it up originally for opensuse. I'm no expert on Grub and booting, seems a bit of a black art to me. But, on first opensuse install I set up sda1 as swap, 4gb. sda2 is boot, 100mb. sda3 is extended. sda5 was first install with everything in /. sda6 was second install again with everything in /. I flipped back and forth between sda5 and sda6 installing new each time, keeping the most recent install. This time when I installed 13.2, I had it format sda6 and clean install. I had it install grub2 in MBR. That installation found the older 11.4 install and made a boot option for that too. So both boot now. But, I really don't follow the options of installing grub to different locations, MBR, primary, extended, /. Is there a not too technical tutorial that explains this? Thanks to all for the great help. Jim -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-26 04:38, Jim Flanagan wrote:
On 2/25/16 2:26 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
I assumed initially that Windows was also installed, and in that case, there is a distinct advantage with not placing grub on MBR. Service packs and certain updates requires Windows be in control of booting, meaning generic booting and its partition marked bootable, at least temporarily.
There is no Windows on this machine. I set it up originally for opensuse. I'm no expert on Grub and booting, seems a bit of a black art to me. But, on first opensuse install I set up sda1 as swap, 4gb. sda2 is boot, 100mb. sda3 is extended. sda5 was first install with everything in /. sda6 was second install again with everything in /. I flipped back and forth between sda5 and sda6 installing new each time, keeping the most recent install.
Ah. You see, it is best to reserve the primary partitions for booting. Swap should be elsewhere. You initially had /boot in sda2, which is perfect. But then you should have another /boot for the other Linux, then the extended, then the two roots anywhere. Or have the two roots on sda1 and sda2, with no separate /boot partition.
This time when I installed 13.2, I had it format sda6 and clean install. I had it install grub2 in MBR. That installation found the older 11.4 install and made a boot option for that too. So both boot now. But, I really don't follow the options of installing grub to different locations, MBR, primary, extended, /. Is there a not too technical tutorial that explains this?
YaST makes good choices when there is only one Linux installed. When there are more, you must instead tell YaST what to do. YaST has installed the new system to boot and control any other Linux you have installed. Ok. The problem is that if you allow the second Linux to make changes, it can destroy the setup. No, I do not know of a simple document to read. Yes, I also consider it some kind of black art. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 6:38 AM, Jim Flanagan
But, I really don't follow the options of installing grub to different locations, MBR, primary, extended, /. Is there a not too technical tutorial that explains this?
When you install GRUB in MBR, GRUB first stage code is written to the first sector, disk address of second stage is computed and written to MBR as well. BIOS loads GRUB boot code, boot code loads second stage and jumps to it. When you install GRUB anywhere else, different first stage code is written in MBR (or MBR is not touched at all if you clear corresponding check box). This code scans partition table, finds active partition, loads first sector from this partition and jumps to it. Traditional MBR code used by DOS or Windows will only scan primary partition (note that extended partition is also primary). Syslinux MBR code, used by current openSUSE when you tell it to write code to MBR can also boot from logical partition (but I am not sure which tool can be used to mark logical partition as active). Installing GRUB to partition does *not* mean you will actually boot from this partition (use installed GRUB) - you also must make partition where GRUB is installed as active. Normally YaST does it for you. Is it non-technical enough? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-02-26 10:06, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
Syslinux MBR code, used by current openSUSE when you tell it to write code to MBR can also boot from logical partition
It does? :-o How nice! Maybe I read you saying this before, but I forgot, it is so surprising.
(but I am not sure which tool can be used to mark logical partition as active).
Matter of trying... [...] fdisk does it, look: ... Command (m for help): a Partition number (1-11, default 11): 11 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdd: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x0008ee48 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdd1 * 63 417689 208813+ 83 Linux /dev/sdd2 417690 819314 200812+ 83 Linux /dev/sdd3 819315 1220939 200812+ 83 Linux /dev/sdd4 1220940 976768064 487773562+ 5 Extended /dev/sdd5 1221003 32676209 15727603+ 83 Linux /dev/sdd6 32676273 64131479 15727603+ 83 Linux /dev/sdd7 64131543 87200819 11534638+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdd8 87200883 129146534 20972826 83 Linux /dev/sdd9 129146598 148022909 9438156 83 Linux /dev/sdd10 148022973 173196764 12586896 fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sdd11 * 173196828 976735934 401769553+ 83 Linux Command (m for help): q Telcontar:~ # -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
participants (5)
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Andrei Borzenkov
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Carlos E. R.
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Felix Miata
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Jim Flanagan
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Michael Chang