How to dual boot vista and Ubuntu

[thersey]

I have windows vista on my laptop and recently I installed Ubuntu on a partition. The problem is my laptop boots vista by default. I don't get any option to select Ubuntu. How do I get Ubuntu in boot menu?

[chandrika]

It sounds like this bug,,

Bug #570765 .......... when installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a system with another operating system present, GRUB2 will not show the other operating system once installed for the dual/multi-boot system. It doesn't matter whether the other operating system is Microsoft Windows or another Linux installation, but the GRUB2 boot-loader doesn't offer you the option to boot that OS, just Ubuntu.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=ODE5Ng

...The fix is to run sudo update-grub from a terminal, or after hitting Alt+F2 for a prompt, and Ubuntu is working on "re-spinning" the ISO images that are affected.

http://lifehacker.com/5527259/the-be...004-lucid-lynx

[deepsand]

The OP's case, though, is the polar opposite - It's Ubuntu that's invisible at boot time.

[chandrika]

oh yea...i need to get more sleep

i actually had this same problem trying to install on a separate partition...i gave up and installed on same partition as windows using WUBI and it all works fine, but i wanted to do same. i get a dual boot option after i installed using WUBi and see 2 instances of ubuntu installed, one i guess the instance i tried to install on separate partition...so it was there...just something to do with GRUB the boot loader not showing up.

I read this which may be relevant on http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Lucid

Warning: Ubuntu Desktop edition installer no longer allows a custom installation of GRUB, and it now uses GRUB2 (which allows very little customization). DO NOT USE the Lucid Lynx Desktop edition if you use a boot partition, use multiple OS (more than 2), or chainload bootloaders. The Ubuntu installer will overwrite your Master Boot Record and you will later be forced to recreate it manually. This is a serious flaw in both Karmic Koala and Lucid Lynx. Use the Ubuntu Server edition instead (and then later add the ubuntu-desktop).

[speed]

Personally I gave up with dual boots eons ago as I always needed something in the other operating system, so while it doesn't answer your questions have you looked at putting ubuntu inside a virtual machine such as http://www.virtualbox.org/ gives you the best of all worlds without fluffing around too much.

For dual booting I did find https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot not sure if you've read that but sounds like you need to put grub in the ubuntu partition then update Vists, there's links there to the utilities.

[chandrika]

I looked at virtual machines, but at least with Suse the systems in virtual machines lacked some functionality...such as usb recognition..

The WUBI system is not a virtual machine, I mean it is inside windows so to speak, but is somewhat different http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_%2...u_installer%29

This is what I am running pretty smoothly as well...once installed with WUBi, it is then possible to put that installation onto a dedicated partition...although I have not done that as have seen no reason to.

I used a virtual windows on a mac some years back and that put me off virtual machines forever..although they have probably improved since then.

i have Ubuntu 10.04 dual booting with windows 7 using the wubi system

[TechSavvySE]

You could run VMWare and simply allow yourself to run Ubuntu simultaneously with windows. I have used this as a solution in the past.

[chandrika]

I just remembered how I had to do something to get it working..

as initially when using the GRUB 2 bootloader included in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, the first boot option will by default be loaded automatically without pausing for user input.

To interrupt the boot I had to hold down the shift key to get the GRUB boot loader menu to show.

For me it was something to do with my nvidia graphics card and so had to go on to press e and then delete a line in the code "quite & splash" and replace it with the line "nomodeset.

Then clicked ctrl x to boot.

Its just an idea..maybe if you press shift you may be able at least to enter the boot menu at start up to stop it going straight to vista.

[chandrika]

There have been quite a few updates since original release, so it may be worth downloading the iso image from the ubuntu website, burning it to a cd yourself and getting the very latest version that will have some original bugs fixed.

The one with the windows installer is good http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ub...dows-installer , it does not mess with any windows files and is installed alongside in totally separate folder, but you get dual boot option at boot. So maybe you could try that?

[jaydeee]

here is my reference when I tried dual booting mine. http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...lled_first.htm
it will surely help, it is pretty easy