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How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (with Linux installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots

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James Bannan03 March 2009, 8:00 PM

Related how-tos:

So you want to install Linux and Vista on the same drive? This UPDATED dual booting tutorial shows you how to do it even if Vista SP1 scorches your bootloader.

Page 2 - Back up the GRUB boot menu

Regardless of which bootloader you end up using, it's a very good move to first back up the GRUB bootloader. It's easy to lose it and unless you know how to re-write it from scratch then you're generally facing a full reinstallation of Ubuntu.

Firstly, boot into Ubuntu and go to Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst.

This text file contains all the information GRUB uses to configure various boot options. Scroll down and the entries between "## ## End Default Options ##" and "### END DEBIAN AUTOMATIC KERNELS LIST" are the Linux boot options.

Make a backup of the file by going to File, Save As and selecting a different location. Or take a full copy of the contents and place it into a new text file. If you can, create the backup on a removable disk or networked location.

Continue to page 3: Make space for Vista: Page 1 Intro; Page 2 Back up the GRUB boot menu; Page 3 Make space for Vista; Page 4 Install Vista; Page 5 Dualboot Option 1 - Vista bootloader; Page 6 Dualboot Option 2 - GRUB bootloader

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RR (New user):

Thanks for the guide, but i have a problem, and i hope you could help me...

When i get to the part where i have to choose the partition for vista, i can't see the partition where i want to install it, in the guide it says that i must select partition 3 but there's no partition 3 in mine, so where should i install it?

i leave a picture (the partition that i want with vista it's the one with 80gb)

http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10023541cu4.jpg

20 November 2008, 12:25 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Matthew Smith (New user):

Try "create partition primary". That did the trick for me.

06 December 2008, 5:31 AM (11 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

RR (New user):

Have to read before posting :P, the answer to my question is above, thanks anyway

20 November 2008, 12:25 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Synthetik09 (New user):

This doesn't work with me, when I do the Shift+F10 and all that when I type Select Partition 3
Active it says that Partition 3 cannot be active because of the file type ?? wtf do tht mean?

23 November 2008, 5:00 AM (12 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

trev_mint (New user):

Awesome, thank you! Worked flawlessly for me 1st time. I thought getting this working would be a nightmare (as I installed Vista second and toasted my bootloader (thanks MS :( )) but I Googled for "dual boot vista ubuntu", found your article, and had it working in no time. Spot on :D

12 December 2008, 7:35 AM (11 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

trev_mint (New user):

By the way I should have said, I used Dualboot Option 2 - GRUB bootloader

13 December 2008, 5:33 AM (11 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

trev_mint (New user):

Sorry double posted

13 December 2008, 5:33 AM (11 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Mannie (New user):

hey guise.
my friend called me about an hour ago. and now im trying to fix his problem.. so can someone please help me..

the problem is that when he dual booted with linux he had vista installed first. but then he did something to his vista protion of his hdd (he said he put it in some form of mode, i cant remember) and now his vista is gone. after this he tried re-installing vista he gets to the screen with "vista install now" and he clicks and gets the error "Windows could not retrieve information about the disks on the computer"

can anyone help me help him?

06 January 2009, 4:56 PM (10 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Mannie (New user):

06 January 2009, 5:00 PM (10 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

djohnston (New user):

So, I followed the instructions exactly installing Vista after Ubuntu and everything seemed to go fine. I'm using the Vista bootloader and I installed NeoGrub. I updated the linux menu file according to the instructions. Now, when I startup, I get the option to choose the Vista bootloader or Neogrub. Vista boots up fine, but if I choose the Neogrub option, I get "Try (hd0,0):EXT2:" on a black screen and I have to reboot. Any suggestions? Thanks.

22 January 2009, 9:42 PM (10 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Ralf (New user):

perfect! works also with ubuntu 8.10 (intrepid) and an old windows anytime upgrade dvd. thanks!

14 February 2009, 5:33 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

barty26 (New user):

I want to install vista with Ubuntu 10.4 installed first but the command "sudo gedit/boot/grub/menu.1st."is not recognised by Ubuntu.What command do I have to use to download the grub configuration file in Ubuntu?

25 February 2009, 11:36 PM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

barty26 (New user):

When dual booting ubuntu 8.10 with vista, "sudo gedit/boot/grub/menu.1st." is not recognised by ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.Please advise the GRUB configuration file for ubuntu 8.10

26 February 2009, 2:58 AM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Brother John (New user):

Thank you very much for this guide. I would like to let you know that I used it with Windows 7 beta and it worked. I did the test on a virtual machine with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS x64 installed first then followed the guide to dual boot with Vista first. Using the Vista bootloader option failed every time. However using the GRUB bootloader did work. It failed the first time for some unknown reason but the second time I did it, it worked perfectly. It is very possible it failed because I tried using EasyBCD fist then tried the GRUB bootloader. In any case the dual boot with Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows 7 is working on my virtual machine and I am going to install Windows 7 beta on my physical machine that already has Ubuntu on it on Monday.

28 February 2009, 11:13 AM (8 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Subbu (New user):

A big relief to know that people are out there to have the world's best information on dual-booting operating systems! I found the step-by-step method to install Windows XP secondly after a pre-loaded Linux, very informative, though I am going to try it only now (hope it will go through as indicated in the well described procedure). However, I have loaded RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 first, and not Ubuntu. Will my RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 DVDs work the same way as the Ubuntu LiveCD mentioned in your instructions?

27 April 2009, 8:46 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

guna (New user):

how to vista home basic crack activated

07 May 2009, 5:39 AM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

hannulon (New user):

Hi!

I have trying make dual-boot Windows 7 and Linux (Ubuntu 9.04) - Linux installed first - without success. You don't have such How to.. guide?
I have tried to use Vista with Linux guide, but it does not work.

Regards
Hannu Lönnroth
hannu.lonnroth@gmail.com

14 May 2009, 8:03 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Gilbert Busque (New user):

Hello, I just did the whole tutorial, deciding to use Vista's bootloader with NeoGrub. It failed after I chose NeoGrub from the bootmenu. It said "Try (hd0,0) : _"

And I couldn't type in anything. Yes I did copy the content from my backup of menu.lst. Help please?

23 May 2009, 6:05 AM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Gilbert Busque (New user):

23 May 2009, 6:08 AM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Actually :) Is it possible to do this stuff by downloading Linux ( I'm thinking of Ubuntu 9.04 or maybe Mepsis 6 )to a USB stick and going on from there as my CD burner has bitten the dust recently. I'm thinking of partitioning my hard drive into two parts,leaving WinXP on one and then loading Linux on the 2nd.I suppose I'd have to use Gparted to do this.
Any help would be appreciated :)

24 May 2009, 12:38 PM (6 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Asif786 (New user):

I am having a problem doing Ubuntu + Vista. When I try the last page steps

setup (hd0) will give an error 17. I can give more detail if any one can help.

Thanks
--Asif

08 July 2009, 3:54 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Asif786 (New user):

How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (with Linux installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots
on the last page when I ran the following command I got error 17 and I can not load Ubuntu.
setup (hd0)

Any help.
Thanks
--Asif

08 July 2009, 4:01 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

rocket (New user):

dual boot mac & windows

18 July 2009, 8:55 AM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

friscokid (New user):

Superb! But what if I have already installed Ubuntu (drive D:\) long time ago and Vista (drive C:\) just now (whitout doing the things from the guide above)? Do I have to format C:\ and then install again Vista? And if I do it, is there any chance to login my ubuntu OS after format C:\? I have all my information there :(?

22 July 2009, 7:24 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

friscokid (New user):

What if I have already installed Ubuntu (drive D) long time ago and Vista (drive C) just now (whitout doing the things from the guide above)? Do I have to format C:\ and then install again Vista? And if I do that is there any chance to login my ubuntu OS? I have all my information there :(?

22 July 2009, 7:27 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

this works great also works with windows 7

21 September 2009, 6:55 AM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

works on windows 7 as well

21 September 2009, 6:58 AM (2 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

samiakuma (New user):

What about the instructions for if you have some other version of Linux, other than Ubuntu?

10 October 2009, 3:31 AM (1 month ago)report abuse Send to a friend

eevie (New user):

Hi,

thanks, this guide looks really straightforward. I was just wondering could I follow the same guide to set up my machine to dual boot windows7 (ubuntu installed first) or are there likely to be some specific issues?

13 November 2009, 1:13 AM (1 week ago)report abuse Send to a friend

eevie (New user):

13 November 2009, 1:13 AM (1 week ago)report abuse Send to a friend

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How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (with Linux installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots

Help more people find out about this story

So you want to install Linux and Vista on the same drive? This UPDATED dual booting tutorial shows you how to do it even if Vista SP1 scorches your bootloader.

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First 50 Comments

RR (New user):

Matthew Smith (New user):

RR (New user):

Synthetik09 (New user):

trev_mint (New user):

trev_mint (New user):

trev_mint (New user):

Mannie (New user):

Mannie (New user):

djohnston (New user):

Ralf (New user):

barty26 (New user):

barty26 (New user):

Brother John (New user):

Subbu (New user):

guna (New user):

hannulon (New user):

Gilbert Busque (New user):

Gilbert Busque (New user):

The Big Baboo (Advanced Forumologist):

Asif786 (New user):

Asif786 (New user):

rocket (New user):

friscokid (New user):

friscokid (New user):

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