# Multi-boot Problem



## esemesm (Jun 30, 2010)

Hello everybody

I'm new to FreeBSD, I know that many people asked my question and the problem been solved, but i can't solve it yet.

I just installed FreeBSD on my hard drive to dual boot with windows XP and Ubuntu. The problem I get is that neither option is working when i select it even FreeBSD

I get the boot menu like that:

F1 Win
F2 ?
F3 FreeBSD

F6 PXE

I installed XP fist then Ubuntu "every thing was okay" then while installing BSD i partition a 165 slice from unused space, installed the boot manager and used the auto defaults in disklable. every thing went okay. i reboot and got the problem. when i press f1 it just blinks with no action, f2 is not even available f3 is counting a # every 10 seconds and finally halts for any option

I hope you help me solving that, but consider you are talking to a novice user


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## zeiz (Jul 1, 2010)

If you use also Linux it's better to install:
1. Windows
2. FreeBSD (even on 3rd partition)
3. Ubuntu
Ubuntu's *grub* will boot everything problem free.
Leave Windows installed "as is"and reinstall first FreeBSD then Ubuntu.
Grub will boot Ubuntu and Windows out of box; some small config is required to boot FreeBSD:
lots of threads on forums just google.


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## esemesm (Jul 1, 2010)

Thank you very much zeiz for your concern, I'll try to stick with your recipe, but i just has one more question, Why The freeBSD does not run at all? I could imagine that it corrupted the boot files for xp and ubuntu but what may happen not making it work. Thank you again


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## zeiz (Jul 1, 2010)

FreeBSD bootmanager doesn't boot Linux (that's why F2 has no effect) though it must detect Windows and boot it as well as FreeBSD itself. I used to boot with just FreeBSD bootmanager for XP/FreeBSD dual boot and it worked fine but I found it a bit boring if compare with grub and especially grub2 which is capable of presenting beautiful splash at its native resolution.

I read that sometimes it happens when the bootmanager messes partition table though I never had it myself. The solution is to repair partition table on MBR with fdisk or TestDisk. I'm sure both come with Parted Magic system rescue suite (linux kernel), it's my favorite and it's <100MB, I have it on 1GB usb stick altogether with other files and folders.

However the simplest way is what I already wrote. The only problem may persist if XP partition lost its bootable flag. If so you will need to fix XP with its installation disk (*fixboot* command) or reinstall it otherwise only fdisk/testdisk may help though I believe you may put bootflag on Windows partition during installing FreeBSD (on fdisk screen) or at least check if it still have flag "A".
Anyway when installing FreeBSD choose option#3 (none - leave MBR untouched) and then install Ubuntu and edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom file by adding to it:

```
menuentry "FreeBSD 8.0" {
set root(hd0,3,a)
chainloader +1
}
```
supposed you're installing FreeBSD on 3rd slice.
The run from Ubuntu:
`sudo update-grub`


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## aragon (Jul 1, 2010)

zeiz said:
			
		

> FreeBSD bootmanager doesn't boot Linux


Actually it does.  The FreeBSD boot manager can boot almost anything if you setup your partitions correctly which admittedly isn't always easy.  Grub may pile on a lot of features, but it needs to stash a lot of code into obscure areas of your hard disk to accomplish that because it can't all fit into the MBR.  The FreeBSD boot manager is less than 500 bytes of machine code which all fit neatly into the MBR.

To esemesm, not sure what went wrong with your install.  A look at your partition table might help, but without access to your system it's probably easier to just reinstall.  Try zeiz's recipe.


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