# Dual Booting Issues  (XP * Freebsd 7.2)



## jpeters5 (Jul 8, 2009)

Hello!

I have 2 ide hard disks. The fist is dedicated to Windows XP and the 2nd I have put on Freebsd 7.2 . During FreeBSD installation I've put BootMgr to the both disks (like it's said in manual if I'm not mistaken).  After installation I could not boot windows XP.  After doing extensive research I have screwed it up even more x(.  

Right now my system seems to be stuck at a boot screen that looks like this :

```
FreeBSD/i386 boot
Default: 0:ad(0,a)/boot/loader
boot:
```


The last things I did were;

```
bsdlabel -w -m i386 ad0
bsdlabel -B -m i386 ad0
```

Any help would be appreciated.


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## dennylin93 (Jul 8, 2009)

In order to boot Windows, it must be the primary disk (check your BIOS to set the order). If the boot manager is installed on the same drive as Windows, it should work.

If you wish to boot from a different drive, then virtual mapping is needed. The boot manager GRUB (sysutils/grub) supports this.

This is a portion of my GRUB config:

```
title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
```


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jul 8, 2009)

(Maybe not here, but generally...) 
I'd recommend GAG rather than grub ( I've never seen
the latter -- recently enough to remember -- but GAG
if setup correctly has nice icons, needs no CONF file ).
Nor have I setup dual booting XP ever (win98 FE).  
Although I know of a shareware that would (maybe)
suffice if one *knew* one would keep XP indefinitely
(Not likely because it expires ?? )


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## aragon (Jul 10, 2009)

It looks like you installed the wrong boot code.  You need to install boot0 with boot0cfg(8).  Only the primary drive needs this.  Installing it on both will mean you'll have a second menu appear when you select the 2nd drive from the first menu.

In the FreeBSD installer, boot0 is called the Boot Manager and is the first option in the list after running the disk slice manager.  The "Standard" option won't do what you need.

As for your current situation, you might have hosed your XP partition.  Try rebuild/fix the MBR with the XP installer disc's rescue mode.  If that doesn't work, a reinstall might be necessary.


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## darehanl (Jul 10, 2009)

I agree with aragon; your XP partition is messed up somehow; after my FreeBSD installation, my system hanged after "boot:" when trying to boot XP. Even after installing Arch in a new partition Arch's GRUB failed to chain-load XP.


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## jpeters5 (Jul 10, 2009)

After initial FreeBSD installation I did have the second menu problem ARAGON indicated.  (FYI. My primary drive has Windows XP installed and my secondary drive have FreeBSD installed.  Both disks are sigle partitions.) 

So to get the boot menu system back, I guess I would need to use the FreeBSD install disk and reinstall BSD boot manager on my primary disk.  Then, rebuild/fix the MBR with the XP installer disc's rescue mode.

My question is how do I remove the Boot manager off my secondary disk?  Would I use;

```
fdisk -B ad1
```

Thanks all for the comments and help!


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## SeanC (Jul 10, 2009)

jpeters5 said:
			
		

> So to get the boot menu system back, I guess I would need to use the FreeBSD install disk and reinstall BSD boot manager on my primary disk.  Then, rebuild/fix the MBR with the XP installer disc's rescue mode.



Stop!

Using XP fixboot/fixmbr second will wipe out the FreeBSD boot manager. Fix the mbr with XP first, then install the FreeBSD boot manager second.


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## tangram (Jul 11, 2009)

FAQ 3.8. Windows killed my boot manager! How do I get it back?


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## aragon (Jul 11, 2009)

jpeters5 said:
			
		

> My question is how do I remove the Boot manager off my secondary disk?  Would I use;
> 
> ```
> fdisk -B ad1
> ```


You can leave it on there if you like, unless the second menu annoys you.  To remove it you need to replace it with something else, and your quoted command should do just that.



			
				jpeters5 said:
			
		

> Thanks all for the comments and help!


You're welcome.  Also heed SeanC's last response.


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