# [bootloader] boot from second disk



## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

Hi,
I've recently got second hard disk
now I have two SATA disks
on the first I have my FreeBSD installed
on the second I installed windows and I made 2 FreeBSD slices
before installing the windows I had to make this disk the first disk otherwise windows would break the MBR of my FreeBSD disk
so after the installation I made the windows disk second again
the problem is that I can't boot the windows now
when I start/restart my machine the FreeBSD bootloader would ask me for my preference like this:

```
F1 FreeBSD
F2 FreeBSD
F5 Drive 1

Default: F1
```
if I hit F5 ... my FreeBSD gets booted...not the windows
I have to make my windows disk the first disk if I want to boot from it...
then if I want to boot my FreeBSD I have to make my FreeBSD disk the first disk
...it's very annoying when I decide to play quaklive...I have to switch disks like an idiot
is there anything I can do to fix that ?

thank you


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## Carpetsmoker (Mar 21, 2009)

Did you install the FreeBSD bootloader to the second disk? You will need to install the bootloader to both disks, when you press F5 the bootloader will simply load the MBR of that disk.

Note that the FreeBSD boatloader and Windows don't always play nice, sometimes some `magic' is needed to boot Windows like fiddling with the drive letters. Using a bootloader such as gag (sysutils/gag) is usually a solution then.


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## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

ah, good point
I didn't install the bootloader on the second this
what's the easiest way to do that ?

thank you.


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## Carpetsmoker (Mar 21, 2009)

`# boot0cfg -B /dev/ad1`

Assuming ad1 is the second drive ... See boot0cfg(8) for more details.


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## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

cool
that worked
it installed the bootloader
however I still can't boot windows
when I restarted I got the usual

```
F1 FreeBSD
F2 FreeBSD
F5 Drive 1

Default: F1
```
when I hit F5 I got:

```
F1 Win
F2 FreeBSD
F5 Drive 0
```
when I hit F1 nothing happened...

```
-
```
did you mean this problem when you said


> Note that the FreeBSD boatloader and Windows don't always play nice, sometimes some `magic' is needed to boot Windows


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## Carpetsmoker (Mar 21, 2009)

Yes, maybe you can solve the problem by using the *fixboot* command from the Windows recovery console (Boot from Windows CD, select recover), not 100% sure though.


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## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

this is so frustrating
it doesn't work with sysutils/gag either...
gag doesn't "see" the windows...
what would fixboot do ?
would it delete FreeBSD's bootloader ?


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## Carpetsmoker (Mar 21, 2009)

> this is so frustrating
> it doesn't work with sysutils/gag either...
> gag doesn't "see" the windows...



When adding a new OS, you can select the correct disk with the 1-9 or F1-F9 keys (Don't remember which).



> what would fixboot do ?
> would it delete FreeBSD's bootloader ?



It writes a new boot sector on the NTFS partition, it doesn't touch the MBR (fixmbr writes a new MBR).


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## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

no I actually added windows using gag
gag was able to recognize there is an operating system (yes it really thinks windows is an operating system ) on the second disk
only it can't boot it
when I restart and gag asks what to boot and I hit 3 (for windows) ... nothing happens
I get the blinking underscore

```
_
```
I guess I'll have to try fixboot
but I'm unlucky enough to have some retarded windows distribution CD that doesn't provide the recovery option 
because I was stupid enough to download one of those "integrated" windows CDs those windows geeks produce every month with the latest updates from microsoft


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## mgp (Mar 21, 2009)

finally
I managed to get it working
it didn't work only with fixboot
I had to do fixmbr then fixboot
of course this erased my FreeBSD bootloader...however surprisingly FreeBSD booted 
not windows
then gag came handy
I installed gag again and added FreeBSD and windows and it was able to boot both

thanks for the help, Carpetsmoker

cheers

P.S. btw how do I set the subject to [Solved] ?


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