# How boot Windows and FreeBSD, if they are installed on different disks?



## fender0107401 (Jun 13, 2011)

I have two computers, one runs FreeBSD (computer_01) and one runs Windows (computer_02). Recently, I wanted to learn some network services, such as ftp, ntp, etc. Today, I have bought a new disk and added it to computer_02. My plan is to run Windows and FreeBSD on computer_02, so I can try to set the network services with FreeBSD on computer_02 and test them by computer_01. Now, computer_02 has two disks (disk_01 and disk_02).

First, I set the BIOS to boot from disk_02. Second, I installed Windows on disk_01. Finally, I installed FreeBSD on disk_02. After the installation, I find something strange.

When I power one computer_02, boot0 show me the following lines:

```
F1 FreeBSD
F5 Drive 1
F6 PEX
```

It is strange that there is not Windows option. If I select F1, it will boot FreeBSD. If I select F6, it will boot windows (interesting). 

The other strange thing is: if I select F5, it will boot FreeBSD, and after this I can't select anything anymore. I mean, after this, when I power on computer_02, the system will boot the Windows directly without any interactive selection.


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## fender0107401 (Jun 13, 2011)

A long time ago, I have installed FreeBSD and Windows on computer_02, but at that time, computer_02 only have one disk. I don't remember anything wrong when I installed FreeBSD and Windows in one disk.


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## xibo (Jun 13, 2011)

Unplug the windows disk and boot - this should get you to the boot loader. Shut down the computer and reinstall the Windows disk. I don't know whether this is a bug or a feature of the boot loader, but generally I consider it safer to switch the BIOS boot order than it.


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