[darkmagic300300]

I have not yet installed Ubuntu but I have seen that when you install the "side-by-side" option, Ubuntu will use the GRUB to boot. Is it possible to revert back to the Windows Boot Manager without having to remove Ubuntu?
If it's simply too complicated, how is GRUB boot manager (this may sound like a silly question...)?

[linuxrants7xpg]

darkmagic300300, on 15 July 2011 - 07:35 PM, said:

I have not yet installed Ubuntu but I have seen that when you install the "side-by-side" option, Ubuntu will use the GRUB to boot. Is it possible to revert back to the Windows Boot Manager without having to remove Ubuntu?
If it's simply too complicated, how is GRUB boot manager (this may sound like a silly question...)?

It's possible to do, but it is complicated. Whether it's too complicated depends on your skill level. It's definitely easier to stick to GRUB, which is actually more powerful than the Windows Boot Manager. If you still want to go with the Windows Boot Manager, here's your steps (keep in mind it's been a while since I've done this, so I'm not sure this will still work):

1. You need a working Linux installation. Since you don't have one currently, you're stuck here.
2. Load up Linux. You're going to need to grab the start of the boot sector to use later. The command is "dd if=/dev/sdaN of=boot.out bs=512 count=1" where /dev/sdaN is the drive your booting from (usually sda0 or sda1) and boot.out is the file you're dumping the data to. You can name that anything you want really.
3. You'll need to copy that out file to a drive that is accessible to Windows.
4. You'll need to "fix" (and I use that word loosely) the MBR on the Windows side (used to be "fdisk /mbr").
5. Once you're back to using the Windows boot loader, you'll need to edit the boot.ini file. You'll have to fix the attributes of that file to do so, using the attrib command.
6. Once it's editable, go in an add a line to the boot.ini file pointing to your out file from earlier. Should be something like "d:\boot.out="Linux".
7. Restart the computer.

Keep in mind that these directions are old, and I haven't done this for years. If you really, REALLY want to stick with the Windows boot loader, that might work.

I CAN MAKE NO GUARANTEES.

Personally, I think you're better off sticking to Grub.

[LiveBrianD]

boot.ini?????? I know Windows XP and 2000 used that (not sure about earlier), but Windows Vista and Windows 7 use something else.

[darkmagic300300]

@Linuxrants

Thank you very much for your steps!
As it does seem over my skill level, I will stick to GRUB (and also that you say that it is more powerful).

Question: I will still be able to select my OS from the GRUB boot menu right?

[LiveBrianD]

darkmagic300300, on 17 July 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

@Linuxrants

Thank you very much for your steps!
As it does seem over my skill level, I will stick to GRUB (and also that you say that it is more powerful).

Question: I will still be able to select my OS from the GRUB boot menu right?

Yeah. I believe when it loads it lets you select the linux OS or select Windows, at which point it hands things over to the windows bootloader (it's been a long time since I did a dualboot with linux). That's like what happens if you install Windows Vista and XP on the same system (dualboot) - Vista's loader loads first, and if you select 'earlier windows os' or something like that it hands control over to the XP/2000 bootloader.

[linuxrants7xpg]

LiveBrianD, on 16 July 2011 - 03:01 PM, said:

boot.ini?????? I know Windows XP and 2000 used that (not sure about earlier), but Windows Vista and Windows 7 use something else.

Yea, like I said, these directions are old, and I haven't done this for years.

[Darr247]

linuxrants7xpg, on 18 July 2011 - 03:15 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 16 July 2011 - 03:01 PM, said:

boot.ini?????? I know Windows XP and 2000 used that (not sure about earlier), but Windows Vista and Windows 7 use something else.

Yea, like I said, these directions are old, and I haven't done this for years.

I always thought the easiest way to revert was to install grub at the beginning of the /boot partition, then anytime you want to return to booting straight into windows (or choosing between windows installs) is boot to the repair console from a windows CD/DVD and run FIXMBR.