by Alan German

Having recently purchased a new computer, I have been introduced to the wonderful world of Microsoft Vista. Now, while Vista works reasonably well, I still keep wondering about a complete switch over to Linux. In fact, this question comes to the fore every time I discover that Vista won't let me do exactly what I want, or more particularly, when I find a way to break something in Vista. This was especially the case when I restored a disk image of my Vista operating system and found that the machine would no longer boot! – but, that's another story.

But, while I keep pondering the question of Vista vs. Linux, I need to be able to run both operating systems, Vista because I paid for it, Linux because it's free, and both of these because they are neat systems to play with! Clearly, what I need is a dual-boot system, with both Vista and Linux residing (and booting) happily on the new machine.

Surfing the web for information on dual-booting Vista and Linux initially seemed to suggest that this would be fraught with difficulties. Vista, I was told, uses a new boot loader, and BCD (Boot Configuration Data) doesn't like Linux. Furthermore, the BCD editing tool is a command line program that has zero user-friendliness built in. But, I was going to have to use the new bootloader because Vista doesn't like being installed on a machine that already has an operating system (i.e. Linux installed first); it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) in the blink of an eye; and provides absolutely no consideration to the presence of other operating systems. So far, this didn't sound very promising.

Then I hit upon an item in Ubuntu Forums, entitled How To: Dual Boot Vista and Linux, by “molly_001”. Molly was as good as her word and, in conjunction with the work of some associates, provided links to instructions on how to: dual boot Vista and Ubuntu 6.06; dual boot XP and Ubuntu 6.06; triple boot XP, Vista, and Ubuntu 6.06; dual boot Vista or XP and Ubuntu over a previous Ubuntu install, without the need to reinstall Ubuntu; and dual boot over two physical hard drives.

The simple solution is to install Linux (Ubuntu Version 6.06) on a separate disk partition. Rebooting the machine brings up Linux - without a trace of Vista! But, all that is necessary is to edit grub's menu.lst file (see “Exploring Linux – Part 4”, http://www.opcug.ca/public/Reviews/linux_part4.htm) and include the following command sequence in the menu of available operating systems:

title Windows Vista
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Effectively, this tells grub that Vista is already installed on the first hard-drive partition and, in addition, makes Vista the default operating system. So, just like that, you have a dual-boot, Vista and Ubuntu Linux system. Thanks molly_001 !

Originally published: November, 2007

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