Clonezilla / Discussion / Clonezilla live: Dual boot GNU/Linux OpenSuse and MS Windows 7

Hugo Napoli - 2015-03-22

Good day to all.

I came because of a problem that I can't deal with, even when I am trying harder from several days ago.

I work in various education institutes. I am installing OpenSuSE 13.2 (amd64) and Windows 8.1 (amd 64, too).

The partition system that I use is the following:

First partition, ext4, primary, GRUB2

Second partition, ntfs, primary, for Windows

Third partition, ntfs, primary, for interchanging data between the two OS

Fourth partition, extended (ext4 and swap), for all the resting GNU/Linux partitions: root, home, temp, and the proper swap.

I tried several times to clone entire fixed internal sata hard disk to external image in an external USB 3.0 portable hard disk, but every time I restore the image in another computer (in an exactly identical hardware), I have the same two problems:

GRUB2 starts with bash (doesn't boot)

If I reinstall GRUB2, OpenSuSE starts to boot, but hangs before showing the desktop.

If I do a chkdsk, a bootrec.exe /fixmbr or /fixboot, Windows starts (missing GRUB2 again) but the antivirus software and other programs doesn't work, leaving the system in an inconsistent state.

The question is the following:

For the proposed partitioning system... anybody knows what procedure I have to follow (I am trying to find the perfect cloning method, without having to fix nothing once cloned)?

I am very grateful for any help.

I'll try to be attentive to the answers.

Big hug,

Hugo Napoli

Last edit: Hugo Napoli 2015-05-13
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Steven Shiau - 2015-03-26

The key is on the boot loader. Do you know grub2 is installed on root partition, or MBR?
Or it's a uEFI machine?

Steven.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-03-27

Hi, Steven. I saw you are a very active member of this community. I'm glad to be reading you; thanks you beforehand.
I always create a primary and single partition for grub2 (ext4), indicating to OpenSuse that install the bootloader in this partition, not MBR neither root.
And yes, it's an UEFI machine, but after trying and trying different options for Clonezilla, I configured the BIOS to boot in legacy mode, from the MBR. Is not important for me to start with UEFI, if it could be the problem.

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Steven Shiau - 2015-03-28

Hi Hugo,
Thanks for your bug report. Clonezilla does have an issue to deal with the boot loader on root partition. It now only works for that on the MBR. We will fix this in the next testing release.

Steven.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-03-30

Hi, Steven. Excellent.
We'll be waiting for the new testing release then.
If Clonezilla can do that, the other cloning tools (specially the commercial ones) will not have sense to exist :)
Good luck with the next release!
I promise to write a post immediately after this job can be done.
And thanks for the tool, it's marvelous. In minutes you can clone Windows from one machine to another, with absolutely no errors.
Big hug!

Last edit: Hugo Napoli 2015-03-30

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Steven Shiau - 2015-03-31

A testing release has just been released today, i.e.
Clonezilla live 2.4.0-7, 20150330-*
This issue should have been fixed.
Please give it a try (amd64 release is recommended) and let us know the results.
Thanks.

Steven.

Last edit: Steven Shiau 2015-03-31

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-01

Oh! I didn't expect a so fast reply! (Sorry about my not enough good English!).

Of course I'll give it a try, I am anxious to see what happen. And you can count with that. Next monday, I'll go with Clonezilla live 2.4.0-7, 20150330 (amd 64) and try to clone again 15 machines of an educative institution.
If it works, I'll clone another 15, and will create a post on my blog, step by step, in Spanish of how to do it.
I'll tell you if it works, too, but I'm sure Clonezilla will do the job.

Do you recommend me to do a single and primary partition for grub2, or put grub2 in the root partition? I prefer to do the first of the two options, but if you tell me that the second is more secure, it's all right.

Thanks again!
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Steven Shiau - 2015-04-04

"Do you recommend me to do a single and primary partition for grub2, or put grub2 in the root partition? I prefer to do the first of the two options, but if you tell me that the second is more secure, it's all right." -> I believe both should work. If any problem, please let me know.
Thanks.

Steven.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-05

Great!
I'll tell you how it worked in this week.
Big hug and thanks for your attention and dedication.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-16

Hi, Steven!
I'm sorry, still I couldn't clone the machines due to things related to work, but I'll do very soon.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-20

Hi again, Steven!
Finally I could do the expected clonations, and the result is better than in the past, but I have things to solve yet, in every cloned machine.

The steps are these:

I have to reconfigure UEFI BIOS, deleting the entries that in UEFI was generated about OpenSuse, because the Windows entry is untouched, but the OpenSuse entry was renamed merging the two operating system's names "OpenSuse|Windows Boot Manager" (I don't know how and why), and points to "\efi\boot\bootx64.efi", not to "\efi\opensuse\grubx64.efi".

Windows starts unactivated, having to activate again the system.

Windows starts telling "We are configuring your PC", like when you are installing Windows for first time, but doesn't asks for any configurations, after a wait period of black screen.

Finally, restarting 2 o 3 times and configuring all, The two systems seems healthy and ready to go.

Maybe I have to try another partition system, or maybe TimeFreeze can bring the problems thet I described you... Maybe some installed software can be the responsible for this, I don't know, but well, Clonezilla is saving a lot of time whatever, and I could do the clonations, finally.

Thanks for all, I'll be at your service if you want more data.

Big, hug, Steven!
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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-21

I'm still reading about uefi and cloned systems, and I am thinking that the old uefi entries have to be deleted before doing the clonation of the new machine.
I'll try it tomorrow. If it doesn't work, I will try to deactivate TimeFreeze, but there are other possibilities either.

Last edit: Hugo Napoli 2015-04-21

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Steven Shiau - 2015-04-23

OK, thanks. Please keep us posted.

Steven.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-04-24

Hi again! I bring very good news this time :)

*** Step 1: I deleted previous boot options in uefi-bios (in the machine I wanted to overturn the cloned systems) and deactivated Time Freeze in Windows (in the machine I was working for generating the Clonezilla image of the two OSs).***

Step 2: I deleted the previous Clonezilla image on my external USB HDD (because it had Time Freeze on).

Step 3: I did a new clonation with Clonezilla (from internal HDD to external USB HDD).

Step 4: I've cloned again the same machine (now, from external USB HDD to internal HDD).

*** Step 5: I rebuilt the UEFI boot options in UEFI BIOS (Windows was ok and OpenSuse was wrong again).***

The results were the following:

grub2 (EFI) started perfectly,

grub2 (EFI) entries were the expected in this case: first entry, Opensuse 13.2 (default), second entry, Advanced options for Opensuse, and third entry, Windows boot manager (pointing to Windows 8.1).

About the Operating systems, both one and the other start well, with absolutely no issues on Windows!

I can describe (with detail) my partition model if it can be helpful for someone, or simply for this grateful interchange.

Thanks once more, Steven!

Last edit: Hugo Napoli 2015-04-30
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Steven Shiau - 2015-05-09

Great! It's nice to know it's working there. Thanks for sharing that.

Steven.

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Hugo Napoli - 2015-05-13

You are welcome! You and your team did a great job with this essential tool. I salute it!

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Steven Shiau - 2015-05-29

:)

Steven.

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Dual boot GNU/Linux OpenSuse and MS Windows 7

A partition and disk imaging/cloning program

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Dual boot GNU/Linux OpenSuse and MS Windows 7

Dual boot GNU/Linux OpenSuse and MS Windows 7

A partition and disk imaging/cloning program

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Help

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Dual boot GNU/Linux OpenSuse and MS Windows 7