#27 [v4.9Fr] Assigned boot keys are wrong

[Anonymous]

Hello.

I did a multiboot install from a Vista preinstalled branded PC. The disk layout is as following:
1) Primary, FAT16, 32Mb, FreeDOS;
(replaces original OEM restore partition);
2) Primary, NTFS, 30Gb, Vista Premium;
(resized original partition);
3) Primary, NTFS, 30Gb, WinXP Pro;
4) Extended:
4a) Logical, NTFS, 10Gb, Temp data;
4b) Logical, Linux swap, 4Gb;
4c) Logical, Ext3, 30Gb, will be Debian Linux;
4d) Logical, NTFS, 200Gb, Project data;

Then I install GaG 4.9 in French from burned ISO CD, and do in order:

0) Delete initial Boot option for key 1;
1) Install OS from D (XP) for key 1;
2) Install OS from C (Vista) for key 2;
3) Install OS from G (future Linux) for key 3; (test)
4) Install OS from B (FreeDOS) for key 4;
5) Set a delay and save to disk, all looks OK.

Then key 1 tries to boot FreeDOS => black screen
(damaged or I badly installed it ?);
Key 2 boots Vista as expected,
Key 3 says "infected"
(probably because Linux not installed yet),
Key 4 boots Win XP that I assigned to 2 !!!

I did something wrong ?

Thanks, Best regards.
Patrick Brunet

[Nobody/Anonymous]

Logged In: NO

I could solve it by myself. The cause was:
When installing to a 3rd primary partition, WinXP had put its boot files to the 1st one, so:
- it was actually booting from it with FreeDOS assigned key,
- but was unable to boot from its own partition,
- and it was masking FreeDOS boot files,
- at the same time, this is why the 1st partition was visible for XP but not for Vista.

I could fix it without reinstalling XP by moving its boot files to the correct partition.
Now all works as expected :-)

I think it could be possible to avoid that by marking the future XP partition as the boot/active one (and maybe hiding the previous ones) *before* installing XP...

I think this issue is tricky enough to justify an item in the FAQ. Hope it helps...

Thanks, Best regards.
Patrick Brunet