Gutsy Install Rewrites W2k boot.ini Incorrectly

I have more information.

The third attempt at installation did not rewrite boot.ini on the W2K partition.

On the first two installation attempts I destroyed and recreated primary partitions 0 and 2.
On the third installation attempt I simply deleted their contents.

Perhaps this is significant.

The installer does not write to the boot.ini file. Are you sure your boot.ini changed between when you started then installer and it finished?

Hi Evan,

I was trying to install Kubuntu 7.10 using the Alternate CD. The
instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage told me to
attribute the bug to the debian-installer. My apologies if this
attribution is inappropriate. I am no expert but my first guess would
not be grub but the package that invokes grub during the debian install
which is probably the partitioner (whatever its package name is).

For my first two attempts at installation, Windows booted fine
beforehand but would not boot afterwards. During the installation,
something (I think grub) issued a message along the lines that it would
boot Windows on volume 1.

Here is the last line from boot.ini from a 'clean disk' installation of
W2K that I can tell from the file properties has not been modified since
W2K was installed:

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

Here is the same line from the boot.ini from the laptop I had problems
with (after correction):

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional (on Volume 1)" /fastdetect

I changed (1) to (2) throughout boot.ini to get it to work. Note the
"(on Volume 1)" which is not something Windows put there and is
consistent with the message issued by during the Alternate CD install
process.

When I say Windows would not boot I got the message:

    Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
    corrupt:
    <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
    Please re-install a copy of the above file

I used a rescue disk to boot Windows. Since I was not sure at that time
that boot.ini was the problem nor how to correct it, I changed boot.ini
so that it gave me the choice of trying to boot Windows from each of the
four primary partitions. One choice booted Windows but the others gave
me the ntoskrnl.exe message.

With this boot.ini in place I made my second attempt to install Kubuntu
from the Alternate CD believing I would be able to boot Windows by trial
and error if necessary. At the end of the installation I again could
not boot Windows and (after using the rescue disk again) I found that
boot.ini had reverted to the single (wrong) choice of Volume 1.

Only when my third attempt at installation succeeded and I could still
boot Windows and I had not seen the 'grub will boot Windows on volume 1'
message did I realise I had enough information for someone to be able to
reproduce the problem. Here is that information in all the gory details:

Originally the laptop had:
    volume 1 hidden rescue partition
    volume 2 Windows ME

After installation of Windows 2K, the laptop had:
    volume 1 hidden rescue partition
    volume 2 Windows 2K
    volume 3 Extended partition

Before Kubuntu installation attempt #1 I deleted the hidden rescue
partition and during installation created two more primary partitions in
the free space:
    volume 1 /home
    volume 2 Windows 2K
    volume 3 Extended partition
    volume 4 swap

During Kubuntu installation attempt #2 I deleted and recreated (possibly
in a different order) the Linux partitions swap, /home (and / in the
extend...

I am absolutely certain that the installer does not change Windows' boot.ini. If that file is being changed, then Windows is doing it itself.

Colin,

I accept your assurance. I did seem strange to me that the installer
should change Windows in any way whatsoever.

However, after the first two installation attempts, grub chained to the
Windows boot loader which then failed to boot from the correct partition
whereas after the third attempt there was no problem. It did occur to
me that the boot.ini I saw could have been changed by either Windows or
my rescue CD but, if one them did change it, they did do so after
something had already been screwed attempting to install Linux.

I hope you don't feel your time has been wasted.

Colin Watson wrote:
> I am absolutely certain that the installer does not change Windows'
> boot.ini. If that file is being changed, then Windows is doing it
> itself.
>
>

--
Paul Bryan Roberts
<email address hidden>
+44 023 8028 2208

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Yes, I have installed the latest Ubuntu release. No, I haven't had a
recurrence of this issue myself. I have learnt my lesson.

I reported an installer issue so it was not likely to recur once I
actually managed to install your distribution.

I accept Colin Watson's assurance that the Debian installer does not
rewrite the W2K boot.ini file. I would be very surprised if it did.
However, I gave sufficient evidence that the Debian installer did
something to cause something else to do so. An occurrence that was a
mere annoyance to myself but something that could put a Newbie off Linux
for life. Not worth your trouble fixing. Your loss, not mine. I won't
bother you again.

I do not repartition disks any more - I simply create a new virtual
machine with a new virtual disk. When the LTS runs out on Hardy I'll
have to replace it but I've plenty of time to find alternative.

Connor Imes wrote:
> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been
> any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue
> for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.
>
>

--
Paul Bryan Roberts
<email address hidden>
+44 023 8028 2208

OK, thank you for following up, I will close this bug. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status . Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Feel free to submit any future bugs you may find.