Solaris and Linux dual boot question (again)

Reisswolf · 01-01-2008, 11:41 AM

Hi,

I have run a problem. When I was using Fedora 6, I could use "makeactive" and "chainloader+1" in Fedora's grub.conf to boot into Solaris. But now, the same thing fails to work in Fedora 8. When I select Solaris from Fedora's grub list at boot time, the screen momentarily goes blank and then returns to the same Fedora grub list. It does not go to the Solaris grub list, like it used to earlier.

My Solaris partition is /dev/sda1, my Linux swap is in /dev/sda5 and my Linux root is in /dev/sda6. If someone could tell me how I can boot into Solaris Express again, I would be very grateful.

I have checked with Google, but almost all the sites talk about using the chainloader to dual boot. I would be extremely thankful to anyone who could give me some good instructions on how exactly to boot into Solaris (and then perhaps use Solaris' grub to boot into Fedora.

Thanks in advance for your help.

jlliagre · 01-01-2008, 11:45 AM

Try making the Solaris partition active (and the only one in that state) in the partition table.

Reisswolf · 01-01-2008, 02:32 PM

jlliagre, sorry if this seems like a simple question, but how do I do that?

Moreover, if it would not be too much trouble, can you please tell me what I would then expect to see on the screen when I am booting? The thing is, I cannot afford to be locked out of both Solaris and Fedora. I have some very important files in Fedora, and I would like to be able to access them.

The ideal thing for me would be to use Solaris' grub to boot into both Solaris and Fedora. But even after an exhaustive search on Google I have not been able to find any solution.

Thanks in advance for your help.

jlliagre · 01-01-2008, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reisswolf

jlliagre, sorry if this seems like a simple question, but how do I do that?

That's the way I would do it from Solaris:

Code:

# fdisk /dev/rdsk/c0d0p0

             Total disk size is 9729 cylinders
             Cylinder size is 16065 (512 byte) blocks

                                               Cylinders
      Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
      =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
          1                 Linux native      0  2431    2432     25
          2                 DOS-BIG        2432  2555     124      1
          3       Active    Solaris2       2556  4987    2432     25
          4                 Win95 FAT32    4988  9728    4741     49


SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
   1. Create a partition
   2. Specify the active partition
   3. Delete a partition
   4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
   5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
   6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
Enter Selection:

Quote:

Moreover, if it would not be too much trouble, can you please tell me what I would then expect to see on the screen when I am booting?

I expect Solaris grub menu to appear.

Quote:

The thing is, I cannot afford to be locked out of both Solaris and Fedora. I have some very important files in Fedora, and I would like to be able to access them.

Then backup them on an external media before playing with the partition table.

Quote:

The ideal thing for me would be to use Solaris' grub to boot into both Solaris and Fedora.

Save Fedora entries on an USB key or something and add them to Solaris grub when under Solaris, that should just work.

Reisswolf · 01-02-2008, 12:33 PM

jlliagre, merci beaucoup pour la response.

However, I have bad news to report. I have tried everything imaginable--from using fdisk to make the Solaris partition active, to specifying the root partition in Fedora's boot. But each time I get "Error 8: Kernel must be loaded before booting."

I have been looking for a solution for this all day long. I am shut out from my Solaris partition, and I have an important personal project going on in there.

If someone could share a solution, I would be grateful.

Thanks in advance.

jlliagre · 01-02-2008, 01:35 PM

You can boot on a Solaris installation CD/DVD or better a Solaris live distribution and check if your on disk Solaris installation is still there, and have a look at its /boot/grub/menu.lst.

The error message you got means you tell grub to boot without providing a kernel directive.