[CentOS] installing C7 on a laptop with Win7, dual boot

[Fred Smith]

On Mon, Mar 02, 2015 at 03:33:59PM +0100, Mário Barbosa wrote:
> On 03/02/2015 02:06 AM, Fred Smith wrote:
> > Hi all!
> > 
> > I've just installed C7 on my netbook that already contained Win7 (and
> > also Fedora 19, which the C7 is intended to replace). The Fedora installer
> > had found the windows installation and it appeared in the grub menu,
> > and was bootable and worked fine.
> > 
> > The C7 installer did not put the windows installation into the grub
> > menu.
> > 
> > with some googling I found a page at https://priteshugrankar.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/dual-booting-centos-7-and-windows-7/ that gives a simple recipe for
> > fixing this problem. basically:
> > 
> > cp /boot/grub2/grub.cfg orig.grub.cfg
> > grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
> > 
> > with (on his system) the second command above producing this output:
> > 
> > 	[root at localhost ~]# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
> > 	Generating grub configuration file ...
> > 	Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.2-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64
> > 	Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-3.16.2-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64.img
> > 	Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64
> > 	Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64.img
> > 	Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.0-123.6.3.el7.x86_64
> > 	Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-3.10.0-123.6.3.el7.x86_64.img
> > 	Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-327fe33f3b364802871211321a2790b7
> > 	Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-0-rescue-327fe33f3b364802871211321a2790b7.img
> > 	Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
> > 	Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda2
> > 	done
> > 
> > Unfortunately, when I did it, I got this:
> > 
> > Generating grub configuration file ...
> > Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64
> > Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64.img
> > Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.0-123.20.1.el7.x86_64
> > Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-3.10.0-123.20.1.el7.x86_64.img
> > Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-c875112952114f6284f69abaa4f9a2f7
> > Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-0-rescue-c875112952114f6284f69abaa4f9a2f7.img
> > done
> > 
> > No mention of the windows installation.
> > 
> > It's not that I use the win7 installation much, but I do want to be able
> > to do so when one of those rare occasions pops up.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance!
> > 
> > Fred
> 
> 
> 1) Install ntfs "support"
> yum install -y epel-release
> yum install -y ntfs-3g ntfsprogs
> 
> 2) re-run the grub config gen script
> grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
> 
> Best,
> Mário

Ah, Mario, that's exactly what I needed to know! thanks!

It seems rather like a chicken-and-the-egg problem, which came first?
you can't install ntfs-3g until you've installed the system, and it
won't notice the windows partition(s) there until you've installed
ntfs-3g. But it sets up the grub config at install time, so you get
a system apparently without windows support.

A newbie (which I'm not) would certainly find this confusing/disheartening.

Thanks again for the solution I needed!

Fred

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
   "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged 
   sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; 
              it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  
---------------------------- Hebrews 4:12 (niv) ------------------------------