I'm getting sick of this spam crap.  This bug is locked now.

I had this same problem with a computer on which I was installing linux. It turns out the problem was a program called Altiris.

If your system is using Altiris, then search in the registry for "aclient" and delete it. This should prevent altiris from screwing with your MBR every time you boot windows.

You'll need to reinstall GRUB again after doing this, but you should be fine after that.

I found a person that had more or less the same problem and I solved it from Linux.

You just have to delete stage1_5* files from /boot/grub/ folder and reinstall grub with root (hdX,Y) setup (hdX) (grub-install copies again the stage1_5* files !).

Once you have reinstalled grub so that stage1 loads stage2 directly ... grub is no longer overwritten because stage1_5 is not deleted by windows repartitioning.

adrian15

This is caused by the Microsoft "dynamic disk" partitioning scheme. See if grub-ldm solves your problem (grub-ldm.sourceforge.net).

I, too, can confirm this "bug", using Gentoo Linux (2006.0-based install, last sync on 4/21/06).  I, however, don't think that this is necessarily a bug in Grub.  Rather, it's Window$ not wanting to allow another bootloader to have control of the boot process.  One possible fix would be to allow stage1/1.5 to be in the MBR and stage2 be installed on a partition somewhere.  Dunno if this is really possible, or if it's really a good move (or even what grub already does), tho.  It would be much better if somebody were to simply find a way to stop windows from doing this in the first place.

As for anti-virus software doing it, yes I can see that happening as well, but I would also think that that would completely overwrite the MBR, causing you to lose grub entirely and just boot straight into windows.

--James Potts

Francois Genolini wrote:

> GRUB and LILO work differently, and maybe once WindowsXP is run, the GRUB
> stage1 bootloader reamins but the stage2 (the chain-loader) is being
> overwritten by Windows XP.  The bootloader can be installed in the disc (hda
> in your case), or on the parition (for example hda4).  Maybe your falvour of
> Linux has made the wrong decisions on how to install GRUB.
>

In order to fix this problem, I run a livecd, chroot to the ubuntu partition and run grub-install --no-floppy --recheck /dev/hda and then update-grub. I think that installs grub in the MBR of the disc hda. Not many people has reported problems and I don't think the default installation is very different from Debian.

However, I do think that the problem might be in WinXP and not in GRUB. In such case, will the only solution be to complain to Microsoft or use LILO instead? Can GRUB in future releases prevent this from happening?
Excuse me, I have not idea how GRUB and LILO work so maybe this is just a stupid question.

> SATA drives are listed in the BIOS and when you open the computer you will
> see that the connector is extra thin (not a ribbon).  These discs may appear
> as sd (to GRUB) instead of hd (to Linux), and this may confuse GRUB.
>

I will check this and report to you. However, if I don't boot winxp everything works smooth.

> You seem to have only 1 41GB disc with 6 partitions, including what looks
> like Windows95: which boot loader did you use befor installing Linux: the
> Windows XP boot loader or the Windows95 (if any) boot loader?
>

There was not bootloader, it booted directly on winxp. The Win95 partition contains some administrative tools and I think it is not supposed to be bootable or even visible.

> The Ubuntu bugzilla is separate, and maybe you should report this bug to the
> Ubunto bugzilla alone.

Well, reporting here provided some clues. If you wish, I will stop posting here until someone can confirm something similar in another distribution or prove that it is not an Ubuntu issue.

Anyway, I will not be able to reach that particular machine until January, so this will have to wait if nobody else can reproduce this.

Thanks very much for your help.

<quote>
1) Do you have a virus checker in Windows, does it check the boot partition, does it repair the boot partition (i.e. erases / confuses GRUB)?
</quote>

I am afraid there is a virus checker on Windows, I have not administrative rights to disable or check if it is configured to repair the boot partition. However, if it does that, why LILO is not affected?

oh! Excuse me, please, I just noticed that I did't comment here the following (from Ubuntu bugzilla http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=19948).

I had the same error in Ubuntu 4.10 and installing LILO solved the problem.
However, this time I wanted to report it and try to fix it in cooperation with
you.


<quote>
2) do you have IDE (ATA) or SATA drives
</quote>

Sorry, I am not on that computer now. As soons as I get to that computer I will tell you. Is this info provided by the BIOS or by somme command?

<quote>
3) does your BIOS have an anti-virus or a boot sector checker?
</quote>

As far as I know, the answer is not. Moreover, I tried to protect the MBR from being overwritten after configuring GRUB properly, however, there is not even that option.

(Is there any way that these messages arrive also in the Ubuntu bugzilla?)

Originally posted  in Ubuntu bugzilla as bug 19948 [ http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=19948 ].

Grub installs and works fine until you change into Windows XP. When you shutdown
Windows XP and boot again, grub doesn't even appear (no error, nothing) and the
computer restarts and keeps restarting if you don't turn it off or put a boot
cd. After boot cd, grub-install --recheck --no-floppy /dev/hda and update-grub,
things are back to normal. Until next time you boot into Windows XP...

The GRUB Manual is not very informative with regard to how to gather information so I just provide everything I know about. I can reproduce the bug whenever I wish.
Also I have a linux rescue cd that I use to chroot into ubuntu partition and fix
grub, so if you want me to provide any information just after the problem
happens and before I fix grub, please tell me what to test.


Ubuntu 5.10
manu@~ $ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.12-9-686 #1 Mon Oct 10 13:25:32 BST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux


manu@~ $ grub --version
grub (GNU GRUB 0.95)

manu@~ $ sudo fdisk -l
Password:

Disk /dev/hda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1         783     6289416    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2            3123        4993    15028807+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3            4994        4998       40162+  1e  Hidden W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/hda4             784        3122    18788017+  83  Linux
/dev/hda5            3123        4786    13366048+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6            4787        4993     1662696   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


manu@~ $ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specifiv kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/hda4 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,3)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery mode) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## nonaltoption boot targets option
## This option controls options to pass to only the
## primary kernel menu item.
## You can have ONLY one nonaltoptions line
# nonaltoptions=quiet splash

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-686
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-686 root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-686
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-686 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-686 root=/dev/hda4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-686
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-386
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-386 root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-386 root=/dev/hda4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-386
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin 
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
#savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


(Uncommenting savedefault doesn't change anything)


Please, just ask me for any other info you may need!