From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 24 19:19:00 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (unknown [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C2D3B106564A for ; Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:19:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from oceanpt.safeport.com (oceanpt.safeport.com [65.122.17.3]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6C4048FC13 for ; Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:19:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oceanpt.safeport.com (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id p5OJItRg035133; Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:18:56 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:18:55 -0400 (EDT) From: doug@safeport.com To: Eduardo Morras In-Reply-To: <4D6348DC01680F12@> (added by postmaster@resmaa13.ono.com) Message-ID: References: <4D7F86D5012E084A@> <4D6348DC01680F12@> (added by postmaster@resmaa13.ono.com) User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.0 (oceanpt.safeport.com [127.0.0.1]); Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:18:59 -0400 (EDT) Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dual Boot 8.2 and Windows 7 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:19:00 -0000 On Fri, 24 Jun 2011, Eduardo Morras wrote: > At 16:36 24/06/2011, doug@safeport.com wrote: >> Well for me it all worked well for all versions of FreeBSD until Windows 7. >> My main purpose was to document the link given to me by a friend who does >> user support for a local college. Before Vista the boot process was pretty >> simple, the MBR was one sector on sector 0, track 0 and it read the first >> sector of the target partition who took it from there. >> >> My experience with FreeBSD 7.0 to present has been that the install does >> not work with Windows 7. It appears that the MBR can still only have 4 >> entries. Windows 7 gets more by using extended partitions. Dell, the there >> can be only one and let it be Windows company, uses two small partitions >> for something. It may be that some of that underlying stuff is not needed >> but I had enough trouble without without making changes at that level. > > In Vista the way that Windows start changed. The MBR points to a file inside > the Windows partition that have the partition scheme. It's called BCD. You > can install EasyBCD in windows (it's freeware with commercial licence) that > permits you to start Windows and other OS inside other partitions. I use it > in my trial? Win7/FreeBSD8.2/OpenBSD4.9 server and dual Win7/FreeBSD8.2 > laptop. > > http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 > >> If FreeBSD can be installed in an extended partition, that would be a very >> useful howto. > > Don't know about it, perhaps using easybcd you can do that Perhaps but I could not get FreeBSD in an extended partition. I am using easyBCD to do the dual boot. In doing what I did I never distrubed the boot records in the partitions. Once I got the MBR and the windows 7 second level boot code restored, it all worked as advertised. The trick as outlined in the link to to run the process 3 times booting after each time. _____ Douglas Denault http://www.safeport.com doug@safeport.com Voice: 301-217-9220 Fax: 301-217-9277