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Headless Dual Boot (Windows/Unix) with two HDDs?

  • 04-09-2015 1:55pm
    #1
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭


    I have a PC with 2 hard drives. One with Windows 7. One with Ubuntu.

    However it's a home server without a monitor attached. How do I control which OS I boot up? ie, can I leave Windows as default then tell windows to reboot but into the other HDD (Ubuntu)?

    Obviously this is easy to select via the BIOS or bootloader but I don't have a monitor attached.


Comments

  • #2
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭quarryman


    fúck it. Decided to buy a cheap second hand monitor, that i can just connect when needed!


  • #3
    mass_debater
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,072 ✭✭✭mass_debater


    quarryman wrote: »
    I have a PC with 2 hard drives. One with Windows 7. One with Ubuntu.

    However it's a home server without a monitor attached. How do I control which OS I boot up? ie, can I leave Windows as default then tell windows to reboot but into the other HDD (Ubuntu)?

    Obviously this is easy to select via the BIOS or bootloader but I don't have a monitor attached.

    Why not just run one as host and the other as a virtual machine.


  • #4
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭quarryman


    mass_debater wrote: »
    Why not just run one as host and the other as a virtual machine.

    I like to have the real thing tbh. Also the server isn't that powerful, so I don't want to take the hit in performance the VM OS would suffer from.


  • #5
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    An IPMI is perfect for this, but you wont have one on non professional use boards.


  • #6
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,567 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    someone else should know the answer
    http://alternativeto.net/software/grub2win/

    basically all you need to do is to be able to edit the grub menu from inside each OS

    a useful first step is to set grub to default to the last used OS


    very low tech answer is to use a boot disk to boot to the other OS

    high tech would be to use a PXE server and change the config at that end.


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  • #7
    d31b0y
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,028 ✭✭✭d31b0y


    Ubuntu has the ability to reboot into Windows. I don't suppose the ubuntu install is the main server and you just need to boot into windows from time to time?

    If so, then it should be pretty easy.
    Setup Grub to boot into Ubuntu by default.
    When you need to boot Windows, follow these instructions to "reboot to windows".
    I'm not 100% sure on this last step but hopefully, when you then reboot windows , grub will revert back to ubuntu.

    EDIT: There is also this windows tool which supposedly allows you to select which OS to boot to. I'd be surprised if it can read the grub loader though. More likely, it just reads the "windows boot manager".


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