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Old Zorin Forum archive → Installation

Multiboot, which OS is on which partition?[Solved]

Hensyr Wolf

Mon Jan 04, 2016 10:02:09 pm

Hi dear friends,
First of all, my best wishes for 2016, may this year be your best year ever.

Now i have a test computer an Acer desktop with 1TB space, which i have partitioned for different OS systems.
I know the partition scheme out of my head and I have to write down what OS is on which partition because i don't can see that in the grub.
There are 3 primary partitions
    dev/sda1 = windows 7 loader by system reserved 100 MB
    dev/sda 2 = NTFS Windows 7 195 GB
    dev/sda 3 = extended partition 736 GB
then i have 6 logical partitions
    dev/sda 5 = swap partition 4 GB
    dev/sda 6 = Zorin OS 9 Lite 146 GB
    dev/sda 7 = Zorin OS 9 Core 146 GB
    dev/sda 8 = Zorin OS 10 Core 146 GB
    dev/sda 9 = Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 146 GB
    dev/sda 10 = Linux Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 146 GB
Now it is true that all Zorin OS systems bearing the same name in grub2 and you can not tell the difference which system now Zorin OS Lite 9 and 9 Core or 10 Core is.
The only name you see in the grub is Zorin, 3 times in a row!
The grub just says only that there are 3 Zorin OS systems, but not by theire name.
Also if you startup Gparted, it only says you which partions are used but not whish OS system is on which partition.
I just know from the outside my head.
To recognize the different OS systems in the grub I installed the program Grub Customizer and give the various systems themselves a name.
So by each startup of the computer i can choose the required OS to start.

My question:
Is there any command in terminal that lists up the different OS systems on the HDD?
Or is there a way you can find out which OS systems are all installed on the hard disk?

lscstu22

Tue Jan 05, 2016 1:25:03 am

Hensyr Wolf wrote:My question:
Is there any command in terminal that lists up the different OS systems on the HDD?
Or is there a way you can find out which OS systems are all installed on the hard disk?


If you're on linux you can use the lsblk command which will list all active drives and partitions.

Hensyr Wolf

Tue Jan 05, 2016 7:38:08 am

Thanks lscstu,

But the problem remains.
This command gives me all the partitions and also on which partition the current OS is in use (/dev/sda 7) and the swap partition.
But gives no further information about the other operating sytems on each partition, see printscreen:

Image

This lsblk command is realy a good command if you restart your computer and every time choose an other OS, that way you can see what the mountpoint is on which partition.
Only i seek for a simple command or program that let me see which OS is on which partition without the restart of the computer.

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:59:45 pm

Hi Hensry,

Try these guides:

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/201 ... untu-1404/

this might be the answer:

http://dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

scroll down to the bit about "Sample /etc/grub.d/ directory" ;) :D

lscstu22

Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:26:21 pm

Hensyr Wolf wrote:This lsblk command is realy a good command if you restart your computer and every time choose an other OS, that way you can see what the mountpoint is on which partition.
Only i seek for a simple command or program that let me see which OS is on which partition without the restart of the computer.

After doing some research, I found bootinfoscript. It's definitely not perfect, but it may be the only option available.

Code:
sudo apt-get install boot-info-script
sudo bootinfoscript --stdout | sed -n '/Summary/,/Partition Info/{/Partition Info/b;p}'

The sed command just parses the output of bootinfoscript for the wanted info, since the output is normally pretty verbose. Here's the output from my system:

Code:
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
    the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
    in partition 135 for .
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext2
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:
    Operating System: 
    Boot files:        /grub/grub.cfg

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       crypto_LUKS
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       crypto_LUKS
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:

sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       crypto_LUKS
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:

debian8desktop-vg-root': _______________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed:   mount: unknown filesystem type ''

debian8desktop-vg-swap_1': _____________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed:   mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

As you can see the script doesn't always parse the wanted info, but it could be a good starting point. All of the drives on my system are encrypted, so your results will probably be better than mine.

Good luck, I hope it works for you :)

Hensyr Wolf

Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:16:47 am

Hi lscstu22,

This is realy awsome good news you give here.
Here is the output:
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
in partition 112 for .
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
Boot sector info: Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the boot sector of sda6
and looks at sector 1713994624 of the same hard drive
for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
in partition 112 for .
Operating System: Zorin OS 9
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sda7: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Zorin OS 9
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sda8: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Zorin 10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sda9: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sda10: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sdb1 has
-1364695294 sectors.. But according to the info from
the partition table, it has 2930272001 sectors.
Operating System:
Boot files:

Realy nice, thanks very much.

lscstu22

Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:05:21 am

Hensyr Wolf wrote:Hi lscstu22,

This is realy awsome good news you give here.

Realy nice, thanks very much.

I'm glad to hear it worked, np! :D

Don't forget to edit your title with a [SOLVED]

Cheers mate! ;)

Hensyr Wolf

Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:41:16 am

Don't forget to edit your title with a [SOLVED]


Done

And thanks very much