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I have a SSD installed with Windows 7 which is what I normally use.

Recently I had a HDD installed with Ubuntu 16.04. At first I didn't know how things really work and I actually got Ubuntu able to detect windows OS as an alternative booting option IF I boot from Ubuntu's HDD.

If I boot from windows' SSD it doesn't ask me the option of which OS I want to boot up with.

How to get my windows to recognize there's another OS connected so when starting up with windows SSD it'll ask me for option?

I want to start up with SSD and runs the Windows 7 as default (I know Ubuntu's grub customize can customize the boot up menu)

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  • You have to manually edit the Windows Bootloader, which in my opinion is a PIA and a waste of time... More info here: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/… but why not just use the BIOS/UEFI one time bootloader menu to select the other OS when you need to boot it, for example on my HP computers (both laptop and desktop) I press ESC during the POST and the one-time boot menu comes up allowing me to pick what drive to boot to this time only.
    – acejavelin
    Commented Jun 15, 2016 at 20:53
  • @acejavelin I believe I know what you mean, as for me I have to press F12 when the motherboard screen comes up and that's where the boot up menu is. Just thinking of alternative way if possible so I don't have to keep on pressing F12 each time I want to switch to ubuntu. Which isn't a real problem, if making windows to realize another OS exists is a hassle :D
    – Dora
    Commented Jun 15, 2016 at 21:02

2 Answers 2

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It is not very easy to edit the Windows Boot Manager to add other operating systems that are not Windows, but it is possible using some third party tools:

Is it possible to boot Ubuntu using the Windows bootloader? (AskUbuntu)

It would be much easier to set up GRUB to automatically use the Windows OS with a 5 second timeout. That way if you wanted to use Ubuntu, you could interrupt it and select it:

How do I set Windows to boot as the default in the [Ubuntu] boot loader? (AskUbuntu)

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  • hah yes, I know what you mean. I think I did mention I realized and asked grub customize would help me customize grub (actually is grub the name of that selection menu of ubuntu?) anyways, yes I realized that's one option which means I would need to tell bios to boot up from a old hdd (where my ubuntu is) instead of boot up from ssd. I believe there wouldn't be much difference either its ssd or hdd at this moment. Just being quite curious about this.
    – Dora
    Commented Jun 15, 2016 at 21:04
  • Another reason is, I used to know windows would detect a different version of windows if multiples are installed so thought it wouldn't be a hassle for windows to detect ubuntu. Guess I am wrong :P
    – Dora
    Commented Jun 15, 2016 at 21:05
  • Windows will only detect other Windows installations, for the most part. Even that sometimes is hit or miss and it has to be added manually.
    – user201262
    Commented Jun 15, 2016 at 21:06
  • got it :D thanks for all the explanations :P learned something again
    – Dora
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 15:26
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As you're using two distinct physical medias, one for each OS, you can simply use the BIOS options to switch the startup order: the computer first try to boot on the SSD, then the HDD, or vice versa. (User acejavelin already suggested that.)

If you still want a boot menu to appear when the computer starts, and using Windows's bootloader, the procedure depends on which version of Windows you're using.

With Windows XP (and previous versions) you have to clone Ubuntu's boot sector to a file, put this file in your Window's file system and add a row of text to call this file in C:\boot.ini.

From Windows Vista, you have to use the native command line Bcdedit utility. You may also hear about the popular third-party EasyBCD software, which offers a graphical interface.

However, one problem that I observe with Ubuntu 16.04 is that at the end of the installation procedure, its installer doesn't let me install Grub to another location than the MBR, typically the / partition. In this regard, some installers from other distributions offer more flexibility.

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