Hello Everyone,
I have got Windows XP home edition and Red Hat Fedora Core 2 installed on my laptop. My boot partition is Windows. Due to virus attack on windows partition I re-installed windows xp home edition (which I had to do it anyways). To be precise, I deleted the C:/ Windows (boot partition) partition but linux was still there. Then created the C partition and installed Windows XP here. Now when I boot my machine, I dont get the dual boot option, ie. Windows or Fedora. How do I access Linux partition now? I didnt do anything to Linux partition.
Thanks for any help,
Seema
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Eagle6990 are u sure that Linux uses the same boot commands as Windows.... :)
check here how it has described to change the boot.ini file from Windows to add the entry for Linux system !!
Setting Up a Windows/Linux Dual Boot System
http://www.linuxforums.org
I tried all the above options but nothing seems to work. I looked at boot.ini of other computer which has Windows XP home edition (as default boot) and Fedora Core 2 installed. It looks the same as on my computer.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdi
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
I couldnt find any information regarding Linux boot in this boot.ini . Where else can I look for the information? Thanks
seema, when u formatted ur C:(primary drive) it erased the boot records, so now it doesn't know that u have a Linux install also.... !! =\
Did u tried the adding boot command for linux in boot.ini file of windows, as descibed in my link,,,,,, and if its not working, then as eagle has already mentioned,,,,,, u will need to run the Setup for ur Linux again,,, i dont know if it can be repaired also like windows,,,,, but it needed to be reinstalled so that it can re-enter itself in the boot menu choices !!
one thing more,,,,, why dont u goto linux area >> http://www.experts-exchang
and ask their advise,,,,, we can work with XP, but Linux is difficult for us to handle,,,,, we have told out way of dealing this problem,,,,, now u shud take the advises of Linux experts also, so that u can make sure that what u are required to do in order to solve this issue !!
and u dont need to post another full points question, just post a 20 points pointer question, with a heading something like "500 Points Question, Lost Linux after Repairng XP",,,,,, and give the link to this question, they will come here and will try to help u :)
Hello Seema,
Boot from your Fedora CD
Mount your linux filesystem - assuming your linux root is the second partition on your HD
#mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
chroot to your mount point ( so your working root dir becomes the root of the HD volume you just mounted )
#chroot /mnt
Run grub-install to re-write your MBR - for example if your notebook has a single IDE drive
#grub-install /dev/hda
Your dual boot setup probably never used the windoes boot.ini file.
Good Luck, Dennis
Yes, I tried exactly what you wrote. My problem is, I cannot re-install linux as all my thesis work is stored there. I am trying my best to avoid reinstallation, therefore, looking for options. This is what I did:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdi
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)par
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
I tried following options and got the problems as below:
1: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
Problem: Computer restarts.
2: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
Problem: Computer restarts.
3: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
Problem: I got the following error message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please reinstall a copy of the above file.
Now what do I do?
Thanks
The method I suggested initially is flawed since I don't know much about Linux and though you could boot just from the partition but you cannot. In SheharyaarSaahil's link, about halfway down is a section about "Using the Windows Bootloader" If you follow those directions, you should be fine, but it does involve you needing to boot into Linux. Did you create a boot floppy for your Linux install?
seema u are doing it in a wrong way...... i dont think so that it has anything to do with Windows,,,, u have to configure Linux to get itno boot menu choice,,,,,the link i gave was also abt booting with Linux disk and getting a Linux.bin file which we can enter in Windows boot.ini file,,,,,, but im not sure how it actually works coz i have no idea\experience with linux, i have only heard of its name =\
I think dReichel is giving a good advise here,,,, or as i said, contact Linux area coz experts there will be known to Linux problems and can help u in this issue !!
If the Linux partitions survived your deletion of "the C:/ Windows (boot partition)" dReichel's solution should work, although he failed to mention that you need to boot into rescue mode.
What I'd suggest that you do at this point is to boot from the Fedora Core 2 Rescue CD and see if it can locate your Linux installation. If the partition table survived your re-install of windows it will find it and offer to mount it. Allow rescue to do so and when you get to a command prompt do:
chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub-install /dev/hda
exit
exit
If rescue doesn't offer to mount the Linux system execute an 'fdisk -l /dev/hda', write down what it shows and post it here.
Do you know which boot loader you were using? When you re-installed Windows, windows replaced the MBR with its own. I know that if you were using LILO, you can boot from a bootdisk into Linux and then re-install LILO into the MBR.
If you don't have a bootdisk, you can boot from the CD into rescue mode as described above and re-install LILO from the CD. After doing this, you will be able to boot into Linux, but not Windows. Next you will need to edit /etc/lilo.conf and add Windows XP.
The following settings should work, but could be different depending on how your partitions are setup. At the end of /etc/lilo.conf add the following information
other = /dev/hda1
label = winXP
table = /dev/hda
After making any changes to /etc/lilo.conf, you need to run LILO by using /sbin/lilo
Seema,
Your easiest solution is to do as Dennis, dReichel, suggested above. This will not re-install linux, it just overwrites the Windows bootloader, NTLDR, with your Linux bootloader, GRUB. This is what you want.
Boot the computer with the Fedora Core 2 Dick 1 and go into "rescue" mode.(You could also use any other bootable linux CD like KNOPPIX or Audios, etc.).
Mount your root linux partition:
create a directory to mount to such as:
# mkdir /mnt/localdisk
then mount it:
# mount /dev/hda? /mnt/localdisk
replace the "?" with the partition number of the linux root partition.
then run GRUB:
/mnt/localdisk/sbin/grub
from the grub command line run:
> root (hd0,?)
replace the "?" with the partition number of the linux _boot_ partition (this may be the same as the root partition, but most likely is not) (with grub the partition number will be one less than that above: hda2 = (hd0,1); and hda1 = (hd0,0)).
next run this from the grub command line:
> setup (hd0)
This command overwrites NTLDR with GRUB.
> quit
# cd /
# umount /nmt/localdisk
# reboot
I hope this helps.
Now this is silly... Windows geeks giving Linux advice? ;)
I'm pretty sure you must have used grub as your bootloader before you re-installed... Lilo is mostly dead, and windows bootloader isn't particularly nice to linux.
So what you do is that you boot from any live linux cd (or a rescue cd, doesn't matter). I use knoppix for these occasions (go to www.knoppix.org, download the latest ISO burn it to cd and boot from it)
Then mount your linux root partition somewhere, say /mnt/linuxroot.
If you have a separate boot partition, then mount your boot partition at the /boot inside your root partition (if you dont have a seperate boot partition you skip this step)
Now, under the boot directory or in a subdirectory there, you will find a file called either grub.conf or menu.lst
Take a look at the contents of that file. If it contains a boot entry for windows, then you _did_ use grub to boot windows before the reinstall, and the only thing left to do is to re-install the mbr part of grub to your mbr.
To do this you chroot to your linux partition mountpoint with 'chroot /mnt/linuxroot /bin/bash' and then run grub-install /dev/hda to install the grub bootloader to the mbr of your primary master hard disk (assuming you're using a ide disk and that the disk in question is indeed the primary master).
Disclaimer, I'm typing this from memory since I'm not a fedora user, but if you have some linux experience you shouldn't have a hard time adjusting these directions to your needs.
On the other hand, if the grub config doesn't mention windows, then you've used the windows bootloader, and this becomes a windows problem... and I dont touch those ;)
cheers.
>>karlwilbur>>Boot the computer with the Fedora Core 2
>>karlwilbur>>Dick 1 and go into
oops. :-D
>> Now this is silly... Windows geeks giving Linux advice? ;)
Actually, I'm a Linux geek. :-)
fulp02 is correct. When you reinstalled WinXP, Windows overwrites the Master Boot Record (MBR) on the hard drive. [The MBR is the location on the hard drive where the boatloader resides. It is the very first sector of the hard drive.] Windows puts NTLDR in the MBR. It does not ask permission to overwrite the MBR, it just does it. This is presumptuous and "know-best". This kind of "know-best" attitude is why I left Windows in the first place.
By undoing what Windows did to "break" you dual boot, you will have your dual boot back.
There is a way to have NTLDR be your bootloader and dual boot with Fedora by editing boot.ini but GRUB is _FAR_ superior to NTLDR, so just stick with GRUB.
Best, Karl
Beautiful Solution...Go Linux Experts.....Hats Off to all you guys... It finally worked.. This is exactly what I did:
# mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/localdisk
# mount /devhda2 /mnt/localdisk/boot
# chroot /mnt/localdisk /bin/bash
# grub-install /dev/hda
And Voila!!!.. I got the option to start either Windows or Fedora..
Thanks a Bunch experts..
Seema
QUESTION:
EinarTh: You asked me to look at the contents of grub.conf or menu.lst. I couldnt open these files. What is the procedure to open these files? But still assuming it contains the entry for windows, I followed whatever was you wrote. Thanks a million for your complete solution.
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by: Eagle6990Posted on 2004-09-23 at 15:16:06ID: 12138404
You will need to edit your boot.ini file that got deleted when you formatted.
http://support.microsoft.c
You'll probably want an entry similar to this depending on what partition and drive you installed it to:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)par
This can be dangerous to be careful and take backups before doing anything.