Thread: Linux - Dual Boot

  1. #1
    Microsoft. Who? MethodMan's Avatar
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    Linux - Dual Boot

    Hi,

    My friend installed Red Hat 9.0 on his laptop and can no longer boot into Winows. It doesnt even have the option to boot to it from the selection screen. He re-installed XP, before he put on Red Hat.

    My question, how do I change the boot record to have that selection.

    Thanks
    -MethodMan-

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  2. #2
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    He might have accidentally overwritten his Windows patition.
    "When I die I want to pass peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."

  3. #3
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    Originally posted by ZakkWylde969
    He might have accidentally overwritten his Windows patition.
    Good, .

    Uhh, try installing the freebsd bootloader. That auto-detects partitions each time. It labels Windows as ??? but still boots it.

  4. #4
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    Learn your boot loader(LILO or GRUB)

    In both you just have to add a name(Windows) and its parttion and it will be a option.

    Its easier if you do Windows first than a UNIX*.

  5. #5
    Registered User FloatingPoint's Avatar
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    To make sure if WinXP was overwritten boot into RHL, launch a terminal, change user to root:

    su -

    run fdisk to list what partitions you have on the disk.

    fdisk /dev/hda -l (assuming there's one master disk on the primary IDE channel)

    a list of partitions and their types will appear.

    If there are no FAT32 or NTFS partitions then yes, your Windows is gone.

    You could reinstall XP w/o removing RHL first but there'll be a need to get your hands dirty with /etc/grub/grub.conf or /etc/lilo.conf and making sure Windows do not overwrite your existing RHL partitions
    Come cast your shadow over me
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  6. #6
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    I'll just stick this in here. Today I'm finally going to install the new Mandrak 9.1 (Pretty sure thats number) and I have Windows XP on a full harddrive NFTS partition. mandrake says it can resize those. Would I be able to resize my Windows and allow Mandrake to share a harddrive with it safely?
    "When I die I want to pass peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."

  7. #7
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    Yes you can ZakkWylde969. Its riskier than fat32, but so far so good.

    You only need to make 2 partitions for linux, but you can goto 6.

    You need a /(root) and a SWAP. You can also add a /home and a /boot. Theres alot of other you can do, dont worry about them now.

  8. #8
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    yeah thanks. I can't install it anyhow. for some reason when I reboot with the .iso image it says it can't continue with that data or something and to reboot. I guess I can't install mandrake or something
    "When I die I want to pass peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."

  9. #9
    Registered User FloatingPoint's Avatar
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    Could it be that you've got a busted CD there?

    Do a md5 checksum if Mdk 9.1 has that.
    Come cast your shadow over me
    and I'll cast mine all over thee
    Take me away, into the shades
    where there is no light of day

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