Dual booting WinXP + Linux
Author
Hi,
Last night I installed Fedora Core 3, and when it was done installing I rebooted the machine... Now, what I was hoping was that there would be a menu which would let me choose between Linux and XP. (Like NTLDR). But, instead it just loaded into Windows XP without any menu...
So, now I supposedly have Linux on my machine, but I can't boot into it! Can anyone please help me out? I tried messing around with boot.ini, to see if I could get NTLDR to display the menu to select between WinXP and Linux. I got it to display a menu, but when I clicked on the Linux option, it said the hard drive wasn't configured right, so I probably didn't edit boot.ini properly.
Btw, here is the layout of my hard drives:
Disk 1: (20 GB SCSI drive)
-------------------------------
Windows XP (C:) - FAT32 - Primary
Disk 2: (40 GB IDE drive)
-------------------------------
Unallocated space (8 MB) - Primary
Extended partition (11 GB)
-Linux Swap partition (1GB) - Logical
-Linux Ext2 partition (10GB) - Logical
Data partition (29 GB) - FAT32 - Primary
Thanks very much,
roos
I found that it's a ton easier to use grub (or lilo) to dual boot.
Boot into linux:
-Boot up the Fedora CD
-When it asks you what kernel to use, type: 'linux rescue'
-Procede through booting sequence
Install Grub:
-Type 'grub' at command line
-Type 'root (hd1,5)/boot' in grub prompt
-If you get ANY errors, stop immidatly and seek more help.
-Type 'setup (hd0)' in grub prompt
-Type 'quit' to quit [wink].
Edit 'grub.conf'
-Type 'nano -w /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub/grub.conf'
-If there is an entry for Windows already there, you can exit (Ctrl+X) and 'reboot'
-If not, append the following to the end of the file:
-Now save (Ctrl+X, 'y', <enter>, <enter>), and 'reboot'
Have faith
-Now pray to your Deity and beg for mercy [smile].
If this renders you system unusable, stick in you Windows XP disk, enter the repair console, and type 'fixmbr' to at least get Windows back.
Boot into linux:
-Boot up the Fedora CD
-When it asks you what kernel to use, type: 'linux rescue'
-Procede through booting sequence
Install Grub:
-Type 'grub' at command line
-Type 'root (hd1,5)/boot' in grub prompt
-If you get ANY errors, stop immidatly and seek more help.
-Type 'setup (hd0)' in grub prompt
-Type 'quit' to quit [wink].
Edit 'grub.conf'
-Type 'nano -w /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub/grub.conf'
-If there is an entry for Windows already there, you can exit (Ctrl+X) and 'reboot'
-If not, append the following to the end of the file:
title=Windows XProotnoverify (hd0,0)makeactivechainloader +1-Now save (Ctrl+X, 'y', <enter>, <enter>), and 'reboot'
Have faith
-Now pray to your Deity and beg for mercy [smile].
If this renders you system unusable, stick in you Windows XP disk, enter the repair console, and type 'fixmbr' to at least get Windows back.
GRUB setup should have been part of the Fedora Core 3 installer (it was for me, anyway), did it get skipped in some way? I just overwrote the Windows bootloader with GRUB, and can boot both operating systems.
Author
Hi,
Thanks very much for your awesome explanation, Brice Lambson. Unfortunately, I get stuck on the following step:
"-Type 'root (hd1,5)/boot' in grub prompt"
When I do that, it says something like "no such partition exists". By the way, when I tried formatting my drive automatically w/ the Fedora installer, it gave an error message, so I used Disk Druid myself... So I created one partition for swap, and another one for "/"... I did not create a "/boot" partition- is this bad? I figured it was okay at the time though, because the installer did not complain about my not designating a /boot partition.
ukdeveloper- I did indeed get the option to install GRUB, and I chose to install it. However, it asked me if I wanted to install GRUB on the MBR or on the first /boot partition of the 2nd drive. (or something to that effect, hope that makes sense!) I was afraid of screwing around with my MBR though so I chose the 2nd option (not overwriting the MBR). This might be the problem, so I'm considering re-doing the install and choosing the MBR option but I don't want to make my computer unbootable...
Thanks again!
roos
Thanks very much for your awesome explanation, Brice Lambson. Unfortunately, I get stuck on the following step:
"-Type 'root (hd1,5)/boot' in grub prompt"
When I do that, it says something like "no such partition exists". By the way, when I tried formatting my drive automatically w/ the Fedora installer, it gave an error message, so I used Disk Druid myself... So I created one partition for swap, and another one for "/"... I did not create a "/boot" partition- is this bad? I figured it was okay at the time though, because the installer did not complain about my not designating a /boot partition.
ukdeveloper- I did indeed get the option to install GRUB, and I chose to install it. However, it asked me if I wanted to install GRUB on the MBR or on the first /boot partition of the 2nd drive. (or something to that effect, hope that makes sense!) I was afraid of screwing around with my MBR though so I chose the 2nd option (not overwriting the MBR). This might be the problem, so I'm considering re-doing the install and choosing the MBR option but I don't want to make my computer unbootable...
Thanks again!
roos
The easiest way was definitely to let it install GRUB to the MBR, that's how I've always done it in the past. If nothing else I'm sure redoing the install with that option will set things straight. I don't have any experience with the other procedure personally, but if it's telling you the partition doesn't exist, then you must need to give it another hdc(number)... But as for advice on that topic I think I'll leave it to someone who's not just guessing.
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