hello linux community.

i had to delete linux off of my other computer for my mom because she is not intellectually capable of scrolling down to dos in the grub menu.

windows xp was preinstalled and then linux red hat 9 was installed using disk druid's default disk partitioning settings.

i deleted the linux partion using partition magic and the problem is that it now only boots to a grub command line. (not the grub menu, its like the grub program command line) and none of the commands work because it says kernal must be loaded before booting.

I then decided to go back into partition magic and merged the unallocated partion (that used to be linux but i deleted it) into the ntfs partion. The same problem still exists though.

can somebody help me set windows xp as the default boot, and get it booting to windows xp.

( and please note that despite my use of computer jargon i am surprisingly new to linux and computers. If you choose to help me please be specific and thorough, otherwise you would probably be wasting your time.)

thank you very much.

Not a Linux-question, but just use a windows-boot disk
and run fdisk /mbr

Btw, the simple solution would have been to change the
order of the entries in the boot-menu, or define winDOHs
as the deafult.


Cheers,
Tink

thanks tink, i didn't know how to change it to default unfortunately. so all i have to do is create a bootable floppy in windows xp and run fdisk /mbr.. i hate to ask this, but how do i create a bootable floppy in windows xp?

Moved: This thread is more suitable in the General forum and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

will someone please tell me why fdisk is a bad command?

that is where i am at, i got the xp boot disk and then i type fdisk /mbr and it says bad command

is there anyone alive out there?

lol

pls help.

I suppose you'd have to copy it to the floppy, or run it of the HDD,
in which case you'll need the full path.


Cheers,
Tink

fdisk works well for MS-DOS and Windows all the way up to and including Windows ME.

You'll be needing the system recovery console. See http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;314058

Once you get that started, the commands you're looking for are 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot'.

You need the Windows Installation CD, pop that in and boot off it, instead of choosing install or equivalent choose Recovery Console and eventually after following all the options it drops you to a prompt then issue a and that shoul be it.

Oh, it may be `fdisk /mbr`, if you issue a `dir` you will see a list of files either fdisk or fixmbr ought to be there, use which one you have.

If you don't have a Windows Installation CD, you may be able to download a Windows XP boot disk floppy image that you can put onto, well, a floppy search google for more details, and I don't know if the partition tools will be available on such a floppy