let me start by saying i know basically NOTHING about Linux. My ex boyfriend set my computer up as a dual boot with Mandrake and Windows. Within windows, he partitioned two drives. my windows is FUBARed and needs an F Disk desperately. now i know, if you are anything like he was, you're laughing right now, doin' the 'see - you shouldn't use windows' stuff....but please, i just really need help. i'm a windows user always was, always will be, and although i'm happy to keep my linux install (mostly cause my little girl loves tux racer!), i can't figger out how to f disk.

now the reason i bring this here, is cause everytime i try, it tell me it can't unmount the drive. unmount. k, i know that is a linux term, so the only thing i can guess is that windows and my c drive are somehow mounted onto the linux partition.

i want to keep linux, and i want to keep my c and e drives, i just want to wipe out c and totally re-install. my registry is screwed up, i've been hacked by trojans (now have virus program) etc etc etc.

can anyone help me?

Hi,

If you aren't sure what is mounted, open a terminal window and type the command: mount then post back here with the results.

ok, got the terminal window, typed mount, got like 20 lines of code and tried to copy paste here but it doesn't give me the option to paste...it would take me a week to copy & reproduce that code! is there an easier way?

What I was looking for is lines which show what the windows partition is mounted as. Probably looks something like this ....
/dev/hda1 on /mnt/win type ntfs (ro)

Might be easier for you to make sure you have a Mandrake boot floppy. Then go ahead and start the Windows install. It will give you an option to remove the existing ntfs partition.

i know it's not nfts, its FAT32, i'll look again for a line like that.
thanks homey...i'll be back.

Ok, typed mount in Konsole, and there are two lines that are similar:

/dev/hda5 on/mnt/win-d type vfat (rw,iocharset=iso 8859-1,codepage=850,unmask=0)
/dev/hda1 on/mnt/windows type vfat (rw,iocharset=iso 8859-1,codepage=850,unmask=0)

i think its the second one you are looking for?

i logged back into Windows and tried to zap the drive again. fyi, the Volume on drive C is Windows There is also an E drive that accepted format e: just fine.

when i open a command window in Windows, and type format c: it says:

Format cannot run because the Volume is in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPEN HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you liek to force dismount on this volume? (Y/N)

of course, i say yes, then it says:

Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

so, what does that comment about the handles mean?
can i dismount windows? how? if i do, will linux still be usable in the other partition?

Yep, I think Windows is most likely installed on /dev/hda1 as that is where Windows usually wants to be.

As root user...
You can un - mount that partition with the command: umount /mnt/windows
You don't have to delete the partition. After you un - mount it, you can format it with the command: mkfs.vfat /dev/hda1

Also, when you start the windows install, there is an option to delete the partition and create a new one. Just be sure to not let windows grab the whole drive.

ok, thanks so much homey, i'll give it a shot on the weekend and we'll see how it goes this time!

oh, do you mean i will be formating c from linux? and then do i remount after i have the windows reinstalled on c? can i expect anything in linux to not work right after this? thanks again, you rock guru!

Those commands where for linux but you don't really have to format anything as the windows installer can delete / create partitions.
Yes, you can expect windows to overwrite the MBR ( boot menu ) so, you won't be able to boot into linux unless you remembered to make a linux boot floppy. You can also use the linux cdrom to repair the linux boot menu. Probably wouldn't hurt to google on Mandrake repair boot loader.
Good luck!

In case I missed it
how many windows partitions do you have
and how big is your hard drive

There is a doc for loading mandrake online
these docs are for Mandrake 10.0
let me know if yours if different

http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak...tml/drakx.html

have a good read of
* selecting the mount points
* choose partitions to be formatted

and read this chapter as well

http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak...diskdrake-use1

The diskdrake gui is very easy to use as I dual boot with Mandrake 10 and Windows 98 and I have a Win C,D & E drive as well as the mandrake partitions

do you have access to a windows boot disk for any version as you can fdisk your C: drive with that, reload windows and then reload the boot loader for both Mandrake and Win 2K

here a site for dual booting Win & mandrake

http://www.littlewhitedog.com/content-52.html

though I dont know how helpful it will be for you

I will have a look at mandrake's disk drake and see what I can come up with, don't lose hope

floppy

hi floppy,

hard drive is 10 gig total and i have a partition for linux and two drives in windows (c & e), so is that three partitions?

i'm running mandrake 9.1

that sounds hard! actually, i think i get it up to 'reload the boot loader for both mandrake and win2k....

thanks so much floppy....

Now I'm really curious
you have a C: and E: drive,
ummm ... so what is the D: drive

and how big are your partitions for windows
the reason I ask is that it must be quite a squeeze
to get 2 win partitions and a Mandrake install into 10 gigs

now your windows is stuffed
but can you boot Mandrake ?
cos Mandrake can see, read and move windows files
[ at least win 98 ( fat 32 ) so I hope win2k ]
and if you have any files on your windows that you want to save
My Documents for example
you might be able to move them onto the other windows partition
before wiping clean the C drive
for that task in Mandrake use Konqueror
open Konqueror ( web browser )
press F9 to bring up side bar thingy
click on "mnt"
you should see cdrom, floppy, win_C, win_E
click on plus sign next to win_C
and you should see My Documents, Program Files, Windows etc
click on My Documents and you should see
all your stuff ( hopefully )
now click on the E drive and pick a suitable folder
go back to My documents
lleft-click & drag your files over to the E drive folder
or if that makes you nervous
you can drag them into the Mandrake home folder

hope this helps
let us know how you get on
live long and prosper
floppy

edit
apart from Tuxracer
what does your daughter play
the reason I say that is because Tuxracer is available for windows
http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/
though I'm not sure about win 2k

well homey and floppywhopper, here's a good one. now i have no windows. i figured out how to format c, everything got corrupt, i've spent hours and hours trying to fix it, and nothings working. and imagine! i was worried about losing linux! i still have lilo and dual boot, but windows won't install. i'm using linux now, and although some stuff is ok, i still feel pretty cut off from my world.

so, i'm off to find a windows help forum i guess....but i really appreciate the help you guys gave me....you rock!
thanks again!

I suppose you really have to decide whether or not you want to keep Linux particularly if you yourself don't use it and your daughter only plays Tux Racer. As I said before Tux Racer is available for windows.

You may consider completely wiping Linux off your drive and just running windows, although I'm a little surprised that you formatted C and yet Lilo is still there to dual boot ... strange.

If that is what you choose to do then please secure your windows computer with a decent firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware. I use and recommend AVG anti-virus, Tiny Firewall, Ad-aware and Spybot search & destroy: all freebees and very effective.

Hope this helps and maybe if you ever decide to use Linux again we might see you back again.

live long and prosper
floppywhopper