dual boot problems
 

Hi,

I hv win xp on a 10 Gb HDD (primary) and RH 7.1 on a 3Gb Hdd (secondary)..

When I installed Linux, it overwrote the xp bootloader and I was able to log in only to linux.. Using the XP Cd, I executed FIXMBR and now I can enter only into XP!

I do hv a Linux boot disk and am unable to boot into the linux.. Upon booting with the startup disk I get 5 options but they r all about reinstalling/upgrading or troubleshooting linux..

Can anyone help me out??

thnx,
sg

find the partition where ur xp is installed and then add its entry in /etc/lilo.conf and then run lilo command at the command prompt

you can find the partition by using fdisk.

If for example you want to list all partitions on your primary disk (hda) type fdisk -l /dev/hda

Re: dual boot problems
 

Did you try the 'troubleshooting' option? As said before you are going to have to get into Linux and install either GRUB or LILO.

I tried the troubleshooting option and got a shell prompt but do not know how to proceed from here!

will try out the fdisk option later today.. thnx,

sg

there is another way, dont let lilo or grub write to your MBR of /dev/hdx (where your XP mbr is). Instead place it on a seperate bootdisk or your rootdisk if you do not have a seperate bootdisk. Then cop your 'new' MBR to your windows disk using
dd if=/dev/hdx of=/dev/hdy/boot.lnx where /dev/hdx is your boot-disk for linux, and /dev/hdy is your XP-disk. If this one is NTFS you can't write to it. Use a floppy disk as intermediate make sure it is fat and not ext2 or something. Then go to XP, go to the prompt and cd / to the xp-root. Use attrib to remove the non-write and hidden from boot.ini attrib -r -h boot.ini. Then edit boot.ini and place an extra line for your Linux, and refer to boot.lnx (see the windows-lines for example. I think it is boot=/boot.lnx). You can use any name you like for boot.lnx. With this method I am able to boot from XP to Win 98, Debian, Gentoo, RedHat and Xp.

Hi,

I hv RH7.1 and it hangs midway when I tried to use the graphic install.

But in either the graphic install or the text install, it never asks me as to where to install Lilo..

My basic problem right now is booting into linux.. How do i get into the linux partition ??


I can reinstall linux for all its worth but i guess the same problem will repeat with linux overwriting windows bootloader..

any suggestions??
THnx,
sg