Hello, I am a total n00b to Linux and have run into a problem. I have both XP and Linux on drive C:. The MBR is at at the beggining of 1 with XP, and the Linux /boot is on 5. When I realized the disto I have (cAos) didn't come with LILO and that I was locked out of XP (which I needed to go back to so I could look up Linux docs to configure X Windows) I went into the XP recovery console and reset the MBR. Now I don't have a way back into Linux, so I was wondering what I would have to type into the boot.ini file to add Linux as a boot option. Thanks for any help!

did you create a boot disk during the install process for linux. you could use that to boot into linux.
otherwise you could use grub. using grub you can make your system dual boot. the image for the floppy can be downloaded from
ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-0.90-i386-pc.ext2fs
copy it to a floppy using dd (linux) or rawrite (windows).

Oh how I wish I had a boot disk! However, if GRUB can boot me into Linux from a boot disk, I am very happy... Thank you so much for that link! [I've been looking for boot/loader disk images that might help for the last few hours!]
Going to try it out, will update on my progress.

Ok, I have obtained the file [the one posted did not exist, so I get the current one]. I can't use dd since I can't get into Linux until I fix this problem, so I tried rawrite, but as soon as I entered the filename, rawrite just shut down.
Perhaps I could write 'BasicLinux' to some floppies and drop into the shell to do this using dd?

I have had nothing but problems with Win2K and XP systems, but this is probably due to my n00b'ness with Windows. In any case, the several times that I did have to do this, I worked with a Windows guru, and it took us several tries of going back and forth (from booting one, and then the other) before we stumbled on the fix. The fix was nothing specific as I remember, just one of the times it worked (which my Windows counterpart mentioned to me is pretty normal when working with Windows).

Now I am only familiar with how to do this using Lilo or Grub, not the Windows bootloader.

As far as cAos goes, thanks for choosing it! It does also come with Lilo, but not used by default. IMHO, grub is easier once you figure it out.

To get the boot menu, Linux will have to reclaim the MBR again (or use a DOS based bootloader, which I am not familiar with). Honestly, the easiest thing for you to do would be to reinstall it if you have not put much work into customizing it. If you want to hack on it, I would suggest that you use either the installer and go into a rescue shell, or a LNX-BBC (http://lnx-bbc.org) to get grub back in the MBR, and then IIRC use the Windows rescue console to fix the boot partition (not the MBR), or something like that...

Please post followups...

Ok, so I decided that despite it taking a long time to re-install Linux, I was wasting a lot of time trying to get back into it anyways, so I re-installed. It is botted up fine, except now I need to figure out how to configure the dual boot from there [keep in mind I'm an uber-n00b][I am also using a different comp right now]. I also need to know exactly how to create user accounts in cAos so I can log in as something other than root, as it won't allow me net access in root mode [need net access for docs and learning].
Oh yeah, I should also mention I have GRUB installed with it again.
Again, thanks for any help!

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

What do you mean it won't allow you net access in root mode? I understand it is not a good idea, but it should not limit you on this. (there are several apps that do, but for net access).

Adding users will soon be a graphical configuration tool (Gnome-System-Tools: GST), but for now (and always will be) also configurable via the command line with the command: 'adduser'. After you run that, make sure you also assign a password to that user so they can log in with the 'passwd [username]' command.

Did you get X and Gnome installed and configured?

If you don't mind, would you write up your installation notes and make public (or send directly to me)? We are still streamlining many processes, and user input is _very_ helpful for us so we can make it even easier to install and use.

Thanks, and congrats!

I thought it wasn't letting me because when i tried to load IRC it said it was a bad idea to connect from root. Then I later realized my config isn't working [I posted a new post probably around when you posted this.]


[QUOTE}Adding users will soon be a graphical configuration tool (Gnome-System-Tools: GST), but for now (and always will be) also configurable via the command line with the command: 'adduser'. After you run that, make sure you also assign a password to that user so they can log in with the 'passwd [username]' command.[/QUOTE]

I got the adduser thing sorted out... that was just a case of n00bitis

Yes, I did that during the install.

As for installation notes, do you mean the install log?

Thanks, and congrats! [/QUOTE]