i have tried with fedora 10,11,12..... but i was not able to get dual boot.

whenever i used to click for OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM option..... it used to give an error.... and windows could not boot.... please assist me

You may need to edit the GRUB boot file. Here's what my Windows boot section looks like:See info grub for a full discussion.

Note: You need to be "root" to edit the boot file. Try su -c gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

that is a VERY common but with fedora

a few things first
did you install grub OVER / on top of windows MBR
or
did you install grub on a different disk ( if more than one)
or a different partition?
see the fedora 13 install guide
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/...ide/index.html

right now ONLY fedora 12 and 13 are supported

I think the OP would appreciate a more precise reference; I know I would, since I looked through the link you gave and found nothing about how to shrink the WinXP partition(s) to make room for Fedora. And when I do follow the steps listed, the install program says it will shrink them, but then says it cannot, complaining about no room on the disk (I forget the exact wording).

Of course, it doesn't help that the options and menus that appear during install from a Live CD do not match those described in the installation manual at the link you give

OP's question was for booting the windows, not installing Fedora.

And given link is official Installation Guide. and it was given as a reference document, not step by step howto.

If OP answers to John's questtion, his problem can be solved.

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sir

i had installed the grub on a different partition.....
can u suggest me any way???

In your original post, you indicated when you selected "Other" on your boot menu you got an error. What was it?

If you installed Grub to the root partition of Fedora, it won't boot. You need to install the Grub stage1 file to the mbr and then add an entry for windows. The other method would be to use the windows bootloader to boot both. xp and earlier have a different bootloader and you have not given any information on which windows you have?

The next logical step for you to take to get help would be to boot Fedora, log in as root and run the command: fdisk -l (lower case Letter L) and post this partition information. Also post the contents of /boot/grub/grub.con file.

You are missing the point. I knew it was not given as a "step by step howto". But the point is that simply referring him to the entire installation manual is not going to help anyone get down to the root of his problem. The history of this thread is supporting this assertion of mine.

Also, yes, I know and knew that his original question was about booting windows, not installing Fedora. But John's first observation was that an error in installing Fedora (writing the grub files over the MBR) would cause his problem. This makes Fedor installation very relevant, despite your attempt to dodge.

Why did you thing John referred him to a Fedora installation manual? Because as I said, it IS relevant. I am not criticizing John for that decision.

you installed grub on a different partition

--- first --- i have been stopping and starting back
i am quieting smoking -- so i may take ones haed off or be very nice , This is not 100% under my control ( at the moment ) once the nicotine , then brain chem. settles ....

-- that said ---


vsthegr8

it is very well known that fedora ( and most linux) have a problem with MicroSoft

windows MUST ,MUST be on the first partition .Not including the mbr
and anaconda dose have a problem sometimes getting the " other OS" correct
sometimes the manufacture HP is well known for this
putting a " hidden" partition as the very first -- this WILL cause problems

so

what we need is a partition layout
boot into fedora as a normal user
open a terminal and start a terminal session as root ( su - )
then run this command
then post the output

from that we can tell you how to edit your grub.conf / and / or
grum.conf and MS boot.ini

1 members found this post helpful.

Please allow me to second what JohnVV said: we need the output from "fdisk -l" to tell what happened, and the way out.

So THE way at this point in time is: execute "fdisk -l" from a Linux Terminal Window and post the output in your reply to one of these posts. If you cannot execute Linux from your machine (we can't tell if you can from your posts), then use a LiveCD and execute it from there. Or use SystemRescueCD, which you can download for free if you don't have a LiveCD already handy.

I just ran fdisk -l on my system, for example, though I found I had to become superuser (type 'su' and enter the password if requested) first before it would show any output.

Cut and paste at least as much as the portion that looks something like this (from my output):

Disk /dev/sda: 119.8 GB, 119834104320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14569 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xca3eca3e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 11000 88357468+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 11001 11026 204800 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 11026 14569 28463192+ 8e Linux LVM

This, BTW: is a dual-boot system that supports both F12 and WinXP. I did this, though, with F11 and then upgraded to F12. I just followed the prompts for the installer back in F11 days and everything worked painlessly.

I wish it was that simple for F12 or F13, but when I look at the installer prompts for my LiveCD for F12, I have no idea how to proceed, so I sympathize with your predicament.

BTW: I backed up my MBR and IPL first; you don't always want to restore the whole MBR, so I did them separately. Not that I can remember where I put the backups now, since it turns out I didn't need them. Did you back them up before you did the install?