Hi, i'm new to linux and was hoping to get some help. This is my situation:
my computer initially had Windows NT. There is one hard drive, which had 2 partitions (both in NTFS format). I wanted to install Redhat linux 7.3 on the second partition. So, i ran the linux installation program and using disk druid i deleted the second partition so that i would have free space, then I created two partitions, the swap and / partitions, with the parameters defined in the installation guide. so the next thing was the boot loader. I chose GRUB as the boot loader and chose to install the boot loader on the MBR instead of the 1st sector of the boot partition. the online guide also told me that boot loader screen would be able to identify the windows OS still located on the 1st partition and that it would be labeled DOS, but that wasn't the case. it had no boot label, it only indicated the device. that's how i knew it was the windows partition. so anyways i tried to make that my default boot image but it wouldn't allow, i had to choose the red hat linux. so once i finish the installation, i restart the comp, but on the screen where i should be able to choose which OS to boot, i am only given the choice or red hat. so it doesn't recognize the windows NT OS anymore. now i know i can try restarting the computer with an NT boot disk, however, the computer help people at my job must come and do that for me,and they mentioned that i would lose everything on windows (which doesn't make sense to me but oh well). but do i also lose the linux installation? if so, what should i do different in my installation so that i can successfully install a dual boot system? any advice would be more than helpful. sorry for the loooong message.

thansk!

hello. Sorry you had that happen. Well, first why don't you go ahead and post the data in the grub.conf file. It should be in the

/etc/

folder. Open it with Gedit and then copy and paste it on here.
After you do this, then we can help you more.

And just to be sure, an not to start a war over Grub file locations , check the /boot/grub/menu.lst file to be sure that the contents of both files are the same -- or not.

i'm a bit confused. i was checking the control center and in the index there is listed "boot manager (LILO)" and on the boot manager page the "Enter Lilo prompt automatically" is checked. i don't understand what this means. i restarted the computer to check maybe i had installed lilo and just didn't remember, but it says "GRUB loading" so it seems that grub is loading. well anyways, this is what it says in the grub.conf file:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda2
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $1$ -bñÖÓýF.DÅ$Wi3mrgT1w3UIWPU88s8iP/ -A
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-3)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-3 ro root=/dev/hda2 hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.18-3.img

thnx so much for helping

Try to add this just below the current entries:

title Windows NT
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

See if that adds an entry to your Grub menu when you boot and then see if selecting that entry boots your Windoze space.

I'm guessing at your partition set up, but it should be about right.

Later, you can change the "default" value to be "1" if you want Windoze as the defaulted OS.

All this change to the file must be done as root.

just wanted to say THANK YOU!!! it worked

Thankyou so much this worked for my Win XP machine
now i can slowly wean myself off XP while I learn about Linux!
Thanks