Dualbooting Windows & Fedora 3

aldusk · 01-30-2005, 12:12 AM

I cannot boot Windows ME after I installed Fedora Core 3. I partitioned half of the drive to Windows ME and half to FC3. I cannot get it to dualboot. Any help would be nice.

xviddivxoggmp3 · 01-30-2005, 12:32 AM

did the bootloader ask you what you wanted to boot?
did you get that far?
was this the standard reboot after install completion?
did you set up the me partition on the boot loader?
what did you make your default partition?
need more detail to help trouble shoot.
i have dual booted xp with redhat and fedora, and both have been successful. i noticed the boot loader issue on one of my many installs.
if this is the issue, then you either reinstall the os or reinstall the bootloader.

aldusk · 01-31-2005, 02:33 PM

I removed windows completely and put Fedora on it. Then I realized I needed Windows for some things. So I resized the partition and installed ME on it. I reinstalled fedora, and it didn't ask about ME. I CAN use Fedora, just can't get into ME.

xviddivxoggmp3 · 01-31-2005, 09:42 PM

it sounds like bootloader issue.
when fedora was installed, it writes over your master boot record, then gives you the option to configure the boot loader. you would have the option at that point to add another partition to the boot loader list, and pick a default one to boot from. i would research grub bootloaders. i'm sure you can alter some text file to correct this, similar to correcting the bootloader in windows. or you can just reinstall the bootloader, which will take maybe 30 minutes. i will try to research this further for you. do you remember the bootloader option during install? did you configure it, or did you accept the default values? i know default values will only allow fedora to boot only.
grub documentation (fedora default)
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/gru...upport.en.html
lilo howto
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Remote-Ser...ader-lilo.html

here is an example of the code to dual boot windows.
other=/dev/hda1
. . . . . label="windows"
. . . . . table=/dev/hda

rylan76 · 01-31-2005, 11:59 PM

The best thing to do IMHO is to remove all partitions, format the drive, install Windows, then install Linux. When installing Linux, make SURE during the bootloader installation that you specify LBA32 (if it asks about it), use GRUB as the bootloader, and be clear about WHICH operating system you want to start as default. All should be clear and easy to specify using the installation menus.

syg00 · 02-01-2005, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by xviddivxoggmp3
it sounds like bootloader issue.
when fedora was installed, it writes over your master boot record, then gives you the option to configure the boot loader. you would have the option at that point to add another partition to the boot loader list, and pick a default one to boot from.

I've not used FC, so can only believe this to be true. In which case it a USER issue rather than bootloader.

Quote:

i'm sure you can alter some text file to correct this, similar to correcting the bootloader in windows. or you can just reinstall the bootloader, which will take maybe 30 minutes.

All good advice - re-install might be best.
Updating the grub conf is also trivial - if you know what you are doing. Same applies to lilo.

daft · 02-01-2005, 03:50 AM

isnt fedora auto detecting windows on you computer :s

xviddivxoggmp3 · 02-01-2005, 04:45 AM

Quote:

isnt fedora auto detecting windows on you computer :s

no linux or bsd os has done that for me.
if it has, i do not remember.
i must have been getting the cheap brands. ?;0)
i'm very limited on my experiences of the *nix
rh 8-9
fedora core 3
slackware 9-10 and
some gnopix too.

daft · 02-05-2005, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by xviddivxoggmp3
no linux or bsd os has done that for me.

:s I never has one without it but im using debian

are you using grub or lilo?