Fedora Core + XP dual boot

tekmann33 · 01-05-2007, 03:32 PM

I had a Widows XP machine that I wanted to dual boot with Fedora Core 6 but somehow I lost my Windows installation when I installed Fedora. It is not really lost, for when I do the fdisk -l command, I can see the NTFS partition. It just looks like grub doesn't see it.

From what I have read in this forum and others, XP and Fedora are not good bedfellows for dual boot systems.

Until I understand more about the boot loader and partitioning, I would like to uninstall Fedora and go back to my Windows installation and just have a dedicated machine as my Fedora box.

Is there a nice way to 'uninstall' Fedora Core 6 and by doing so, will I get the XP machine back?

Any input would be appreciated.

Robert Diggs · 01-05-2007, 03:36 PM

Hey,

If you go into the boot.conf file, I think it is anyway, you can alter the file to boot Windows as well. When I installed FC6 it got it perfectly. Just a side not, are you sure that it doesn't recognize it as 'Other' in the grub menu? Make sure you hit a button to get into the boot menu as well. As far as the input goes for adding Windows, I'm not sure. Search around the forums, I'm sure you'll find something. Actually, check out member saikee. He has a link to a walk through on grub.

Regards,

Brandon

kernel_geek · 01-05-2007, 03:43 PM

ignore what he said its wrong. If your using fedora then your probally using grub. To add a menu to grub do the following:

Start you fedora up

Open a terminal and type the following:

mount /boot

gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

if it is blank then exit and

gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

add the following lines at the end

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0) (where (hd0,0) is your windows partition)
chainloader +1
makeactive

Save it

Reboot and enjoy

tekmann33 · 01-06-2007, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernel_geek

ignore what he said its wrong. If your using fedora then your probally using grub. To add a menu to grub do the following:

Start you fedora up

Open a terminal and type the following:

mount /boot

gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

if it is blank then exit and

gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

add the following lines at the end

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0) (where (hd0,0) is your windows partition)
chainloader +1
makeactive

Save it

Reboot and enjoy

Just to make sure that I am doing this correctly, here is what I have in menu.lst:

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,1)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6)
        root (hd0,1)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb 
quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1
menu.lst (END)

Here is my partition setup:

Code:

[root@BriansRH grub]# /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 155061 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1       55370    27906448+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2           55383       55575       96390   83  Linux
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hda3           55575      155056    50138865   8e  Linux LVM
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
[root@BriansRH grub]#

So, based on this, my XP addition to the menu.lst file should be the following:

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

Is this correct?

kernel_geek · 01-07-2007, 04:30 AM

exactly right. Obviously reboot after this so you can enjoy

. I would personally remove the bit that sais hidemenu this way you get a nice menu without pressing any buttons. Hope this helps. Edit: put the windows stuff before the end bit that sais menu.lst END. edit2: remove the bit trhat sais

title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

tekmann33 · 01-08-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernel_geek

exactly right. Obviously reboot after this so you can enjoy

. I would personally remove the bit that sais hidemenu this way you get a nice menu without pressing any buttons. Hope this helps. Edit: put the windows stuff before the end bit that sais menu.lst END. edit2: remove the bit trhat sais

title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Thanks

I am operational again!

Do you know a good online grub tutorial?