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Old 12-07-2004, 01:42 PM   #1
duclu
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Need a boot disk to load Fedora Core 3


I just installed Fedora Core 3 on my PC without the boot loader because I didn't want it to mess up my Windows partitions. I thought the installation would ask me to create a boot disk but it didn't so I am now unable to load Fedora Core 3. Anyone knows where and how I can create a boot disk?
 
Old 12-07-2004, 04:06 PM   #2
visaris
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You could download a Gentoo boot cd from www.gentoo.org. That will dump you into a command prompt. From there you should be able to fix your boot loader problem, though I don't have time at the moment to write out all the steps needed...
 
Old 12-07-2004, 05:24 PM   #3
perfect_circle
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you may boot from the rescue cd (5th cd).
Your original filesystem will be mounted under
/mnt/sysimage, i think.

if grub is configured but not installed, try
Code:
chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub-install /dev/fd0
or something like that to
install the boot loader in a floppy.
I'm not sure this will work, i 've never tryed it.
you may also use lilo instead.
change lilo.conf or lilo.conf.anacoda
or whatever fc3 uses to be installed in the floppy ( I used lilo to do that some years ago)

Good Luck

Last edited by perfect_circle; 12-07-2004 at 05:27 PM.
 
Old 12-24-2004, 11:10 PM   #4
purplejacket
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perfect_circle is correct but ...

but there's a bit more. If you want to dual boot win XP and fedora 3 you DO have to install a boot loader during the fedora install process. I had to go back and re-do the install in order to do that. Just make sure to click the 'advanced' button also. By clicking 'advanced' you get an option to install the boot loader to MBR or to hda2 once you press 'Next'. Click the radio button away from MBR so that your win XP installation doesn't get trashed.

Disclaimer: there might be a way to do this without installing a boot loader. I don't know the system that deeply. When I tried perfect_circle's instructions the first time, without the boot loader, I was confronted with a GRUB prompt and I didn't know how to load my fedora install. So I re-installed fedora with the boot loader as described above.

Here's a repeat of perfect_circle's instructions as they appeared when executed on my computer:

Code:
Your system is mounted under the /mnt/sysimage directory.

When finished please exit from the shell and your system will reboot.

sh-3.00#
sh-3.00#
sh-3.00# chroot /mnt/sysimage
sh-3.00# grub-install /dev/fd0
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script 'grub-install'.

(fd0)   /dev/fd0
(hd0)   /dev/hda
(hd1)   /dev/hdb
(hd2)   /dev/hdc
sh-3.00#
 
Old 12-25-2004, 12:38 AM   #5
tormented_one
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um try

try instaalling grub to mbr
otherwise you will boot straight into windows. writing to the mbr will not trash your windows install.
mbr is different than hda1 which would be your windows install. I have install both lilo and grub to the mbr (master boot record). try that and if it dont work i assume you have a 98 or ME boot floppy. boot from that and issue fdisk/mbr or fdisk /mbr. Then reboot and it will go straight to windows again. you may also try your rescue cd and at boot: type; mount root = /dev/hd??
where ?? is is the partition your /boot or / of your linux install is located.
hope that helps
 
Old 12-28-2004, 12:27 PM   #6
purplejacket
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install to MBR is wrong

I think the advice to install GRUB to the MBR is wrong. I'm not completely sure of this but it seems the majority of what I've read on the net says that in a dual boot scenario with windows already installed that windows should get to have its way with the MBR. Dual booting is a non-trivial subject and there are multiple ways to do it. The ranish partition manager can do a good job although the doc for this is very difficult to piece together. Usually the easiest thing to do is rely on NTLDR:
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=58
When I did a win2K + redhat dual boot a couple years ago I used the above. The redhat install allows creation of a boot disk. But the Fedora 3 install does not. Hence the initial question of this post.
I've researched the dual/multi boot question in detail. I'd like to use ranish to boot multiple operating systems but I couldn't figure it all out.
p.s.: I think grub can be used to do this too but I haven't seen good examples of it.
p.p.s: here's a postscript: I had to entirely re-do my linux installation just now, although the xp install remained ok. So I used Mandrake this time. Again I was unable to create a boot disk. However, when I went into rescue mode one thing I tried was "reinstall boot loader". After this grub comes up first! It gives me a selection between linux and xp. If I select xp ntldr then runs and loads xp. So I guess grub can load xp. One would really like to understand this subject but since it's under the category of one-time setup it's hard to learn. But I guess I still think installing the linux boot loader to MBR is wrong if one wants to do a simple dual boot.

Last edited by purplejacket; 12-29-2004 at 12:08 PM.
 
Old 12-30-2004, 10:17 PM   #7
tormented_one
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from what you read?

can I ask did you read this on the net?
50% of what is on the net is not true.
I am talking from experience not what i've read. I have tried almost every major linux distro. If I haven't tried them I have a copy. I have never had any problems with grub or lilo for that matter in the mbr and dual booting winxp home and xp pro, both with and without SP2. So what I am saying is that in my experience mbr is the place to put them if you want an easy in to linux or windows. Also windows must go in your first partition on your first harddrive to avoid unnecissary problems with windows. If you decide to try putting grub or lilo in mbr and it wont boot windows. boot from 98/me boot floppy and type: fdisk /mbr and now it will boot to windows. Only problem is no way to get to linux with out boot disk. So its worth a try if you have the 98/me boot disk. I like to keep it simple so lilo goes to mbr and boots winxp pro and slack-current no problems. Just my two cents. Peace...
 
Old 12-30-2004, 11:00 PM   #8
JimBass
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I have a dual booting laptop (Debian/XP pro) and a dual booting desktop at work (FC3/2000pro). In truth you can set it up multiple ways and get them to work, the big question is what is the most comfortable and convenient for you.

In both of the machines I mentioned I installed window$ first, and of course without asking it writes to the mbr. As far as I'm concerned I let window$ have that, as it makes the configuration of grub very easy. I usually allow the linux distro to install on 3 partitions, / /boot and swap. I put grub on the /boot partition, and have /boot partition set to be used everytime the system boots. Usually the first time it boots, it will only go into linux. Part of the reason I like grub is how simple it is to edit to add a windows boot. At the bottom of my /boot/grub/menu.lst file I add in something like:

title: Window$
rootnoverify
chainloader+1

Since window$ still has the mbr, that allows it to boot just fine. If you search the forums here you'll find tons of examples of menu.lst files for grub that allow dual or triple or octagonal booting if you need help with it.

Lilo is cool too, I just prefer grub. If you want to use lilo, search for the steps here.

Having a boot disk is always cool too, then regardless of what happens you're cool.

Peace,
JimBass

Last edited by JimBass; 12-30-2004 at 11:01 PM.
 
Old 12-30-2004, 11:18 PM   #9
tormented_one
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i have a dual-booting laptop winxppro and slackware-current.
i have a p3 550 daul-booting winxppro and gentoo.
And a athlon 64 3200+ dual-booting winxp 64-bit and fedora core 2 64-bit.
The way you do it is the same as writing to mbr (hold on ill explain) ok you set /boot as the boot able partition when you choose windows grub hands off the boot to the nt boot loader. by making /boot the bootable partition the computer has already cycled the mbr before booting /boot. Mbr comes before any partition so this way you have a empty mbr, it goes to the bootable partition. Windows does not need mbr at all to work.Instaed it asks that you make hda1 its property and not any other os. many people think mbr has to do with hda1. But the nt bootloader needs hda1 to boot windows. so the mbr is a totally diffent thing I just wanted to make this clear. So when grub is in mbr it loads from the mbr at boot then you select windows to hand it off to the nt boot loader(which is on hda1).by using rootnoverify grub hands off to hda1. i may not be clear but if you dont understand ill explain more.
 
Old 12-30-2004, 11:20 PM   #10
tormented_one
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forgot to say that since the mbr has already cycled in your setup you see windows does not need the mbr to boot. mbr is only read on boot before any partition.
 
Old 12-30-2004, 11:23 PM   #11
tormented_one
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also windows doesnt write to mbr,it just makes sure its clean (formatted) (hence: fdisk /mbr)
 
Old 01-05-2005, 01:15 PM   #12
tcomputerchip
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Just to let you know. I have always use grub for duel boot with any linux/windows OS. You just need to partition your drives correctly. For me I put the linux partitions first on the drive and the windows OS at the end of the drive or on another hard disk. This is easy to do with partition magic under windows before you install your linux distro.
I have also done the oposite way as well, installing linux first then windows, but be worned this method takes much longer and you need to know alot of GRUB commmands and linux command to navigate because there is no nice GUI like the partition magic. It's a command line.

But both ways work. I recommend a clean windows XP install on a secondonday Master IDE cable. Or at the end of the Primary Master if you dont have two drives (to move partition to the end you need a 3 rd party program suck as partition magic for windows). You must also have unallocated space on the hard disk where you want to install the linux distro. I recommend Fedora Core because I have tested it on two of my Sony VIAO laptops, Toshiba laptop, and DELL desktop, and my custom build computer. All have worked great with duel boot. But of course I did not leave all of them like that. Most of my computer still have windows on it but not linux. That's only because my girlfriend does not understand linux. And I still need deadicated computer for graphics development under windows.

But anyways, GRUB is what I have always used. Oh, a few year ago I had lilo boot working with linux mandrake. But I gave up on them once there build killed my harddrive. But whos to say they have fixed that by now.

PS: Fedora Core 3 is previosly know as Red Hat.
 
Old 01-12-2005, 02:17 AM   #13
tormented_one
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Question fedora

you do not need a third party partition program to do any of this. Lilo did not wreck your hd, most people have to blame something for the failure of equipment, but i bet it would have crapped out even without lilo ever being put on it. I prefer lilo because it is easiest to put on a floppy. On my athlon I actually prefer to "hide" my Linux Distro. By "hide" I mean that if you just turn it on it boots to xp no boot loader, so its not apperent that linux is even on the computer. to boot to linux I use the lilo floppy I made from FC2-64 and I now can boot to my FC2 or windows from lilo. what do you mean by "she dont understand linux"? If you set up X and everything else needed there is no reason for her to not understand. Oops forgot about log in, password, and startx. Damn that is alot for one woman, huh? NOT!! My girl friend actually prefers linux to windows. She likes the customizations she can do to it to make it work for her. You just have to have patience and teach her what you know and I bet shortly after shes telling you how to do something. I prefer the command line, she prefers X11.
 
Old 01-12-2005, 12:37 PM   #14
tcomputerchip
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The reason I always recommed partition magic is because its easy for windows users that are switching over to linux and windows. Most windows users will not be able to know how to use lilo. And if you are switching to other distros other than Mandrake or SuSE there are other boot loaders disk managment tool that may make it more complicated for user.

Remember, windows users are currupted with everything already done for them. They probally have never setup a partition before in there life. So doing by command line the first time in highly not recommend for beginners.

I have not used lilo in 2 years and I am sure its great by now. But remember, we are trying to De-Activate all the windows stuff that has been crammed into users brains. The method I have discribed above has been the most sucessful for any windows user with no linux or command line experience.

Also remember, they probally have never installed an operating system before. Because most windows computers come with it pre-installed.
 
Old 01-12-2005, 01:03 PM   #15
tcomputerchip
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Another note, fedora core 3 by default puts you CD drivers and Floppy drives in the /media/ folder now. This also maybe your problem.
 
  


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