Usually called lilo.conf and resides in /etc.

I've incountered this once before, a newbie with linux instaler that somehow moved a windows NTFS partition from the frist partition to a logical partition (although this was with RH 7) and he couldn't say exactly what He'd done in the installer to get it like that, ether.

The solution I found was rather an uphill battle (thanks mainly to windows XP being a pain in the arse, and NTFS not being totaly supported in linux). To rescue your win installation if it in indead on the logical drive, get annother Harddrive. It should be about 3 gigs plus in size: big enogh to hold c:\windows\ and c:\proram files\ as well as hopfully c:\documents and settings\ Best would be the current size of hda7. Hook this up to your machine as the primary master, with your old drive as another IDE chanel. Format it with FAT32. Install a fresh copy on winXP on this new drive without changing the file format (you won't need to activate it) chose "MINIMAL INSTALL" if you can. When XP boots properly on this (might take a couple of installs), get a live CD (I sugest Knoppix, but anything that boots from the CD and can read NTFS is fine) boot to that, and copy the contents of you logical drive(now probibly hdb7) to hda1 (when windows is now hanging out) and overwrite when prompted, all we needed from this drive is the boot sector. ReBoot without the CD, and if everything worked correctly, it will boot to your old windows, now on the new drive. Having done that, you can now wipe the original drive and install PCLinux on that, but pay closer attention to the partitioning section and the MBR options.

i can load linux well.i only want my existing windows to be recovered.in bootload.how to edit lilo file gve me the parameters.so i can get it for u guys so u can let me know steps to edit it.

This is how I got Windows to boot from my second hard drive with lilo.

I had to edit my lilo.conf and add this:

other=/dev/hdb1
label="Windows"
map-drive = 0x80
to = 0x81
map-drive = 0x81
to = 0x80
table = /dev/hdb

And Windows now boots just as it would if it was the only OS, but somehow it is faster.

I don't know if the 'table' part is applicable, but where it says 'other=/dev/hdb1', you would need to substitute 'hdb1' with whatever partition Windows is installed on, ie. /dev/hda7. But it does sound like you have formatted the partition, in which case, Windows would be gone.
I have also successfully installed Windows and Linux onto PC's with one hard drive, by first, boting the Windows CD, and from there make the partitions I need, usually three, one for Windows, one for Linux, and one for swap. Then istall Windows to the first partition. Then boot the CD for whichever distro you have chosen, and format the two remaining partitions with suitable filesystems. Install Linux to the second partition, when you install the bootloader, ie. lilo/grub, this will overwrite the Master Boot Record, and should automatically detect Windows. When I have done this I have had no need to configure lilo to see Windows, and works perfectly everytime.

Hope this helps,

John

guys i have windows on the drive .give me parameters for lilo i will get the details help me restore the windows option.if i have to start over i have to run windows over linux only other option i got lol

hey trashcaner let's see if u run with lilo or grub
go to /etc and see what config file u have.Do it like this:

root@militia:~# cd /etc
root@militia:/etc# ls |grep grub
root@militia:/etc# ls |grep lilo
lilo.conf
root@militia:/etc#

I think U realize that I run lilo because I have lilo.conf file in /etc..
If u have the same edit your /etc/lilo.conf file (with pico /etc/lilo.conf or nano /etc/lilo.conf or vi /etc/lilo.conf) and add these lines at the end of it:

other = /dev/hda7
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda

after u save the /etc/lilo.conf file try to run /sbin/lilo to update your configuration....it should look like this:
root@militia:/root# lilo
Added Windows
Added Linux *
root@militia:/root#
Then you can reboot and choose what Operating System you want to boot..
Anyway it's hard to believe that you still have Windows on that hard drive....If you will find grub.conf in /etc instead of lilo.conf, well then ask somebody else to help you cause I know nothing about grub, I'm with my friend lilo :)

Not all distros place the configuration files for the bootloader in /etc. Though that is a logical place for them, grub in Debian ends up in /boot/grub. I have seen many other postings where grub is found in /boot/grub.

You should also run the in the /boot directory.

Peace,
JimBass

guys ur so nice finally our friend anakin parameter worked little it showed what he said i got this

root@militia:/etc# ls |grep lilo
lilo.conf
root@militia:/etc# then when i run vi /etc/lilo.conf

i got the list of few parameter thanks.

the prety thing is that you dint mention how to save the file .as u know iam ssooooo new to linux i dont know to save file whats the parameter for it or how to save and run the /etc/lilo.conf file try to run /sbin/lilo .command please give me like you gave me b4 in the lines how to run so i will do it correctly thank you all guys guess we are finally on to somthing .

I believe you use ":wq" to save the file and quit vi. You don't run lilo.conf, as the name implies, it's a configuration file.

E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/etc/.lilo.conf.swp"
owned by: root dated: Sun Nov 26 11:41:39 2006
file name: /etc/lilo.conf
modified: YES
user name: root host name: localhost
process ID: 19748
While opening file "/etc/lilo.conf"
dated: Sun Nov 19 07:37:50 2006

(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /etc/lilo.conf"
to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
If you did this already, delete the swap file "/etc/.lilo.conf.swp"
to avoid this message.
"/etc/lilo.conf" 26 lines, 506 characters
Hit ENTER or type command to continue
# File generated by DrakX/drakboot
ther = /dev/hda7
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda:wq( i did this :wq parameter which was not their )
t vi( i wrote this command too)
quit vi(this also )

# WARNING: do not forget to run lilo after modifying this file

default="linux"
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux"
root=/dev/hda1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append=" splash=silent"
vga=788
recording



this what happens when i run vi /etc/lilo.conf
now iam little confused it says press enter or enter command to continue so i pressed enter and pasted the windows include details in the space which i have showen now i need to know how to save and quit the save and reset my configuration file.please guide me with simple steps plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I believe you are asking how to save and exit vi after editing 'lilo.conf'. If so, here it is. After you have editied the file in vi, press 'ESC' and type ':wq' without quotation marks. As you type this command it will appear at the bottom left-hand side of the terminal, then press enter, the file will be saved and you will exit vi. then use '/sbin/lilo' to update lilo, and it will tell you which operating systems have been added. When you are happy, reboot, and try it out.

thx actually their is one more confusion for me heheheheheeee you saw two steps which i did when iam trying to run vi /etc/lilo.conf


E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/etc/.lilo.conf.swp"
owned by: root dated: Sun Nov 26 11:41:39 2006
file name: /etc/lilo.conf
modified: YES
user name: root host name: localhost
process ID: 19748
While opening file "/etc/lilo.conf"
dated: Sun Nov 19 07:37:50 2006

(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /etc/lilo.conf"
to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
If you did this already, delete the swap file "/etc/.lilo.conf.swp"
to avoid this message.
"/etc/lilo.conf" 26 lines, 506 characters
Hit ENTER or type command to continue

here i press enter or paste the parameters here ????

or after i press enter


# WARNING: do not forget to run lilo after modifying this file

default="linux"
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux"
root=/dev/hda1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append=" splash=silent"
vga=788
recording

this appears which is line i should enter the parameter cause i shouldnt try and miss it .this might ruin my loading of the OS right ?

guys gve me a hand over this heheheheeeee

And thanks again for all of urs patients

[root@localhost ~]# /sbin/lilo
Added linux *
Added linux-nonfb
Added failsafe
Fatal: Partition entry not found.
[root@localhost ~]#
this what i got when i added the coommand given


# File generated by DrakX/drakboot
# WARNING: do not forget to run lilo after modifying this file

default="linux"
boot=/dev/hda









map=/boot/map
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux"
root=/dev/hda1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append=" splash=silent"
vga=788
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux-nonfb"
root=/dev/hda1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="failsafe"
root=/dev/hda1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append=" failsafe"



other = /dev/hda7
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda


this is so hard to do guys i dont know how to edit or normal delete keys or up arrow or down arrow is also not working .even if i try to install windows also its not letting me do it say error when running setup.exe for windows xp how can i run that this is so sick for me i end up in a big mess cant do work also guys gve me solution please .atleast let me run the windows xp setup it shows error

Well, given your other post that there was no Windows option in your bootloader(which I've never had grub or lilo have a problem with), and you had no idea how you installed Linux, I strongly suspect you did a "allow linux to take over an entire hard drive" install, as opposed to resize hard drive and install.

To complicate the matter, it sounds like your XP disk is screwed up, thus not allowing you to reinstall XP.

You might end up buying another XP disk, or perhaps trying another Linux distro. I really don't like PCLinuxOS, but thats just my opinion.

IGF

i really dont know whats happening all i want is to get out of this mess i installed wine it opened the setup.exe file after i click the install button it said cant continue with setup .atleast gve me some idea how to include my existing windows to the lilo.conf file .i qoute the error shown when i run sbin\lilo.conf