dual boot after format
 

I had windows xp and red hat linux 8 installed on my system with dual boot.
After i formatted my windows partition the dual boot menu is gone...
How do I get it back?

I read you can use the rescue function from the red hat installation cd but I've tried it and I dont know how I can use it...

does anyone have a solution to my problem?
I just want the dual boot menu back

thanks

Boot your RedHat CD, type :

linux rescue

and when you have a prompt, run :

chroot /mnt/sysimage

then run :

lilo

And it should reinstall LInuxLOader in the MBR of your hard disk, and you'll have the dual boot back.

when i type lilo it says "no such file or directory"
but i think redhat 8 uses grub instead of lilo.

i'm now trying to find out how to reinstall grub :)

You just have to run grub, then follow the instruction of the documentation : http://www.gnu.org/manual/grub/html_...RUB%20natively

i've read the explanation and I think this is what i should type in the grub interface:

root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)

is it correct or completely wrong :confused:

just asking because i dont want to risk my sysytem becoming unbootable...

try the 'find' command explaned in the doc to be sure...

when i type: find /boot/grub/stage1

it says: error15 file not found

but i checked and the file is definately there...

Could you tell me the content of /etc/fstab ?

this is what i get when i type: view /etc/fstab

LABEL =/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL =/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts grid = 5, mode = 620 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hdag swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,hudzu, ro 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1 iso9660 noauto,owner,hudzu, ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,hudzu 0 0

hope it means something to you

To find which disk holds /boot, as root, run :

findfs LABEL=/boot

For info, I didn't know, and found by :

man fstab

Then found e2label

man e2label

There was no info about how finding a specific disk with it's label, so I did, but the manpage says it was part of e2fsprogs package :

dpkg -L e2fsprog | grep bin

and found findfs

man findfs

...

I dont understand a word you just said :(


sorry I'm a :newbie:

When you want informations about the use of a command, just run :

man command

So here's where I found how to find you /boot... In the manpages. Have you tried findfs ?

when i use findfs it says command not found

are you root when you try it ?

yes I am...

The e2fsprogs of RH seems not to have the findfs command...
Try this one, that contains findfs, by running, as root :

wget ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/rawhide/1.0/....32-6.i386.rpm
rpm -i e2fsprogs-1.32-6.i386.rpm

When I try to install the package, I get about 30 errors

It goes like this

file /usr/share/man/man8/e2fsck.8.gz from install of e2fsprogs-1.32-6 conflicts with the file from package e2fsprogs-1.27-9

every error is the same except e2fsck.8.gz is different

I am root...

After some google-ing i found that the only thing I needed to do was:

/sbin/grub-install /dev/hda

And guess what, works like a charm...

Thanks for trying to help me though

If you still want findfs, you just have to :

rpm -e e2fsprogs && rpm -i e2fsprogs.rpm

the same thing happened to me I decided to removed and reistall linux but I found that I caould not get back into widows after I had done this

so you are running xp boot from the cd and enter thr console recovery mode select the install you need to install and look through the commands there should be one call fix mbr

there is in 2k and I think its very similar.type fixmbr at the command prompt and confim you selections this should then allow you to boot into windows at least then you can check everything is there and then either delete the linux partitions and reinstall or attempt to repair it I am also a linux newbie

so there may be a linux based way but I know this works and will give you access to you windows partition.

I found this useful during my continuing migration away from widows to redhat 9.

Good luck hope this helps. :-) :p

uM, if you have a redhat install disk boot from it to do a system update or fix (an install option, not rescue) and go through but but don't add any new packages, except when it asks you if you want to change boot loaders, then say yes, make sure it's a new one, lilo or grub, lilo worked for me (easier to config even tho grub is overall cooler) then back out and boot in rescue mode and do what lesscrazy up there said (chroot sysimage etc, find lilo, and run it, it should config itself and tell you why if it can't) then reboot and linux should work: my prob, I had to do this after newbeskily wiping out lilo and grub, is that now linux works, and xp shows up in the bootloader, xp won't boot...maybe lesscrazy up there can help me with that....and I could let'em know how to get his/her gender right in french....hope that helps,c.