Member Avatar for mikeandike22

I installed fedora core 1 but at first i had problems (I hadnt installed the bootloader thinking that i had a third party one on my system which i forgot that i had uninstalled) so i ran the xp cd and tried to get windows working but it still couldnt get past this screen that said "GRUB" to run the setup so after about 7 hours i finally figured out the right config for my boot loader and ran it wheni went to check windows it said i needed to run the cd so i had to do a total reinstall of windows but i had t install over the boot loader so now i cant get to linux rather than reinstall linux i was hoping someone could tell me a good third party boot loader or just how to reinstall GRUB.

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Dani AI

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Brief diagnosis: reinstalling Windows XP after Fedora Core 1 almost always overwrites the MBR and removes GRUB. Reinstalling GRUB from a Fedora rescue or any Linux live/rescue environment restores the dual-boot without reinstalling the OS. As noted, installing Windows before Linux avoids this in future; 's GAG suggestion is an alternative boot manager, but reinstalling GRUB is usually simpler and more reliable.

Typical, safe procedure (Fedora rescue or a live CD; the installer will usually mount the installed system under /mnt/sysimage — then chroot into it):

# (once /mnt/sysimage is mounted)
chroot /mnt/sysimage

# start GRUB (legacy used by FC1)
grub
> find /boot/grub/stage1        # locates the grub install; returns e.g. (hd0,0)
> root (hd0,0)                  # set to the partition containing /boot/grub
> setup (hd0)                   # install GRUB to MBR of first disk
> quit

Alternative (if present in the rescue environment): grub-install /dev/hda or grub-install /dev/sda after chroot.

Example Windows XP entry for /boot/grub/grub.conf:

title Microsoft Windows XP
    rootnoverify (hd0,1)
    chainloader +1

Troubleshooting notes: GRUB counts disks/partitions from zero (first partition is (hd0,0)). Use fdisk -l or cat /proc/partitions to confirm device names (hda vs sda) and partition numbers before running setup. If the partition table changed during the Windows reinstall, update /etc/fstab to match. Back up the current MBR first (for recovery) with dd if=/dev/hda of=/root/mbr.backup bs=512 count=1. If errors occur (Error 21/22 are common), confirm the find output and the location of /boot/grub.

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Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

It would be easier to help you out if you had proper grammer. One large run on sentance is very hard to read and digest what you are asking us.

When making Linux and Windoze dual boot machines, you have to make the Windoze side first, and then install the linux side. Did you make the floppy disk recovery disk? If so, did you try it? You may have to go in and edit /etc/fstab to re-sync all of your partition information for Linux to use.

Christian

Member Avatar for Member #2466

Or..you could use Gag to boot into either operating system.

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

does gag support windows xp because all the screenshots (i didnt read much of the site) show that they can load older windows OSes but none specifically say windows xp.

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