Dual booting windows xp and fedora core 1 using grub

[lestont]

I had fedora core 1 installed in hdb2 and windows xp in hda1.But I then reinstalled windows xp and the Master Boot Record was cancelled so I cannot boot fedora core 1 but I only access windows xp.I tried to install GRUB In hdb2(from cd) but I get an error that no kernel is present in that drive.
Can anybody please help ,I do not know what's wrong here.

Thank you.

[kc0arf]

Hello,

Did you by chance make the fedora Emergency Boot Disk? if so, you might be able to edit that text file on the disk,and then boot to Linux, and then run the grub utilities from within your linux environment.... wait... you had this working, so your emergency disk should already be ready to go.

Christian

[lestont]

Hello,

Did you by chance make the fedora Emergency Boot Disk? if so, you might be able to edit that text file on the disk,and then boot to Linux, and then run the grub utilities from within your linux environment.... wait... you had this working, so your emergency disk should already be ready to go.

Christian

Hi.
Yes I managed to create a boot disk and I can access fedora now.But where and how can I manage to change the grub utilities?Sorry I'm new to linux,I tried reading the grub manual but I can't really get what I'm trying to do.Your help will be appreciated...

[subtronic]

Hi.
Yes I managed to create a boot disk and I can access fedora now.But where and how can I manage to change the grub utilities?Sorry I'm new to linux,I tried reading the grub manual but I can't really get what I'm trying to do.Your help will be appreciated...

First, you should type in the command as root: grub-install. Then, you should make changes to grub.conf (usually found at /boot/grub/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst, though I've also seen it at /etc/grub.conf as well) to reflect where your partitions are.

[lestont]

I tried to install grub but I get an error that grub and grub-install commands are not found! What could be the problem here?

[subtronic]

I tried to install grub but I get an error that grub and grub-install commands are not found! What could be the problem here?

they are either not in your PATH (which could mean you're trying to execute them as a non-root user) or they are not.. um... installed :)?

% which grub-install
/sbin/grub-install

on my system

[lestont]

Both grub and lilo are installed in my linux.I manage to access grub in /sbin and run it but I get no desired results.My grub.conf file is located at /boot/grub but I cannot run grub there.Here is how I tried it for linux and windows booting->linux is in hdb2 and windows in hda1:

For Linux

#./grub
grub> root (hd1,1)
grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22.2115.nptl
grub> initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img
grub> boot

For Windows

#./grub
grub> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
grub> chainloader + 1
grub> makeactive
grub> boot

and this is what appears on screen:

Probing devices to guess BIOS drives.This may take a long time.

Nothing happens after this!
Somebody suggested that I check my Master Boot Record but I do not know how to go about doing that.

[server_crash]

Usually lilo plays nicer than grub when you want to dual boot with xp.

[dontcare]

Both grub and lilo are installed in my linux.I manage to access grub in /sbin and run it but I get no desired results.My grub.conf file is located at /boot/grub but I cannot run grub there.Here is how I tried it for linux and windows booting->linux is in hdb2 and windows in hda1:

For Linux

#./grub
grub> root (hd1,1)
grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22.2115.nptl
grub> initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img
grub> boot

For Windows

#./grub
grub> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
grub> chainloader + 1
grub> makeactive
grub> boot

and this is what appears on screen:

Probing devices to guess BIOS drives.This may take a long time.

Nothing happens after this!
Somebody suggested that I check my Master Boot Record but I do not know how to go about doing that.

Login under root type this command "fdisk -l" then post your results, then maybe i can help you. I don't think that your root linux partition is on (hd1,1) it's probably (hd0,1) or [(hd0,x) 0<x<1000] but I could be wrong if I could see your partition table then I would know.

[lestont]

Login under root type this command "fdisk -l" then post your results, then maybe i can help you. I don't think that your root linux partition is on (hd1,1) it's probably (hd0,1) or [(hd0,x) 0<x<1000] but I could be wrong if I could see your partition table then I would know.

I tried "fdisk -l" but it says that the command is not found although I was able to view its manual! Anyway, here is how Partition Magic 8.0 in windows show my partitions,there 2 in the 1st disk and 4 in the 2nd:

DISK 1:
C Size: 37 675.8MB
Unallocated Size: 486.3MB

DISK 2:
F Size: 68 291.9MB
Linux Ext3 Size: 8 699.3MB
/home Linux Ext3 Size: 1 019.8MB
SWAPSPACE2,Linux Swap Size: 517.7MB

I hope that will help. Thanks.

[dontcare]

This website might solve your problem: http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

[lestont]

Everything I tried just didn't work,so I reinstalled fedora. I then installed /boot on hda2 and everything is back to normal.

Thanks for your help guys!!

[tom_daniweb]

Hello, I have a similar problem. However, I am absolutely new to Linux and I never had Fedora (or any other Linux) running on my computer. I have WinXP on my hda and I wanted to put FC4 on the hdb. I have read somewhere that installing GRUB into the MBR of the hda might demage my WinXP installation so I've tried to install GRUB on the first partition of hdb for the first time. It did not work so I've found this 'how to' http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/dual_boot_fedora_xp.php and followed it precisely (which means I just kept clicking the NEXT button all the time except for choosing packages to install). ;-) However, it did not work either. Everything went fine, installation completed without any problem, I restarted the computer and WinXP booted just like any time before. No GRUB or any other option to boot somewhere else. As if I just had not spent a few hours installing the FC4. Does anybody know, what I do wrong?

Thanks a lot,
Tom

[linux-tech]

I have read somewhere that installing GRUB into the MBR of the hda might demage my WinXP installation

And if you read that the Eifel tower was made of cheese would you believe that too?

The fact is that no, grub does NOT affect WindowsXP at all. In fact, no "boot loader" affects XP. A boot loader has absolutely no affect on the OS whatsoever. The job of a boot loader is to tell the system which particular OS to load. Windows uses somewhat the same system, except it's pretty much invisible, unless you know how to install it and modify it ;)

[tom_daniweb]

ok, you're right. I expressed myself wrong. OS does obviously not reside in MBR and, therefore, modifying MBR does not affect the OS itself. And I know there is some boot.ini file in WinXP that can viewed using run/msconfig/boot.ini or just by any text editor if we choose to show the system files (though I do not know the details so I'd rather not modify it without someone else's advice)...
...the point was that I have tried to install FC4 on the hdb disk with the option to put GRUB to the first partition of the hdb for the first time, which (as I had expected) did not work. Then I deleted all the partitions on the hdb disk and performed the install once again. This time I followed the above mentioned guide and chose the option to put GRUB to the MBR on the hda. And (surprisingly) it did not work too. :(
I restarted the computer and no GRUB appeared. WinXP booted as ever before. And I do not know, where I went wrong...

...so if somebody knows, please help.
Tom

PS: By the way, what is Eiffel Tower made from? ...never been there to check it... ;)

[tom_daniweb]

And if you read that the Eifel tower was made of cheese would you believe that too?

The fact is that no, grub does NOT affect WindowsXP at all. In fact, no "boot loader" affects XP. A boot loader has absolutely no affect on the OS whatsoever. The job of a boot loader is to tell the system which particular OS to load. Windows uses somewhat the same system, except it's pretty much invisible, unless you know how to install it and modify it ;)

By the way, I have just found another forum....

http://www.linuxcompatible.org/thread.php?id=32552

and the guy there seems to have WinXP partition demaged while installing GRUB to mbr.

[linux-tech]

One way to fix this is to restart with the boot cd and repair the installation. I believe one of the options is to reinstall grub. If not, you'll need to reinstall, choosing to overwrite the MBR. Just make sure NOT to remove the Windows XP installation from that.

I'm sure there are more complicated ways to do it, but if you're working with a fresh install, reinstallation is probably your best option, or you could boot from the boot CD constantly ;)

[linux-tech]

By the way, I have just found another forum....

http://www.linuxcompatible.org/thread.php?id=32552

and the guy there seems to have WinXP partition demaged while installing GRUB to mbr.

That's different. WinXP wasn't damaged, grub didn't install successfully.
It IS possible to reload the Windows XP boot settings from the CD (in repair mode), so nothing's damaged, but few realize that it's possible to restore those settings :)

[tom_daniweb]

Ok, I am typing this in my FC4 installation, so I've finally made it. :-) The problem was (and I have no idea, why) that the automatic partitioning of the free space always suggested to create /boot and then LVM containing the / and swap partitions. I noticed that Partition Magic reports an error after trying to install FC4 so I thought, something might be wrong with that LVM thing. This time, I deleted the LVM part and added the / and swap partitions manually. Then I chose to put GRUB to MBR and it works fine. :-))))) Finally!

Tom

PS: Thanks for your effort!