How to boot into linux now?

[noroom 0]

I installed XP, and then Linux in the same HD (I only have 1), but, of course, different partitions. Using LILO everything worked fine for some time.

 

Then i had some trouble with XP and had to reinstall it. Now XP has overwritten the linux bootloader, and now I can only get XP.

 

the problem is that... i dont have a boot diskette for linux

 

I think i can still boot linux by adding something to the boot.ini file of XP, but i dont know what to add...

 

this is my boot.ini:

Quote:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

 

i tried adding this line at the end:

Quote:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)="Linux"

 

but when i select it from the boot menu, the screen goes blank and nothing happens. I also tied with "partition(3)" but got the same result.

 

I want to get back into linux!

[Genesis 0]

its not that compicated, even if it might sound a little like this

 

at first boot with a linux cd you got at hand, dunno some debian or suse or a readhat cd ... they all contain so called rescue systems.

 

when this rescue system has bootet just create lets say /mylinux

 

then mount your root partition into this dir, i dunno if you are familiar with all this, but dont take it as offence

 

mount /dev/hda2 /mylinux

 

where hda2 should of course be replaced with your root partition

 

if you got a separate usr, boot, or partitions like that just mount them to their coresponding dirs under /mylinux

 

after you mounted all your partitions type 'chroot /mylinux'

 

hmm you also might have to remount the /proc to /mylinux/proc before you use chroot ... but i forgot the command ;P

 

now you are in your linux, now you just have to type 'lilo' and the linux boot loader should be reinstalled to its previous state ... after all this just type reboot

 

 

and about the booting from the windows boot loader ... it requires a working lilo or grub but not on the master boot record but maybe on your boot, or root partition.

 

to get the bootsector you need, you will have to type

 

dd if=/dev/partitionwhereliloresides of=/linboot.bin bs=512 count=1

 

now you have to get this linboot.bin to your windows harddrive

and edit the boot ini to contain something like this

 

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"

C:\linboot.bin="Linux"

 

then it should work ...

 

well but you will have to create a new linboot.bin file every time you reinstall lilo, in case you change the kernel

 

 

Uhm that should be enough for now if anything is wrong dont blame me, the syntax of the commands might have some small mistakes as i wrote all this just from my mind If you knew me you would be scared by now, hehe