help dual boot

[ceejay949 0]

hi i'm a newbie in linux..i have a major problem when doing a dual boot of linux mandrake 10.0 and windows xp pro...i have read and tried many tutorials and still doesn't work...i installed xp first then mandrake;the problem is i can't configure mandrake to install it's bootloader to the choices it just install to the mbr that's why i can't boot to xp.after i used fixmbr" in the recovery console...when i reboot it says error loading os. what should i do? can you send a me step by step tutorial...

[danleff 0]

Is this a new install of XP as well? You just installed XP, then Mandrake right after? If so, try getting into the recovery console and do fixboot and see what happens. Again, if this is a fresh install of XP and you have no critical data on the XP system, try the above command.

 

I assume that you installed both XP and Mandrake on the same hard drive?

 

There is a problem with the Mandrake partitoning utility that affects how the bootloader/Mandrake sees the geometry of the hard drive on Mandrake installs that also have XP installed first using the NTFS filesystem, then Mandrake right after it to the free space or existing free space on the NTFS volume.

 

So, if you used Mandrake's utility, this is the problem. The best solution is to use a partitioning utility like PartitionMagic to set up the Mandrake partitions ahead of time. But let's see if you can get XP up first.

[ceejay949 0]

Yes, it is a new install. Fixboot doesn't help either.Is there any other way aside from partition magic? The problem is i can't boot to xp anymore? And when is used fixmbr, i can;t load any os at all...

[danleff 0]

This is what I did on a bad install of linux. Assuming that XP was installed first, then Mandrake on the same hard drive and it is the primary master drive (or the only drive in the system). Also this assumes that lilo or grub was installed on the master boot record (MBR).

 

Windows will take over the mbr on install, so the worst senario is reinstalling XP. Since this is a new install of both, you won't lose much, except time.

 

BTW, this is not a Compaq or HP system, is it? If so, let us know.

 

Anyway, go to the Recovery console, by choosing "R" at the setup window. Make sure that you are at the C prompt.

 

When you get the command line, type in fixboot

 

Allow the process to finish, then type in fixmbr

 

Ignore any warning messages and allow the process to finish.

 

See if this fixes it.

 

Since you used fixmbr already, the linux bootloader is trashed anyway. So, you may need to do a windows install again, if the above does not work.

 

Some have reported that a win 98 boot disk will work to recover the mbr, which is easily available, if you want to try it.

 

In terms of partitioning the drive, you can use PartitionMagic, or any other such utility to set up the partitons ahead of time. I suggest if the system is trashed, that once windows is up again (new install or recovered old install), you use such a utility to resize what you have and make a small fat32 partition at the end of the NTFS (Windows) partition, then leave the space you want for Mandrake to install to empty. Mandrake will find the empty space for the install.

 

Someone else reported no problems with Mandrake 10.1 on an XP system, so you may elect to try this version rather than 10. Apparently they fixed the disk geometry problem in the new release.

 

If you chose to go with another distro, be aware that Fedora Core 2 had the same problem. It apparently has to do with the 2.6 version kernel and parted.

 

But leaving some formatted space between the NTFS partition and Mandralke seems to work fine also.

 

[ceejay949 0]

thanks for the advice, but i have tried them all before...well, somehow i discovered a solution...mandrake first then xp(more easier)...i would like to ask if you know any utility on how to write to an ntfs partition...thanks...

[danleff 0]

Write support to ntfs from Linux is still developing. It is not considered safe yet. It is best to have a fat32 partition as a share drive to store files that you would want to share between the two operating systems.

 

You were able to get around the issue of Windows overwriting the MBR and setting up Grub or lilo to boot Windows?

[ceejay949 0]

Write support to ntfs from Linux is still developing. It is not considered safe yet. It is best to have a fat32 partition as a share drive to store files that you would want to share between the two operating systems.

 

You were able to get around the issue of Windows overwriting the MBR and setting up Grub or lilo to boot Windows?

 

Thanks for the advice...I don't like fat32 because it is not secure as ntfs...On your question yes...I thought it was imposible...I read all the threads regarding this; and all i see is setup xp then linux...i'll just post my tutorial which is the opposite.thank you...

[blackpage 0]

howdy ceejay949

 

Well, there is help for NTFS on the way in the form of the "Captive"-tools. That software utilizes the original MS drivers of a w2k/XP installation and allows read/write access on NTFS partitions.

 

I ran across these during the installation of Kanotix (a debian based linux distro) that already comes with a link to these drivers. So, at the moment, I cannot say much about it as I need to test that. But sources on the internet indicate it's actually working quite sweet.

 

hope that helps