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Help out a Noobie! [solved]


Guest KillerK
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Guest KillerK

Ok guys I heard all this talk about Linux and figured I would try my hands at it. I

 

I used Partition Magic and followed the instructions to install a new operating system, I even did the Swap partition. I then booted Mandriva and installed it, now when I reboot and get to the GRUB menu Windows XP is not listed. I can still view the contents of my windows documents along with all my data, in Mandriva, so I dont think I deleted or hurt anything too bad. It shows my Windows drive as being "hidden" so I dont know if that is the problem.

 

I am really freaking out here and hope I haven't lost my XP. Can you guys please help me recover my Windows XP??

 

P.S. I do like Mandriva, I think it is going to take some getting used to.

 

Thanks,

Linux Noobie Jake

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Hi Jake, welcome to Mandriva Users Board. I doubt you've lost XP, however did you know there is an import tool included with Mandriva to import all your old settings and documents into Mandriva? Apart from getting XP to boot again, this could be a great opportunity to give it a try. Anyway, probably not what you wanted to hear...lol.

 

Which version of Mandriva are you using? I'm guessing you likely installed Mandriva 2008.0 with KDE. If I'm mistaken let us know, as there are different ways for different versions. Go into the menu button on your panel bar, and navigate (should be under Tools>System Tools) to 'Configure Your Computer'. This will pop up a box which asks for your root password. Enter your root password, then the Mandriva Control Centre (MCC) will open. Click on the 'Boot' menu at the bottom of the left hand screen. Under 'Configure Boot Steps' click on 'Set Up Boot System'. Leave the first page as is and click 'Next'. You should now be on a page which tells you what your boot options are. This is where you need to add Windows XP. Click 'Add', and in the next window that springs up, choose 'Other OS (Windows...)'. Choose the partition which Windows XP is operating from in the drop down menu, and click 'Ok'. Now when you start your Computer you will see the grub bootloader, with windows included. If you want Windows XP to boot automatically by default when grub times out, in the last menu you would tick 'default'. You can also change the name of Windows XP (default is set to 'windows') in grub by editing the 'label' entry from the last window. You now should have a dual-booting operating system...

 

Hope this helps. If you need to find which partition Windows XP is on, go to the MCC again, click on 'Local disks''Manage disk partitions', and a screen will pop up which shows you a graphical version of your partition allocations. A box will also pop up telling you to back up your partitions, with the options 'continue' and 'Exit'. A word of advice: don't play around with these until you know EXACTLY what you are doing, as it would be easy to erase all your data. find your Windows XP partition, discover where it's mounted, and get out of there. You'll see an entry for your Windows Partition which will say 'mount point:' and under that: 'Device:' So if it said: 'Mount Point: /mnt/windows' 'Device: hda2', your windows is located on '/dev/hda2 /mnt/windows'.

 

Lastly, if your Xp partition being 'hidden' will make no difference at bootup, and is probably a good thing, until you learn more of what you are doing. I'd consider getting your box to boot up both Mandriva and Windows, then playing around with Mandriva alot more until you figure out what you're doing. EIther that, or take the plunge, import all your old data into Mandriva, delete Windows XP, and fast track Mandriva...lol. Good luck matey.

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Guest KillerK

Thanks Mitchell I followed your advice and GRUB now showed the option to boot XP WOO-HOO!!! But then it went to a blue screen and I had 2 errors:

 

xmnt2002 program not found- skipping Autocheck

autochk program not found- skipping Autocheck

 

and then it reboots itself. :o

 

I went into the MCC and this is the info for where Windows is mounted:

 

Mount point: /media/hd

Device: hda1

Type: Hidden NTFS

Size: 97 GB

Mounted

 

So I went back to the boot options and looked where it is trying to load windows and here is the info:

 

label: windows

root: /dev/hda1

 

I am sure I am close to finding a solution to this problem. Come on Mitchell I know you can do it!!! :)

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I used Partition Magic

It is not a answer but, don't use Parition Magic to resize paritions. On the only computer with a dualboot i always defrag windows a couple of times and let Mandriva resize the paritions during the install.

I've read so many problems with parition magic and Linux.

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Guest KillerK

I think I found a solution here:

 

http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?thre...7&tstart=30

 

But I tried to edit the boot/grub/menu.lst file and it says Access denied

 

I am trying to use Kwrite to edit and save this file, should I use another program to save the changes?

 

I think this might work guys please help me out!!

 

Thanks!

Jake

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You need to be root (admin) to edit that file. Do this: Alt & F2 type: kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst click run then enter root password to continue. I would advise you make a backup copy of your menu.lst file before doing any editing.

Edited by {BBI}Nexus{BBI}
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Guest KillerK

!!!PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

 

I had to login as root, so I opened a Konsole and typed su and hit enter,

 

then I typed in password

 

I then typed kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst

 

And then I changed the windows info:

 

title Windows XP Professional

unhide (hd0,0)

root (hd0,0)

makeactive

chainloader +1

 

And I rebooted system and selected Windows and it booted perfectly! I think I might start using Mandriva more, it seems different in a good way compared to Windows.

 

P.S. Now if I can just find out how to stop my video card fan from running full blast the whole time I am running Mandriva and find out how to play Return to Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer and Team Fortress 2/Half-Life games than I might just leave windows permanently!! :)

 

Thanks a bunch everyone!!

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You need to add the wine package, then install the game(s) and see how you get on. You can either do this using the package manager in the Mandriva Contol Centre (Alt & F2 then type mcc) or as root from the commandline, type: urpmi wine.

Edited by {BBI}Nexus{BBI}
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Hi matey, glad it sorted out. You now officially know more than me about booting from windows...lol. Couple things to try for your games. Firstly, wine can be a great solution, as mentioned above. I don't use it myself. Secondly, Virtualbox works beautifully to run Windows XP IN Linux. To run at full speed needs at least 1Gb of Ram, otherwise it's dead slow. Haven't found any loss of functionality doing this, and have found Windows has gained a few options... being able to be totally restored to a previous time in case of viruses, being able to be backed up completely. If I ever had to go back to MS Windows, so long as I have enough Ram to run it at full speed, I would do so under Linux. Lastly, have a look at games under Linux. There is quite alot, and you might find some awesome replacement, and new games, you never knew existed. CHeers.

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