Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!!

pedja_ts · 10-26-2009, 06:35 PM

Hello,

I have a slight problem and i don't know how to solve it!

I already have PC LINUX OS installed on my system, and I decided to Install Windows XP, so i did. Win XP is on partition C: and now i can't boot Linux, can somebody help me!

Thanks in advance!

**wmorri** · 10-27-2009, 07:45 PM

Hi,

Here is the thing about windows, it likes to take over the entire computer. Windows has taken the GRUB the boot loader and copied its own on top of it. There are a few programs that can be used I will have to look one of them up as I can't remember one off the top of my head.

Cheers!

shuuhen · 10-28-2009, 11:14 AM

Basically you need to reinstall GRUB. Windows tends to write to the MBR for installations and a few other things. The basic process is boot from a liveCD, mount your partitions manually, do a chroot (change root) to wherever you mounted the root partition, then reinstall grub.

It will help to know your partition structure in Linux terms. Boot from the liveCD and type the following commands, then post the output:

Code:

fdisk -l

grub --version

which grub-install

If you get "command not found" errors, you can find commands with: whereis command
where command is whichever command failed (i.e. grub or fdisk - without the arguments). Most likely if you cannot get to a command, it will be in /sbin or /usr/sbin. The whereis command will tell you which and you can then do /sbin/fdisk -l
or similar for failed commands.

These commands should let us know what your partition structure looks like, what version of grub you have and whether or not you have grub-install.

pedja_ts · 10-28-2009, 01:03 PM

Ok thanks guys, i read some articles on the internet, and i modified boot.ini file and now i can boot both win xp and linux. Thanks in any case! :)

**Done_Fishin** · 10-31-2009, 03:11 AM

Hi pedja

can you explain what you did to the boot.ini file ?? what line or lines did you add ?? or can you point us at the page that helped you solve your problem. I am always interested in workarounds for that "lost grub" issue.

pedja_ts · 11-10-2009, 06:22 AM

Yeah sure here is the link, i followed those instructions and managed to make it work! Sorry for replying this later i was having some private problems and didn't have time to do anything on my comp!

http://highlandsun.com/hyc/linuxboot.html

This is it! It took me a while to understand what was written there lol :)

10-26-2009, 06:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
pedja_ts Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 12 OS: Windows XP, PCLinuxOS	Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Hello, I have a slight problem and i don't know how to solve it! I already have PC LINUX OS installed on my system, and I decided to Install Windows XP, so i did. Win XP is on partition C: and now i can't boot Linux, can somebody help me! Thanks in advance!

10-27-2009, 07:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,846 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Hi, Here is the thing about windows, it likes to take over the entire computer. Windows has taken the GRUB the boot loader and copied its own on top of it. There are a few programs that can be used I will have to look one of them up as I can't remember one off the top of my head. Cheers! __________________ Linux Forever!

10-28-2009, 11:14 AM	#3 (permalink)
shuuhen Manager Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Colorado Posts: 991 OS: Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS X 10.5.8, WinXP Pro, FreeBSD 6.0, Gentoo Linux My System	Re: Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Basically you need to reinstall GRUB. Windows tends to write to the MBR for installations and a few other things. The basic process is boot from a liveCD, mount your partitions manually, do a chroot (change root) to wherever you mounted the root partition, then reinstall grub. It will help to know your partition structure in Linux terms. Boot from the liveCD and type the following commands, then post the output: Code: fdisk -l grub --version which grub-install If you get "command not found" errors, you can find commands with: whereis command where command is whichever command failed (i.e. grub or fdisk - without the arguments). Most likely if you cannot get to a command, it will be in /sbin or /usr/sbin. The whereis command will tell you which and you can then do /sbin/fdisk -l or similar for failed commands. These commands should let us know what your partition structure looks like, what version of grub you have and whether or not you have grub-install. __________________ Has it been a few days since I replied to your thread? Don't panic! I'm a busy college student and may forget a post if I'm extra busy (or it might just take me a while to be able to do a decent reply). If you still need help and are awaiting my reply after a few days, PM me about it. When posting what errors you get, please give the full message. It makes helping you much easier.

10-28-2009, 01:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
pedja_ts Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 12 OS: Windows XP, PCLinuxOS	Re: Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Ok thanks guys, i read some articles on the internet, and i modified boot.ini file and now i can boot both win xp and linux. Thanks in any case! :)

10-31-2009, 03:11 AM	#5 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,533 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Hi pedja can you explain what you did to the boot.ini file ?? what line or lines did you add ?? or can you point us at the page that helped you solve your problem. I am always interested in workarounds for that "lost grub" issue. __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner

11-10-2009, 06:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
pedja_ts Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 12 OS: Windows XP, PCLinuxOS	Re: Booting PSLinuxOS, WINDOWS XP installed second!!! Yeah sure here is the link, i followed those instructions and managed to make it work! Sorry for replying this later i was having some private problems and didn't have time to do anything on my comp! http://highlandsun.com/hyc/linuxboot.html This is it! It took me a while to understand what was written there lol :)