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Linux Partitions EMERGENCY
Sceptre
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright, EMERGENCY.
I decided to try and install Fedora, to give it a shot, see what it offered. And I think I have a major problem now on my hands.
I think I may have fucked myself over via partitions.
Basically, I can't choose to boot up into windows from anywhere as far as I can see. The option just doesn't seem to be there. My choices from the Linux launcher are "Fedora" and "Other" but going to Other causes the machine to sit there for a very long time.
Now, when I was installing Fedora, I had two hard drives. One that mentioned having some 300 GB's of free space(The one I planned to put linux on), the other mentioning significantly less. Naturally, I left the one meant for linux checked, and the other not, and I reformatted the non windows one for the necessary files systems. But now I can't get to windows. And I don't know linux well enough to even know what it's telling me in the "My Computer" directory.
So please, HELP ME, because I am going to be very angry if I lost my other partition. Also, putting the windows XP Cd in seems to do very little, as it goes to "Scanning for Hardware configuration" and then hangs at a black screen for an indefinite period of time.
I decided to try and install Fedora, to give it a shot, see what it offered. And I think I have a major problem now on my hands.
I think I may have fucked myself over via partitions.
Basically, I can't choose to boot up into windows from anywhere as far as I can see. The option just doesn't seem to be there. My choices from the Linux launcher are "Fedora" and "Other" but going to Other causes the machine to sit there for a very long time.
Now, when I was installing Fedora, I had two hard drives. One that mentioned having some 300 GB's of free space(The one I planned to put linux on), the other mentioning significantly less. Naturally, I left the one meant for linux checked, and the other not, and I reformatted the non windows one for the necessary files systems. But now I can't get to windows. And I don't know linux well enough to even know what it's telling me in the "My Computer" directory.
So please, HELP ME, because I am going to be very angry if I lost my other partition. Also, putting the windows XP Cd in seems to do very little, as it goes to "Scanning for Hardware configuration" and then hangs at a black screen for an indefinite period of time.
Sceptre on
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Yes, as I mentioned in my post, the windows CD seems to do nothing. After some looking around Fedora, I can see through the Logical Volume Management program, that there is another Partition formatted in the NTFS system sized 200 GB (The size of my main one.)
Therefore, the damn thing is clearly there, how do I access it now?
You need to check your partition table (probably using fdisk) find out whether you've collapsed the other partitions (or if you know their positiion and whether they're primary or logical you can simply mount them in linux).
That's step one.
You need to make sure that your windows partitition is bootable, and then edit your grub or lilo (or whatever bootloader you're using) config file to allow you to use windows. Usually an example of how to do so is included in the comments for the file itself.
EDIT: I see you know how to see where the partition is, you can mount and view the files under linux but not edit them if they're on an NTFS partition.
To return to dual-booting functionality just skip to the last part of my advice and fix your bootloader.
Alright, now the trouble is that I have been using Linux for about 20 minutes. Where do I find this bootloader file?
Edit : Ok, found the Grub.Conf file, but now it says I don't have access to the file, which is odd because my account is the only one, and should be root, no? And if not, how do I give myself root?
Your checklist is the following:
1. Find out if your NTFS partitiion is bootable using the Logical Partition Viewer
2. Find out which bootloader you're using. I've never installed anything RedHat, so I can't help you as to what it defaults to. It's 99% probable that it will be LiLo or GRUB.
3. Find out where Fedora stores its config files (if it's anything like Debian then it will be /etc) however, you can probably find out which file you want to edit and exactly where it's located by checking /usr/share/doc/grub or /usr/share/doc/lilo
4. Find out the details of the partition, so you can tell the bootloader where to look (it will usually be something like /dev/hda or something).
It step one is not so, you need to make your NTFS partition bootable, which I am not sure about - you can do it through fdisk or some such, or qtpartd or something like that, I imagine.
Then it's just a matter of following the instructions from the doc files from step 3 (or editting and uncommenting the example included in the the config filef). You'll need to have root priviledges to do so, so use su(do) or something if you aren't currently logged in as root.
I think that should set you right.
And to just view your files you can use the details from step 4, and then as root do the following (though make sure you edit it to be where you want it and to reflect your actual device).
mkdir /ntfs
mount -t ntfs /dev/hd? /ntfs
But for a more workable and permanent solution you'll need to edit your fstab (again, which I THINK should be in /etc but I seem to recall RedHat is organised somewhat differently).
to be root you log in as root and give whatever you set up as the root password.
Or use su and then you just give the root password.
Ok, so my logical volume thing is telling me that that partition is not initializable, does that mean its not bootable?
It sounds like the Windows boot loader got overwritten with Grub, and now Grub doesn't know how to boot your windows partition. Bootloaders are like Highlanders - there can be only one.
Editing grub.conf is probably the way to go, although I can't tell you precisely what to put in it to make it work. Google is your friend on that.
You generally are not root. You can use su to become root, or (more likely) sudo. If you want to get a shell as root, type:
sudo -s
And see what happens. If you have sudo installed, you will get asked for a password - your password. Type it in and you should see:
root@hostname%
instead of
yourusername@hostname%
Ok, so it would appear that it is NOT bootable. What does this mean, how would I fix it?
I recently installed Fedora on a secondary hard drive and am having trouble booting back into Windows. I have my grub.conf file configured correctly (I think) but when I choose to go to windows XP from the GRUB loader, it tells me "NTLDR is missing, press Ctrl+alt+delete".
Naturally, I searched up on what that message meant, and some websites reccomended doing a repair installation of Windows, or using the FIXBOOT command from the recovery console. However, when I insert my windows setup CD, it tells me "Setup is determining hardware configuration" then goes to a black screen and hangs.
I have attempted to install NTFS drivers on my Fedora installation, so that I may attempt to replace the NTLDR and windows boot files manually, but given my lack of experience with the operating system, I cannot figure out how to properly extract the files to a folder where they will function properly.
I'm at a loss for what to do now, any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Here's what I want you to do. Tell me if the hard disk with windows is a paralle or sata, what partition the windows install was one, and what other hard drives you have installed.
I know you're worried, but relax. Simple problem, but there's a specific way to fix it, don't mess around with ntfs drivers, not yet
Ok, SATA hard drive, The windows install was on a separate hard drive, (So /dev/sdb, and it calls it "Partition 1".) Basically two hard drives, both SATA, and one with Fedora, the other without.
sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf
Then add the following to the end of the file
title Microsoft Windows
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
Add this around the sections where it says similiar things about fedora.
Typically you get the fedora entry, press enter to add a line break, then paste that in. Also, aside from the final line (chainloader) delete every space and replace with pressing the tab key. For example, "title Microsoft Windows" becomes "title[press tab here. No, do not copy this text, press the tab key, right above caps lock] Microsoft Windows(notice you do not replace the space in windows.
If this doesn't work, change (hd0,0) to (hd1,0) (this is assuming windows is on the first partition of the hard drive. If that doesn't help, add my msn:
adrenal at gmail dot com.
Goodluck