Dual Boot, Grub, FC3-WinXpSP2, 2 drives. No go.

[Jonathan Berry]

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 14:00:28 -0500, Nat Gross
<natgross.rentalsystems at verizon.net> wrote:
> Jonathan Berry wrote:
> >Hidden files in Linux are different from in Windows.  Windows has a
> >file attribute that makes a file hidden.  In Linux, a file with a
> >filename beginning with a dot "." is hidden.
> >
> Thanks for the tip.
> 
> >What you need to do is
> >to just mount your windows partitions and then list the contents of
> >each partition.  For instance, if you mount your NTFS parition on
> >/mnt/windows/E (this is not a required place, just an example), then
> >open a terminal and type the command:
> >ls /mnt/windows/E
> >If you see ntldr and boot.ini listed in the output, everything is
> >fine.  You don't need to search for them as they are necessarily in
> >the root of the partition (this is, they will not be in a folder).
> >Similarly, do the same with your vfat partition, just in case.  If you
> >do not find it in either place, then you do have a problem and you
> >will need to restore these somehow.  Probably with the recovery
> >console and FIXBOOT as already suggested.
> >
> >Jonathan
> 
> I have both Windows partitions mounted, and ntldr boot.ini is nowhere to
> be found. Furthermore, my previous search found a lnk(shortcut) file
> that I had named 'bootIniOnCdrive.lnk'! Evidently, after my previous
> Windows crash, I used that shortcut quite a bit! (That was [relative]
> eons ago.)

Looks like you won't be able to boot Windows without using the recovery console.

> Now, in case you are wondering, why I am not *really* paranoid; I have
> my data mounted on fc3 and usable (Java stuff).
> Also, I made the decision to re-align everything and go with Linux
> all-the-way. And for the minor stuff that I would like to boot Windows
> for, *maybe* it can wait for a cd from MS. (I don't trust the ntfs mount
> for writing.)

The new NTFS driver can only do limited writing, and anything it will
do will *not* mess anything up, or that is what they say.  It was
rewritten to be failsafe, but as a result, it doesn't do a whole lot. 
You can change files as long as the size stays the same.  If you need
to change files and don't want to use Windows anymore, why not just
move the files to a partition that you can write to?  If you really
don't want Windows, you can then reformat (after you are sure you have
*everything* you might want copied elsewhere!!!) your NTFS partition
to ext3.

> And to let the great folks here in on a little secret, my drive C was
> already crashed (this time around too) and was hoping that the fc3
> install/grub will not only give me fc3, but also the Win back. (if grub
> had ntldr-equivalent code....).
> whew! off my soapbox.

Huh?  If your hard drive "crashed" (meaning that the drive failed or
is beginning to fail) I would not trust it, get a replacement.  If
there is something wrong with the drive, it won't last no matter what
OS you use.  If you mean something else, please enlighten us.  And no,
GRUB cannot directly boot windows, it can only "chainload" ntldr.

> Now, having said this, I am a little afraid to boot the Win CD and run
> FIXBOOT, because a)some win gurus say that since my system has sp2, the
> original cd is useless; and b) I want to be assured that it won't blow
> my fc3/grub away. (too much invested in this, this week.)
> 
> So, if I get your vote(s) and assurance that it won't hurt running
> fixboot, I'll go for it.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL.
> -nat

I'm not sure, but I don't think fixboot will touch the MBR.  That is
what fixmbr does.  It should not hurt FC3 as I would think it should
only touch the windows partition.  Even if you had to run FIXMBR, or
FIXBOOT did replace GRUB, you can easily re-install it (you should be
able to find instructions with Google or the archives as this has been
asked too many times already :)).  I think this should be safe, just
be sure you know which partition it wants to play with before you do
it.  I haven't heard anything about using an SP1 disk with an SP2
install, but I haven't looked for it.  Could you provide links?  I
don't think you could make the situation worse, as at worst, Windows
won't boot, and you're already in that boat :).  If you have a way,
back up all the data you want to save.
Most things with computers can be undone (you may have to reinstall,
of course) and data loss is the worst outcome (this is in general, I'm
not making any specific comments about this situation).  So if you
save everything you might want, go ahead and give it a shot.  The most
you will lose is time, then :).

Jonathan