Adding FC5 to an XP computer -
Rick Stevens
rstevens at vitalstream.com
Fri Sep 1 23:50:18 UTC 2006
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 19:29 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> Rick Stevens wrote:
> > On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> >
> >> Bob Goodwin wrote:
> >>
> >>> Tim wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Just quoting the salient points:
> >>>>
> >>>> Bob Goodwin wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>>> XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no
> >>>>>>> o/s
> >>>>>>> CD's are provided.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>> Tim:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>> If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux
> >>>>>> completely
> >>>>>> separate, I'd consider:
> >>>>>> 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot
> >>>>>> itself, or Linux.
> >>>>>> 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP
> >>>>>> drive for
> >>>>>> that XP bootloader to work with.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>> Aaron Konstam:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a
> >>>>> long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original
> >>>> poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent
> >>>> to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation.
> >>>> Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem,
> >>>> the hard way.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on
> >>> the mbr.
> >>>
> >>> If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
> >>>
> >>> So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive
> >>> and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully
> >>> the rest will go as uneventfully ...
> >>>
> >>> Bob Goodwin
> >>>
> >> I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done
> >> things correctly. I believe I have.
> >>
> >> The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell]
> >> installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me
> >> but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
> >>
> >> It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub
> >> is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub
> >> display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any
> >> alternative.
> >>
> >> What am I doing wrong?
> >>
> >
> > grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka
> > /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing
> > "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
> >
> > We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one
> > partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate
> > partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1,
> > this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
> >
> > #boot=/dev/sda
> > default=0
> > timeout=5
> > splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> > hiddenmenu
> > title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5)
> > root (hd1,1)
> > kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb
> > quiet max_luns=256
> > initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img
> > title Windows XP
> > root (hd0,0)
> > makeactive
> > chainloader +1
> >
> > If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above
> > that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> > - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> > - -
> > - Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> XP is installed on the original 80G h.d., untouched, still as Dell
> set it up.
>
> I installed a second 80G SATA drive and installed FC5 to that with
> the DVD, all pretty much as Fedora intended except where I told it to
> use the mbr and default to FC5 Linux.
>
> Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
>
> sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
>
> #boot=/dev/sda
> default=0
> timeout=5
> splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> hiddenmenu
> title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp)
> root (hd1,0)
> kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img
> title Windows XP
> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
> chainloader +1
>
> [I typed this manually but it looks identical to the display
> on the Dell display.]
>
> It looks to me like Dell has somehow set aside about 3 gigs of
> the 80 apparently to provide a means of reinstalling Windows?
> I don't know it that has any effect on this problem?
If you are CERTAIN you did a "grub-install /dev/sda", then it may be
that the BIOS virus checker keeps overwriting grub with the Winblows
boot loader (it considers grub to be a virus). You'll need to disable
that in the BIOS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
- -
- "The bogosity meter just pegged." -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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