Dual Boot Windows ME/Fedora Core 1: Adding WIndows XP

[fletchjp 0]

I had a dual boot system with Windows ME and Fedora Core 1, both on disk 1 (60 Gbyte), controlled by GRUB in the MBR of disk 1.

 

I wanted to add in Windows XP, to be able to run coLinux, which does not run on Windows ME.

 

What I have now is a dual boot Windows ME and Windows XP and I can only get to the Fedora Core 1 using its boot floppy. What is in the MBR now was put there by Windows XP.

 

How did this happen?

 

(1) I have used Partition Magic 8.0 to make space for the Windows XP partition. This all went O.K.

 

(2) Partition Magic 8.0 recommended BootMagic 8.0 to help set up the booting of the new operating system. So I installed it. When I did so it immediately removed the previous GRUB information from the MBR, and only identified the Windows ME. It did this with no warning despite saying that it "supports GRUB" on the box.

 

(3) The install of Windows XP involved recreating the partition created for it by Partition Magic. At the end of that BootMagic was disabled and replaced by Windows XP stuff.

 

I have tried

 

(1) Reconfiguring BootMagic which now only sees Windows ME and not XP.

 

(2) Using the install DVD for Fedora Core 1 and reinstalling GRUB. I go through the dialogue and attempt to tell it about Windows XP but it doesn't install.

 

Please, what else can I do?

 

I feel let down by BootMagic 8.

 

Partition Structure of Disk 1

 

C: Windows ME FAT32 primary 13 Gbytes

L: Windows XP NTFS primary 20 Gbytes

E: FAT32 logical 7 Gbytes

/boot FC1 Ext3 logical small

/ FC1 Ext3 logical 13.5 Gbytes

swap FC1 Ext3 logical 1 GByte

 

D,F,G,H,I small partions on a second 10 Gbyte drive

J,K CD/RW and DVD

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

John Fletcher

 

 

[jimf43 0]

Don't use boot magic, it's crap.

 

Boot into fedora and install grub to the MBR. Then add the windows menu entries to the '/boot/grub/menu.lst' file

 

See:

http://mepislovers.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=145&forum=6

 

This is for Mepis/Debian, but, should apply to any grub boot setup.

 

One of the wonderfull things about M$ is that they automaticly install their own bootloader which doesn't look anything except windo$ without considerable effort

[Dapper Dan 0]

Originally posted by jimf43:

Quote:

Don't use boot magic, it's crap.

 

A big AMEN to that brother!

 

[fletchjp 0]

Thanks for the response. I am attempting to make sense of the manuals for the grub command.

 

I have found /boot/grub/grub.conf which contains what was being used before and I have edited it to add an entry for Windows XP on hd(0,1).

 

So all I need to do now is to install it in the MBR on the first disk. My /boot is /dev/hda6 according to the df command. So I think the grub commands should be

 

root (hd0,5)

setup (hd0)

quit

 

Is that O.K. ?

 

Thanks

 

John

 

[danleff 0]

Take a look at this thread which may help.

 

How are you accessing Grub now to edit it now?

[fletchjp 0]

I am currently running the Fedora system (booted from the startup disk) and was contemplating running grub as root at the command line. That seemed from the manual to be a risky procedure.

 

The thread you reference gives the alternative of booting from the CD (DVD in my case) and then using linux rescue. SO in that case I would do

 

# chroot /mnt/hda6 (for my /boot)

# grub-install /dev/hda

# exit

# exit

 

I am running the webbrowsing on a different computer!

 

Thanks

 

John

 

[fletchjp 0]

Solved

 

Rebooted from Fedore Core 1 DVD into linux rescue

 

Answered a few questions. Then the commands

 

# chroot /mnt/sysimage

# grub-install /dev/hda

# exit

# exit

 

as suggested in the other thread.

 

The twist. Now everything boots BUT the two versions of Windows are accessed via my old Windows ME option, which then gives a second choice between Windows ME and Windows XP. I guess that the code for that is at the start of the partition for Windows ME

 

My next action? Delete BootMagic from the system.

 

Thanks everyone, and I hope this helps someone else.

 

John

 

[Dapper Dan 0]

Congratulations! And thanks for getting back with us on a solution! You will have indeed helped someone else when they find this.