Re: dual booting linux/ windows XP. fdisk compatibility problem?
From: M. Glenn Lewis (mlewis00_at_nospam.tctwest.net.no.com)
Date: 03/30/04
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 14:14:38 -0700
Inline Reply...
"/<rist" <news-dated-1081710159.a0416c@kri.st> wrote in message
news:c4cf0v$2gb57g$1@ID-203068.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to built a system that boots both Windows XP and Linux
> (Mandrake).
>
> I did the following (starting from a virgin 120 GB disk).
> - Install Windows in the first 20 GB. Checked that it booted OK.
> - Install Mandrake in the rest, letting it partition the disk in / swap
> and /home
> - Installed lilo in the MBR, with a menu item to boot Windows.
>
> Result: Linux boots, windows doesn't. It just hangs with a blinking
> cursor on a black screen.
I had the exact same result with trying to boot NT using LILO.
You may need to read the LILO documentation to boot XP
correctly using LILO.
See:
comp.os.linux.setup
Saturday, March 27, 2004 8:49 PM
"LILO problems...Debian Woody 3.0r2"
> Reading the net I find that one can better use the NT boot loader
> shipping with XP to boot Linux, in stead of using Lilo to boot Windows.
> So I want to try that. But for this purpose I need to get Windows to
> boot again.
If you did not back up your MBR before you told LILO to install in the
MBR it is probably too late to do anything short of reinstalling XP.
>
> And this I seem to be unable to do. Everything I tried, from fixboot
> under rescue console to a complete reinstall fails.
I couldn't fix my NT installation using the NT emergency repair disk
either. Had to use low level disk editing software after booting from
my NT emergency boot disk (luckilly, I had backed up the MBR).
I could go into a few more details here but it would start a thread that
would
probably become endless (i.e. Microsoft vs Linux, MS copy protection,
dirty deeds done by Microsoft that only a programmer would under-
stand or believe, etc.).
> One of the odd things, is that when trying a reinstall, the reboot after
> the first copy fails.
Reinstall of Linux or XP?
> The other odd thing is that the symptoms are similar to what I got when
> I tried to install XP on a harddisk that previously had contained Linux.
> There also, after the initial copy of file to the installation partition
> the bootloader is not correctly installed, and the system hangs upon
> reboot. It does not go on with the install...
Microsoft vs Linux?
> This led me to asume that apparently there is something wrong with my
> HD/partition table/MBR that keeps the windows install routine, and other
> utilities like fixboot, from correctly installing a bootloader, or that
> keeps the bootloader from finding the rest of the system.
> And this something might be caused by my Linux install.
Use DOS 6.22, Windows '98, etc. boot disk with DOS fdisk on it and wipe
out the partition table. Then try installing XP onto a clean HDD. If this
doesn't work you might want to download the diagnostic utilities for your
HDD and do a zero fill onto the HDD after you run the diagnostic tests.
This is as close to a low level format you can get with a modern HDD.
This should remove any trace of either OS.
> Could this be? And what can I do about checking of my hyptohesis is
> correct, and fixing my system?
> Does the linux fdisk do something to the partition table that couses the
> windows fdisk to misinterpret it?
I know that Debian Linux 3.0_r2 install creates non-standard partition
table entries sometimes if their is, for example, a primary partition, then
free space, then an extended partition. The cfdisk(?) program used by
install will write the new partitions (Linux primary, Linux swap) created
in the free space into the 3rd and 4th entries in the partition table and
assign your Linux primary partition hda3. It then assigns the Linux swap
hda5. If you reboot after creating the partitions, go into a partition table
editor or low level disk editor and place the entries in the right order
(i.e.
move the entry for the extended partition to the 4th entry in the partition
table, Linux primary entry to the second, and Linux swap to the 3rd), the
Linux installer will assign the "correct" /dev/hdxx assignments. Not that
there is any absolutely correct way, but this is compatible with Microsoft's
partitioning tools.
I think your problem might be more related to Microsoft's copy protection /
licensing requirements than anything else. I've read that XP won't even let
you repair a legitimate licensed installation without putting you through a
lot of extra trouble to prove you are the licensed owner of the OS software.
That's why I suggested zero filling the HDD. That would (should) erase
any disk signatures MS may have written to some obscure sector of the
HDD to keep track of your installation attempts.
Good Luck,
--
Parts of original message omitted when not needed.
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M. Glenn Lewis
mlewis00@nospam.tctwest.net.no.com
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