DSL Tips and Tricks :: Frugal install



Part One: Installing Grub and losing access to your Windows OS

Just in case anybody attempting a grub frugal install doesn't already  know, if you are hoping to have a dual boot system and have windows installed on any partition other than hda1, after the install you WILL HAVE NO ACCESS to your windows OS, guaranteed.

That's because the prompt allows you two choices, y or n, to the question whether windows is on HDA1. Either way, you lose...no access to windows. Putting the disk in with DSL NORESTORE isn't going to work, right? You need to boot from your hard drive, and either windows isn't listed as a choice, or it is but it's pointing to the wrong partition.

Part Two:  Editing "menu.lst" to load Windows

"Menu.lst" should be in the partition where you loaded the install, such as /mnt/hda1/boot/grub/menu.lst, although I found mine in the cdrom folder. To edit, you need to be in root, so right click on the Emelfm icon. Note, that the copy found at Knoppix/boot/grub can't be edited. Everyone but the newbies know exactly why, and were born with this knowledge.

To get windows back, delete the # marks (used to deactivate lines of code for commenting)  on the last 5 lines, begining with "title Windows".  That's the word you would like to see on the screen when your grub menu appears after rebooting.  You would also like it to load your operating system, so edit the second line to point to the correct partition. Note that in grub language, hda1 is (hd0,0). Hd2 is (hd0,1). The reason why this is true is well known to all but us newbies, so don't expect to see it documented anywhere.

I hope that I haven't spoiled the joy of hunting down your windows operating system for anyone, but after reading a few posts where newbies reinstalled their operating systems from scratch, I thought it might be worth posting for the non-initiated trying out linux for the first time. Fortunately, I had a free day to play hide and seek.
Quote (jpeters @ April 25 2006,04:08)
Part Two:  Editing "menu.lst" to load Windows

"Menu.lst" should be in the partition where you loaded the install, such as /mnt/hda1/boot/grub/menu.lst, although I found mine in the cdrom folder. To edit, you need to be in root, so right click on the Emelfm icon. Note, that the copy found at Knoppix/boot/grub can't be edited. Everyone but the newbies know exactly why, and were born with this knowledge.

To get windows back, delete the # marks (used to deactivate lines of code for commenting)  on the last 5 lines, begining with "title Windows".  That's the word you would like to see on the screen when your grub menu appears after rebooting.  You would also like it to load your operating system, so edit the second line to point to the correct partition. Note that in grub language, hda1 is (hd0,0). Hd2 is (hd0,1). The reason why this is true is well known to all but us newbies, so don't expect to see it documented anywhere.

I hope that I haven't spoiled the joy of hunting down your windows operating system for anyone, but after reading a few posts where newbies reinstalled their operating systems from scratch, I thought it might be worth posting for the non-initiated trying out linux for the first time. Fortunately, I had a free day to play hide and seek.

It really isn't hard to find. I'm sorry you had so much trouble. The documentation and reasoning are right here:

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Naming-convention

The reason the stuff in the KNOPPIX partition can't be edited can be found on the Knoppix site.

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Using_FAQ
Maybe the link to the manual could be placed somewhere obvious, like on the start page under the frugal grub install description (as a MUST read before attempting to install). It's made to look so easy and reversible, that I would doubt any newbie would suspect that loading lilo or grub on an XP is almost irreversible (unlike on windows 98).  My first attempt with the grub frugal install (Dell Inspiron 1000) was a lot of crashes. My preference would have been to start from scratch, but after a lot of unsuccessful searching on how to do that, I was stuck trying to get it to work. My searches were generally on the DSL site, given the uniqueness of DSL to what might work for other distros.

On an XP, we're used to clicking on a system restore to go back to how thing were the previous day.  That's if the uninstall feature in the control panel fails to bring things back. Just my experiences with one week of Linux; I'm sure if I was just more intelligent, I wouldn't have had any problems..
Okay,  I used LILO and now have no option to book into Win 2000.  I used to have PartitionMagic's BootMagic (and I still see all my "stuff" on hda1), but I suspect that LILO wiped out my MBR.  So, is there a way to get a dual boot here.  How do I reconfigure LILO from DSL?  I used to be able to figure it out with a Debain system from knoppix... but how to get into LILO from a frugal DSL install seems to be beyond me.
You,ve got to boot toram and edit /etc/lilo.conf and add this->

title Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP  <-your windows name
root (hd0,0) <- your partion, this is the first 1st the 2nd is hd0,1
makeactive
chainloader +1

then in konsole run lilo to activate it
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