Linux problem (1 Viewer)

mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
#1
I've finally made the switch, with Red Hat's Fedora Core 1, and my pc at home's a dual boot. They only problem is that I can only boot Linux with my boot floppy.

When I was installing it, I chose not to install grub, the boot manager, as my installation manual told me that it would stop me from booting to Windows for the moment. It wouldn't have been a problem on my laptop, but the pc at home is shared with the rest of my family, who'd freek out if I couldn't boot Windows for a couple of days!

How do I install grub, and configure it to boot Windows as default? I've got a single hard drive, partitioned, and the Windows is XP.
 

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Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
#2
wohoo :party:

Well since I have very little experience with Fedora, I can't tell you to install grub but I will say that you need it. I would poke around the configuration settings and see if there is an option for it, perhaps there isn't. Fedora isn't very forgiving for those who make the wrong choices during installation, and if you don't know how to do it later, you're a fix.

But short of reinstalling Fedora to solve the problem, look at www.fedorafag.org (though I didnt see anything relevant), and ask at www.fedoraforum.org. Those two are the best Fedora resources I've found. If you search the forum, there's a good chance someone already asked about it.

As for dualbooting with grub, it's very simple, just add this to the bottom of your /boot/grub/menu.lst:

Code:
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Assuming your Windows is on the first primary partition, otherwise you need to change (hd0,0) to reflect your config.
 
OP
mikhail

mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #4
    ++ [ originally posted by Martin ] ++
    wohoo :party:
    Thanks for the advice Martin. I haven't got anything important on the drive yet, so re-installation is an option, though I don't have the time right now. What I've read in my efforts to research grub have suggested that it's risky to install it after the fact, and that a boot disk would be safer. That said, I don't want to leave it as is.

    ++ [ originally posted by River ] ++
    offtopic but Mikhail whats your blog link, the link in your sig isnt a link :)
    It's fixed now River.
     
    OP
    mikhail

    mikhail

    Senior Member
    Jan 24, 2003
    9,576
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #6
    ++ [ originally posted by Martin ] ++
    Welcome to the ever expanding blog family, John! :cool:
    Thanks. It's a pet project: self-enlightenment. ;) BTW, is that you in the comment?
     

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