The definitive dual-booting guide

[yamawho]

The definitive dual-booting guide: Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step ...

http://apcmag.com/node/5162/

[Husse]

As this has Vista it's really interesting - there are some twists with Vista I think
I'll make it sticky

[atlef]

My setup regarding this kind of dual booting is somewhat different, but does have the same "feature" as yours. Separate disks for the OS, and separate bootloader/mbr's.
Vista bootloader is located in sda, and grub in sdb. Then I can choose by hitting F8 during post to get to a boot menu, and I select which disk I want to boot.

atlef.

[olik]

My goal now is only to get the data back from the d partition.
I don t care about the windows or mint installation at this point, I just wonna have the data back.
Does anyone has an idea with which datarecover software I can do that, keep in mind, that the partiton where the data was on it is now a swap

Thanks for help
oli

[olik]

On an other message board someone wrote me:
"Well having gone from NTFS to LINUX SWAP on the partition forensics is about
all you have. "

do you agree on that?
That would be horrible, I just hope some one else has another solution :/

[olik]

Has anyone experience with this one http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
it can manage linux swap 1 and 2 and it can "Rebuild NTFS boot sector
"
or this one http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
"PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data,
so it will still work even if your media's filesystem has been
severely damaged or re-formatted."

Could that work for me?

If so should I run that software via windows or via Linux mint (which still uses that swap, so I assume windows would be better, no?
Thanks again for every help
oli

[atlef]

I have used TestDisk/PhotoRec with great success. But you would need to run it from a LiveCD, such as PartedMagic LiveCD.
And make sure you have enough space to recover the files.

atlef.

[hoppel]

@ Husse:

I'd like to see a way to restore GRUB directly from the boot menu of the livecd - would that be possible? I mean, otherwise you have to boot the whole cd...

[Husse]

I think that would be a bit complicated. To use the tools you are used to you would need to have X started I think

[hoppel]

Ok, after a new installation of Windows XP I tried this manual but failed when trying to restore the GRUB boot loader. Using that guide I should follow these steps:

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To enter the GRUB configuration mode, type in "sudo grub" and press Enter. Then type in the following commands in sequence:
- root (hd0,0)
- setup (hd0)
- quit
- exit

But already "root (hd0,0) gives an error. Is there anything Mint specific what has to be dealt with?

[Husse]

root (hd0,0)

Where is XP? In the first partition of the first disk because that's all it can use
So

Code: Select all

sudo grub

then

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find /boot/grub/stage1 

Now you can see where you have a "grub enabled" OS installed ...

[hoppel]

Well, my old menu.lst looks like this:

Code: Select all

title		Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title		Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title		Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title		Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title		Linux Mint, kernel memtest86+
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

I had Windows installed already, but made a fresh installation which deleted GRUB.

[Husse]

Sorry - grub gone....
Use (hd0,1) and proceed as above
like so

root (hd0,1)
- setup (hd0)
- quit
- exit

[rdonnelly]

I am not sure this would work for every one, but I use virtual box, you can install Windows on the virtual machine, and not even bother with multiple boots and waiting for your PC to reboot and shut down the slug of an OS Windows. I used to have an XP partition and a Linux partition. The only reason that you would need Windows on its own partition is if it needs full control of the hardware. I guess mainly games would need this? But me, I have been very happy with the Vbox setup.

[sunyata]

Question: How to default startup with Windows XP in dual boot with Mint

I have Windows XP Home on my laptop and have dual boot with Linux Mint. Everytime when I startup, it will default to open Linux on the menu and if I don't quickly select XP within a few seconds, it will automatically startup Linux. As my work requires me to open up XP first, how can I make the startup to default at XP?

Can someone please show me how to make it automatically default to open XP, and only start Linux when I choose to:

Thank you for any assistance you can offer.

[Husse]

Please don't shout
Selecting the default boot is maybe best done if you install bum - boot up manager and set it from there

[markcynt]

I think the easiest way to accomplish what sunyata wants is to install kgrub. Bum is a nice program though.

[atlef]

Press alt + F2 and write gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst and look for this part:

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

and change default 0 to 3
Save the file, reboot and Windows should start instead of Mint.

atlef.

[sunyata]

atlef:

Thanks for your reply. I pressed alt+F2 and typed in: gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.1st (with a space before and after gedit like your sample). Then I got the following:

## timeout sec

# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry

# (normally the first entry defined).

timeout 30



Below the above lines, I typed in this:

## default num 4


but it still defaults at Mint.

When I turn on the computer, it gives a menu with 5 items. Mint is at the top with the cursor sitting on it as a default.
Windows XP is in the 5th position at the very bottom. Between the 1st and 5th items are 3 other items that I don't understand; one items has something like Mint (recovery). Assuming that the default Mint at the top of the list is number 0, I typed in 4 for WindowsXP which is in 5th position.

Can you please help me by providing the words that I should type in?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Husse]

Change default 0 to 4
You have this

# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

Change the zero to four - and you are absolutely right about 4
You inserted
## default num 4
Luckily the ## makes it a comment - without the ## I think you get a crash....
Remove the line when you change default to 4
and beware a line beginning with just one # is not commented out