Dual Boot, Grub, FC3-WinXpSP2, 2 drives. No go.

[Nat Gross]

Jonathan Berry wrote:

>On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:54:52 -0500, Nat Gross
><natgross.rentalsystems at verizon.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>Robert Locke wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>On Mon, 2005-02-28 at 17:55 -0500, Nat Gross wrote:
>>><snip>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I thought so, too. But I just mounted both (vfat and ntfs) partitions
>>>>under FC3, and there is no boot.ini file. At this point I am certain
>>>>that for some reason (maybe due to an earlier install of Windows)
>>>>Windows kept the boot.ini on C, hda, and used that to boot from E.
>>>>        
>>>>
>[snip]
>  
>
>>>So to speak.  GRUB is passing control to the NTLDR and BOOT.INI files.
>>>Remember that they are hidden/system files usually, so depending on how
>>>you tried to locate them might be why you did not see them (probably a
>>>pipe dream)???
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>I used the 'search for files' applet and turned on the hidden files option. 
>>    
>>
>[snip]
>  
>
>>>--Rob
>>>      
>>>
>>Thanks again.
>>-nat
>>    
>>
> 
>Hidden files in Linux are different from in Windows.  Windows has a
>file attribute that makes a file hidden.  In Linux, a file with a
>filename beginning with a dot "." is hidden.  
>
Thanks for the tip.

>What you need to do is
>to just mount your windows partitions and then list the contents of
>each partition.  For instance, if you mount your NTFS parition on
>/mnt/windows/E (this is not a required place, just an example), then
>open a terminal and type the command:
>ls /mnt/windows/E
>If you see ntldr and boot.ini listed in the output, everything is
>fine.  You don't need to search for them as they are necessarily in
>the root of the partition (this is, they will not be in a folder). 
>Similarly, do the same with your vfat partition, just in case.  If you
>do not find it in either place, then you do have a problem and you
>will need to restore these somehow.  Probably with the recovery
>console and FIXBOOT as already suggested.
>
>Jonathan
>
>  
>
I have both Windows partitions mounted, and ntldr boot.ini is nowhere to 
be found. Furthermore, my previous search found a lnk(shortcut) file 
that I had named 'bootIniOnCdrive.lnk'! Evidently, after my previous 
Windows crash, I used that shortcut quite a bit! (That was [relative] 
eons ago.)
Now, in case you are wondering, why I am not *really* paranoid; I have 
my data mounted on fc3 and usable (Java stuff).
Also, I made the decision to re-align everything and go with Linux 
all-the-way. And for the minor stuff that I would like to boot Windows 
for, *maybe* it can wait for a cd from MS. (I don't trust the ntfs mount 
for writing.)
And to let the great folks here in on a little secret, my drive C was 
already crashed (this time around too) and was hoping that the fc3 
install/grub will not only give me fc3, but also the Win back. (if grub 
had ntldr-equivalent code....).
whew! off my soapbox.
Now, having said this, I am a little afraid to boot the Win CD and run 
FIXBOOT, because a)some win gurus say that since my system has sp2, the 
original cd is useless; and b) I want to be assured that it won't blow 
my fc3/grub away. (too much invested in this, this week.)

So, if I get your vote(s) and assurance that it won't hurt running 
fixboot, I'll go for it.

THANK YOU ALL.
-nat