[LBo] [Fwd: [fpqrp] Help fixing Win2k Boot Loader.....]

[Jisao]

Anita Lewis wrote:
> On 01/02/2007 06:47 PM Sam Morgan wrote:
>   
>> Anyone have an answer for this gentleman?
>>
>> Okay, I need some help here.  I recently installed Debian to some spare
>> space on my main drive.  It made it's own partitions, and now the Win2k
>> bootloader can't find windows.  Windows is still on the same partition,
>> and I have made no changes in boot.ini.
>>
>> On my main drive, this is the partition info from fdisk:
>>
>> ===
>>
>> Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
>> 240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5169 cylinders
>> Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
>>
>>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>> /dev/hda1              69        3789    28130760    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
>> /dev/hda2   *        3790        5169    10432800   83  Linux
>> /dev/hda4               1          68      514048+   6  FAT16
>> /dev/hda5              69        3725    27646888+   7  HPFS/NTFS
>> /dev/hda6            3726        3789      483808+  82  Linux swap /
>> Solaris
>>     
>
>   
>> <snip>
>>
>> Win2k has always been /dev/hda5 in Linux, and has always been referred
>> to as partition(2).  Before, it was like this:
>>
>> /dev/hda4 FAT16 XOSL partition
>> /dev/hda5 Win2k Partition
>> /dev/hda6 Knoppix
>>
>> Knoppix and Win2k were in an extended partition or something... That has
>> always confused me.
>>
>> Windows hasn't changed partitions or anything... so what do I need to do
>> to make it boot again?  Am I fubar'd here?  Argh.
>>
>>     
>
> It looks like the drive has been repartitioned a bit since /dev/hda4 is
> the primary partition that would normally be /dev/hda1.  Yes, The
> Windows partition and current swap are logical partitions on the
> extended /dev/hda1.  One change that has happened is that your Linux
> partition is now ahead of the Windows partitions.  But I don't think
> that is a problem.  It sounds like what you are saying is that you get
> the bootloader for Windows, but the ntldr is missing or not found.  That
> happened to me and the reason is here:
> http://linuxbasics.org/tutorials/during/lose_windows_boot
>
> There are some ideas for fixing it on that page, but I don't think I
> ever put up the thing that ended up fixing it for me.  I didn't have the
> install disk for Win2K; so I couldn't use that to fix the mbr.  I used a
> Windows XP disk and did it with that.  I think the command is 'fixmbr'.
>  That will wipe out your Linux Grub boot loader; so you need to first
> make sure you have a way to boot Linux like a rescue disk or a boot
> disk.  Try booting into Debian with it to make sure it works before you
> fixmbr.  That will find the ntldr for you and then when you go back into
> Debian and run 'install-grub /dev/hda' it will now have the geometry
> straight.
>
> If the Debian you installed does not have kernel 2.6, then forget all of
> this, because that is an important part of the reason for the error.
> But in my case, this happened. Read the page.  It is a rather complex
> issue and seldom happens, but if you have the right machine with the
> BIOS set as stated, along with the 2.6 kernel and parted for your
> partitioner, you can get this geometry shift in the BIOS that will make
> Windows not know where the ntldr is.
>
> Sam, let us know more on this, OK.  It's a long time since I've seen
> this.  I wonder what version of Debian is being used and how the
> partitioning was done.  As usual, it will probably be something much
> simpler.  :-)
>
> Anita
>   
FIXMBR is a command for XP only.

Previous versions of Windows used a different command... fdisk /MBR.

It would help to know what bootloader this person uses. If he uses Grub, 
he could try editing grub until he can boot Windows.

Here is an example of a stanza for windows in Debian: 

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title           Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root            (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader     +1

In his case, he might try, by editing with grub (the grub shell), to 
replace root with (hd0,1) and see if he can boot NT. Instructions are at 
the bottom of the menu when grub boots (from memory, options are e, c, 
o, b).

Last comment, I always keep the boot flag on the windows partition, and 
not on the Linux one, on my computer.

Hope this helps.

Jisao