Looking at the above partition table, it does look like you installed Windows first, which is usually much easier since Windows throws fits if it is not the first partition. Linux is on the last 2 partitions, with what looks like a boot partition and the rest on LVM.On 5/7/08, Kai Schaetzl <maillists AT conactive.com> wrote:Lanny Marcus wrote on Wed, 07 May 2008 15:10:58 -0500:Kai: I am not using Windows Boot Manager. Grub comes up, as on the 2 boxes, where things are working properly.Just to be sure, it's really grub? You get a somewhat blueish screen that says "booting centos in x seconds, press any key to see options" or so? I think there's also a CentOS symbol on it, but am not sure. We have to be absolutely sure about that.Kai: On my box (dell2400) it is GNU GRUB v.0.97, with 3 choices (2 for Linux, 1 for WInXP). On my wife's box (compaq1300) it is also GNU GRUB v.0.97, but with 2 choices (1 for the original Linux kernel, 1 for WinXP).And if you select Windows from that boot screen, does that boot right into Windows or do you get another boot menu that lists only Windows?Ah. This is where the problem on her box probably comes from! Last November, when I installed Windows XP, in English, my native language, I did not understand something in Microsoft's English. There were four (4) partitions for Windows (C,D,E,F) and apparently when it was finished, I clicked incorrectly and it installed Windows again, So, it installed MS Windows XP onto the four (4) Windows partitions on her box! If Windows is selected on the GNU GRUB menu, then there is a 2nd boot menu, of Windows. The one to select is the 2nd from the top. I would redo her box completely, if she goes out of town, but then she will need to reinstall a lot of stuff. The installation of MS Windows on her box is a disaster! Lots of wasted space on the HD too.Questions: (a) Can I copy /boot/grub/grub.conf on my box and replace that file on my wife's box, with my version? Would that work OK? Worth a try?No, this wouldn't help, because the grub.conf that *we know of* is fine. It's just not getting used, because you are booting from another one. AFAIK, grub cannot embed a boot menu in the MBR (Master Boot Record), so that information must be coming from somewhere else. You have *two* grub.conf's (and two /boot partitions) on the machine AFAIS. You would have to *merge* the two: you need the options for booting Windows from the first one and all the other options from the second one. AFAIK, the MBR on your disk does not boot from hd(0,2), but from another partition. You have to find out which one that is and change the grub.conf on that partition accordingly. The caveat of this is that you would have to do this each time the kernel changes or you would need to change a bit more, so that this becomes the new boot partition. Another option would be to grub-install again and overwrite the current information in the MBR, so that it then boots from hd(0,2). I'm not confident enough about both options to talk you thru. Maybe I'm missing other possibilities why that happens, but the basic problem is that your machine does not boot from that hd(0,2), but with information from elsewhere.There was confusion on my part, when I installed Windows XP on my wife's box. Hers was the first one I installed Win XP on, which I'd never installed before and it ended up getting installed more than once.Did you install it after CentOS or before it?When I began using Linux, I read that for dual boot boxes, MS Windows should always be installed first. So, I always install MS Windows first and then Linux.You will need to make a list of all partitions. Not sure what the best way to do this would be. Probably fdisk. Run fdisk, then type "p" (for printing the partition table), then leave it with "q". Be careful, as printing the table is only the least dangerous action in fdisk!Per Scott Silva's suggestion: [root@compaq1300 ~]# fdisk -l Disk /dev/hda: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes 240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10587 cylinders Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 * 1 783 5919448+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hda2 784 5347 34503840 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda3 5348 10586 39606840 8e Linux LVM /dev/hda5 784 1566 5919448+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hda6 1567 2920 10236208+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hda7 2921 3733 6146248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hda8 3734 3747 105808+ 83 Linux /dev/hda9 3748 5347 12095968+ 8e Linux LVM [root@compaq1300 ~]# Trying to remember what I did on approximately 24 November 2007 is difficult. Probably, after shrinking the Windows partition with QTParted, to allow space for the CentOS installation, I let Windows do the partitioning and formatting for Windows, since I'd read that it is recommended to let Windows do that for Windows and Linux for Linux. However, I may have done the Windows partitionnig with QTParted. Or, the Windows XP installation may have given me the option to not use all of the HD for Windows, and if so, I would have elected to do that and leave space for CentOS5. I believe that I created and formatted the 4 Windows partitions within the Win XP installation. Not sure what went on that confused day. TIA! Lanny
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