Linux/Windows HD prob

[TeLeMuNdO!]

I recently installed Linux on my system, which i also have XP pro. I installed Windows on my master HD, and Linux on my slave. When i boot up, the dual boot screen shows only Linux and DOS (selecting DOS does nothing). I figured that I'd try and load Windows by unplugging my slaved HD, but the system does not detect a HD when i do that. I can't access Windows, and it's very frustrating, does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[horndude]

Using LILO? IF so check its config file.

Did you install XP first, then linux?

 

[shan]

yea man, you've gotta go into /boot/lilo/lilo.conf or something like that i forget the excact location and edit that config file to show your swodniw drive and point it to the mount location it's at.

ps, i like grub boot loader better

 

[TeLeMuNdO!]

ok, i was searching around in Red Hat for Lilo, but saw nothign. i do however, see a lot of titles dealing with Grub, so i guess thats what i have. i found my grub.conf file, but i can't edit the text or anything....and i don't really know what "mount" even means...

 

[horndude]

You can edit, use a terminal screen or shell and type pico name_of_file

mount means attach that piece of hardware to the file system so it can be accessed or read or both.In linux EVERYTHING is a file.......even hardware devices are treated like files.

Find some linux basics type stuff to read up on, it wont take too long.

 

[TeLeMuNdO!]

okay, i tried editing it through the terminal screen, but it didn't work out too well. whenever i type in "pico grub.conf" it gives the message "bash: pico: command not found". am i doing something wrong?

 

[horndude]

ya it means you dont have pine installed which comes with an editor called picther editors available are probably installed, try vi , which can be a little tricky to use at first.Might have joe or jed installed, u can try them.

Or if youve got midnight commander it has an editor built in.Midnight commander is a file manager, type mc from a terminal screen, if its installed it will run.

 

[TeLeMuNdO!]

ok, "vi" worked. i found out the way to edit my grub.conf file, but what do i need to do to the text? how do i tell it to mount my hardware? sorry if i sound like a noob, but this isn't a very good experience for my first time using Linux.

 

[horndude]

Dont know, never used grub but if its like lilo somewhere in there its gonna have a line that prob has this in it: mount /dev/hdx where x is a,b,c,d(linux partition), check /usr/share/docs for documentation on grub or search the web for a guide.It will also have a mount point, prob "/". example mount /dev/hdc1 / maybe even some options after it, linux uses text configuration files for everything.The docs with your distro in /usr/share/docs will probably have alot of info to cover.

If your harddrive is secondary ide bus, master drive, its /dev/hdc or /dev/hdc1, it will match however it got setup when you fdisked and formatted the drive.

Also make darn sure youve got the drives jumpers set properly if they share a cable, or one or none will show up to the OS at boot time.

 

[TeLeMuNdO!]

whenever i edit the text in the file, it doesn't save after i close the file......