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STEP 1
I had installed following OS's on my comp which has HardDrive of 10MB :
Its Partition Table was Like:
1 Primary Partion ("C:")
1 Extended Partion with Four Logical Patition of it ("D:" ,"E:","F:","G:")
Following are the sequence in which I installed the OS's
1)"WindowsMe" on FAT32 on "C:" ("D:" as the other extra FAT32 Drive)
2)"WindowsXp Professional" on NTFS on "E:"
3) LINUX (Mandrake8.1) on "G:"
(by dividing it("G:") into two parts '/dev/hda7' for "/" and'/dev/hda8' for swap)
I chose LILO as the BOOT LOADER.
EveryThing working Fine.I am able to boot all 3 OS's.
STEP 2
Later I chose to remove "WindowsXp" and "Linux Mandrake8.1" from my comp and Install
"RedHat7.2 Linux"
I have done this in following way:
1) In Linux I issued Command "lilo -u" to uninstall LINUX.Succesfull.
2)I booted with my WindowsXp CD and manually removed NTFS Partition.But its bootloaders like
"ntldr","boot.ini","bootsect.dos" ,"ntoskernel" etc. remained on my "c:" drive.
3) I installed RedHat7.2 on partitions of earlier NTFS and LINUX by Merging them.
4) I chose GRUB as the boot loader for Linux.
5)therefore I had
windowsMe with ("C:" and "D:") drive with "ntldr" ,"boot.ini" and "bootsect.dos".
RedHat7.2 Linux with("/dev/hda6" for '/' and "/dev/hda7" for swap) drive with
GRUB on MBR as bootloader.
6)Everything working fine.I am able to boot all my OS's By chosing the OS from
the grub menu list.
STEP 3
Later I chose to boot into all the OS's by using GRUB Prompt and not by using it menu list.
1)When I got the GRUB menu list at the booting time ,I Pressed 'c'to get into the
GRUB Prompt.
(I gota "grub>" as prompt)
2)For Booting Linux I typed:
grub>kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 <enter>
grub>initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img <enter> (2.4.7-10 is kernel version)
grub>boot <enter>
3)Success.I booted into LINUX.
4)Rebooted the machine and again gone to GRUB Prompt ,this time to boot "WindowsMe".
5)For Booting "WindowsMe" I typed:
grub>unhide (hd0,0) <enter>
grub>hide (hd0,1) <enter>
grub>rootnoverify(hd0,0) <enter>
grub>chainloader +1 <enter>
grub>makeactive <enter>
grub>boot <enter>
NOTE :1st two steps are needed only if U have Two versions of Windows Installed.
6)I got the "boot.ini" ,selected "WindowsMe".
7)Unable to boot.Gota Black Screen.
8)waited for 3-5 min.
9)rebooted using reboot button of the cabinet.
10)After this reboot,GRUB hanged ,some DISK Error.
11)Booted from windows starter disk ,removed GRUB by "FDISK /MBR" from MBR.
12)GRUB removed from MBR ,Booted into windows successfully.
13)BIG PROBLEM: I was unable to see my windows "D:" drive.
14)Problem was due to "grub>hide (hd0,1) <enter>" command.
15)"D:" had my precious DATA and I don't want to lose it.
16)Solution was
Install GRUB again.and issue
"grub>unhide (hd0,1) <enter> " command at grub Prompt.
17)I didnt had any Linux boot disk.
18)So I have reinstall Linux on "C:" drive .Ofcourse! windows is lost .
19)Now I have only Linux on my comp.A lost "D:" drive i.e.(/dev/hda5)and old Linux Partitions
i.e. '/dev/hda6' and '/dev/hda7' (swap).
20)I again installed GRUB as the boot Loader.
21)booted the comp, gone to GRUB Prompt and issued following command:
"grub>hide (hd0,1) <enter>"
22)I checked my hidden "D:" drive by mounting it on Linux,
#mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /dos (dos is any directory).
23)woh! I gotta my drive back from hidden treasures.
24)It was really a very thrilling experience.
25)Removed Linux.Reinstalled windows on "C:".Installed Linux on other Partition
with GRUB as boot loader....
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