Re-installing XP

[Shobuz99]

Hello, I'm a new member
I apologize if I should have started a new thread for this. Let me know, and I will.

My question is similar to Bozzo's.
My machine is a amd64.
I have two hard drives. One is an NTFS (XP Home) and
the other is a Linux (Ubuntu 8.04).
I have the Grub setup to dual boot between the drives.
Here is the first boot entry in my Grub menu.lst:
title Windows XP Home
root (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

then Ubuntu:
title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-21-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-21-generic root=UUID=8bb89afd-e18e-4e91-8a66-2394af41fb39 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-21-generic
quiet

Recently, I lost ability to boot to XP because of a failed install (autochk failure error)
of SP3 on my XP machine (long story, not worth telling)
I now want to reinstall XP to the XP drive; BUT I'm told that if I do that,
I will lose Grub and the ability to boot to the Linux drive because the re-install of XP will delete or scramble the Grub information on the XP drive.
Is that true? If so, then that means I would have to reinstall Ubuntu
to the Ubuntu drive and setup Grub all over again?
If I reinstall Ubuntu, will I lose all files or just the OS?
My Ubuntu drive is an 80GB drive, half full.
My XP drive is a 20GB, nearly empty because I moved many of my programs and
data files to the Ubuntu drive.
What would be the best procedure to take; with minimal loss of data and optimum
recovery of Grub and XP?

Thank you for your help.

Rick (shobuz99)

[oz]

I apologize if I should have started a new thread for this. Let me know, and I will.

Welcome to the forums!

...moved it to create a new thread for you.

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

You can re-install XP with very few problems. It will over-write GRUB, but re-installing GRUB is a piece of cake. The XP installer won't touch the Linux drive, so no problems there. After installing XP, drop the Ubuntu CD into the CD tray, go to rescue mode, and execute

chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub-install /dev/hdx
exit
exit

All done!

*EDIT
/dev/hdx being where you actually want GRUB to be located.

[Shobuz99]

Hello and Welcome!

You can re-install XP with very few problems. It will over-write GRUB, but re-installing GRUB is a piece of cake. The XP installer won't touch the Linux drive, so no problems there. After installing XP, drop the Ubuntu CD into the CD tray, go to rescue mode, and execute

chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub-install /dev/hdx
exit
exit

All done!

*EDIT
/dev/hdx being where you actually want GRUB to be located.

Jay,
Thank you for the quick reply.
More questions:
I haven't run the Ubuntu 8.04 CD since I installed it; will the rescue mode
appear in a menu, once the CD boots?
Also, based on my previous post, is hd1 the XP drive or is hd0?
I'm thinking it's hd0...?
I think I would put the GRUB back where it was, on the XP drive.

Eventually, I will get rid of Windows XP. For now, I'm still working
on extracting the MS hypodermic from my arm..
There are some programs that I can't duplicate in Ubuntu;
But I'm on a mission to overcome that....
Thanks again for your help.
Rick (shobuz99)

[jayd512]

Hi, Rick!

It seems that XP in on the second hard drive (hd0,0 in GRUB is hda1). So you may want to install GRUB in the first boot sector. But it will work as well if you put it in the MBR. And Ubuntu should give you the option to go to Rescue mode. If not, just use the Super GRUB CD.

[Jonathan183]

Unplug the Linux hard drive and do the Windows XP install ... check Windows boots correctly then shutdown the system, reconnect the Linux drive and restart the system. I think you will find the system boots to grub because it is located on the MBR of the first hard drive. Let use know how things go

[Shobuz99]

Hi, Rick!

It seems that XP is on the second hard drive (hd0,0 in GRUB is hda1). So you may want to install GRUB in the first boot sector. But it will work as well if you put it in the MBR. And Ubuntu should give you the option to go to Rescue mode. If not, just use the Super GRUB CD.

Unplug the Linux hard drive and do the Windows XP install ... check Windows boots correctly then shutdown the system, reconnect the Linux drive and restart the system. I think you will find the system boots to grub because it is located on the MBR of the first hard drive. Let use know how things go

Jay and Jonathan,
Thanks for your help. I think you both have good advice.
Jay, I don't have a copy of the Super Grub CD, but i guess I could get it from your link.

I will try what you suggest, Jonathan, because I reread
my original post and saw that the Ubuntu was listed as root(hd0);
(title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-21-generic root (hd0,0))
which makes it the first drive...
I'll definitely let you know how it all turns out.
Thank you again for all your help.
Rick (shobuz99)

[Shobuz99]

Jay and Jonathan and all interested:

Thank you again for your help last week.
We ended up doing the the re-install of XP and were able to keep GRUB intact with no loss whatsoever.
We disconnected the Ubuntu drive, as you suggested, and re-installed a clean XP Pro.
I had previously moved all my data files and programs to my Ubuntu drive,
so anything that was overwritten during XP install, was unimportant.
Once we booted XP and it ran well, we let SP3 update on its own, without problems.
(Apparently, IE7 was written prior to SP3. SP3 was also not updated to mimic SP2
for IE7's sake; that is, answer IE7's request to identify as SP2; which it didn't do because it was SP3. That is what essentially caused the crash; from what we could determine.)

Once that was complete, we shut down and reconnected the Ubuntu drive.
When we booted, GRUB did not load. We only panicked for nanoseconds.
We went into BIOS on the second boot try, and switched the order of the drives.
Saved BIOS changes and rebooted... oila'!! the GRUB menu appeared and allowed us to select which OS we wanted to boot.
We selected Ubuntu and everything went fine after that. Ubuntu acted as if we never had a problem...
Did I say how much I LOVE Ubuntu???
Anyway... Some day, I will be ale to use enough Open Source programs and Ubuntu/linux apps to replace any and all reasons to keep using XP.
I am patient. I will wait for that day to arrive...
As John Lennon so eloquently said, "You may say I'm a dreamer, well I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us..and the world can be as one"...(from Imagine)

Thank you all very much for all your help.
Rick (Shobuz99)

[Jonathan183]

Glad your sorted ... enjoy your Ubuntu .... and XP

[jayd512]

Glad to hear you're all fixed up! Enjoy!