Re-installing Windows XP Home Edition SP2 from Ubuntu(or any of my other distros)

[Ghosts]

Okay, I bought a Dell(well, my mum did) a long time ago, Dimension 2350, I recently installed SuSE 10.1 on it, then I installed fedora core 5, then Mandriva 07, and last Ubuntu

I want to put Windows back on it, but when I insert the disc-reboot- boot from disc all I get is a blank screen, Please help

[bigtomrodney]

You should check that the disk is not damaged and that the boot order is set correctly in the BIOS. Having Linux installed won't have any effect on a bootable disk. Also if you have two drives make sure that you try booting from both as some motherboards will only boot from one device/channel.

[devils casper]

installing Windows after Linux is very tricky. windows need 'primary partition'. you can install Windows in Logical too but that would add more complications.

first of all create a primary partition for windows. boot up through windows 98 bootable floppy and type 'fdisk /mbr' at prompt ( A:\> ). you can download bootable floppy from www.bootdisk.com. Windows installation CD would work after fixing MBR. install Windows.
you have to install GRUB again. boot up through Ubuntu CD and type 'sudo grub-install /dev/hda'. add an entry for windows in menu.lst file.





casper

[Ghosts]

Well, I have to XP Discs(my mum's and mine) and I tried them both, neither worked, and as for BIOS- 1. Start Computer, 2. f12 for boot Menu, 3. IDE CD-ROM device

[devils casper]

Well, I have to XP Discs(my mum's and mine) and I tried them both, neither worked, and as for BIOS- 1. Start Computer, 2. f12 for boot Menu, 3. IDE CD-ROM device

in many cases, XP CD doesn't work at all. you have to fix MBR first.



casper

[Ghosts]

in many cases, XP CD doesn't work at all. you have to fix MBR first.



casper

Okay, I hate to bother you further but I am a terrible noob, I can follow directions rather well, but out of curiosity, what is MBR?

[devils casper]

MBR is Master Boot Record, first sector of HardDisk. Boot Loader ( GRUB ) is installed in MBR. XP disk is not booting up coz of that. 'fdisk /mbr' command will overwrite MBR and XP CD will work after that.





casper

[Ghosts]

MBR is Master Boot Record, first sector of HardDisk. Boot Loader ( GRUB ) is installed in MBR. XP disk is not booting up coz of that. 'fdisk /mbr' command will overwrite MBR and XP CD will work after that.





casper

Wow, I think I understood that, jesus, I feel like Charlie gordon, thank you so much, I just downloaded a 98 bootdisc, but I had to download it on the dell(I'm speaking from my Main rig/Gaming computer, it has no floppy drive)

Also, the bootdisk is a .exe Should I just Drag and drop it into the floppy drive?

[devils casper]

double click on .exe file. it will ask for blank floppy and will make it bootable. i think you know that exe files can be executed in Windows machine only.




casper

[bigtomrodney]

If it is as .exe file it most likely is a self extracting image. I think in that case you will need to write it to a floppy using Windows. If that fails it may wrk under WINE.