+- Linux-Noob Forums (https://www.linux-noob.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Linux Noob (https://www.linux-noob.com/forums/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: How Do I? (https://www.linux-noob.com/forums/forum-60.html)
+--- Thread: Active Partitions (/thread-517.html)
Active Partitions - Sudhanshu - 2010-02-08
Someone installed WindowsXP on my Lab Terminal, it had a copy of Suse 11.1 previously installed now its not showing as the boot loader is gone or may be the partitions is not marked active anymore. I don't know what happened for sure because the drives on which Suse was installed is still present and I wasn't the one who installed Suse previously, so I have no knowledge of how was the grub loader stored. Please recommend suggestions on how to get into Suse without formatting it. I don't want to loose windows either.
Active Partitions - hybrid - 2010-02-09
You need to reinstall the GRUB boot loader, so that there is something that can actually get SUSE started. In order to reinstall the boot loader, you need to first boot into a Linux Live CD or some other Linux environment. Once you have, you should be able to go to a terminal and do something like:
Code:
grub-install /dev/sda(This assumes that you only have one hard disk and that you want to install GRUB on the MBR of this disk)
Once GRUB is installed, you can try rebooting. There's a fair chance that the newly installed GRUB will pick up and find the old GRUB settings for SUSE and boot normally. If it doesn't, you will still have a GRUB command line which you can boot SUSE or Windows from temporarily if you know the right commands.
It is difficult, however, to explain what the right commands are going to be without more in-depth information about this particular system -- how many drives are there? What partition layout is on the disks?
If you have GRUB installed and are getting stuck at the grub> prompt and don't know what to type, you can restore access to Windows XP again by booting from a Windows XP CD and choosing the Repair option. When you get to the Windows command line, type fixmbr and press Enter. This deletes GRUB and restores you back to the situation you are in at the moment -- Windows XP should then boot normally.
Active Partitions - Sudhanshu - 2010-02-09
Thanx... but do I need to use the suse Live cd or anyone will do?? also do i need the similar version of grub???
Active Partitions - hybrid - 2010-02-09
Quote:Thanx... but do I need to use the suse Live cd or anyone will do?? also do i need the similar version of grub???
It doesn't need to be exactly the same, but it will need to be a relatively recent live CD for a distribution that uses GRUB. If you have something recent lying around, give it a try.
It would help, though, to really understand what your setup is first, in case we have to use some GRUB commands to jump-start SUSE.