I think we DESPERATLY need a grub/winXP newbie HowTo

[Ben Novack]

I resized my XP partition before I began the process, had Ubuntu
install into the empty space, and I've been merrily dual-booting ever
since.


On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:51:43 -0400, Mike Clark <mike.clark at hamot.org> wrote:
> I have done numerous XP/Grub installs and Ive never had a problem. If
> your referring to the fedora debacle with grub and making XP not
> bootable that has been fixed. It wasnt Distro Specific, it was a kernel
> issue. Lets say for some odd reason it does 'trash your windows install'
> just look up fedora/xp dual boot fix and you will find that this command
> fixes it completely. (sfdisk -d /dev/hda | sfdisk --no-reread -H255
> /dev/hda) The site with this info is http://lwn.net/Articles/86835/ . If
> you ever want to wipe the MBR and start over, get rid of LILO of GRUB.
> Just boot to your XP cd and type 'fixmbr' at the prompt. Reboot and your
> back to your lovely XP install. Honestly tho, when you are partitioning
> for your UBUNTU install do not touch the partition that reads NTFS/DOS
> and you will be fine. Thats all.
> 
> >>> Ben Edwards <funkytwig at gmail.com> 10/27/2004 4:55:01 PM >>>
> 
> 
> I have been hanging around the IRC channel a little bit as well as
> keeping an eye on the User List.  I am increasingly getting the idea
> doing a dual boot Ubuntu-WinXP install is a VERY bad idea.  I think it
> is something to do with the difference in which grub and windows
> addresses disk space - in lilo this was not a problem.
> 
> This is a real problem because a lot of windows users wanting who want
> to try Ubuntu will try this and lose access to there Windows
> partition.    this is something that needs addressing - The headline
> 'Ubuntu trashed my Windows machine' send chills up my spine.
> 
> This is not just a WinXP issue - someone at our local LUG wanted to
> try Ubuntu.  they previously had SusE and had real grub problems -
> they posted to the user list and did not get a reply.
> 
> A Newbie, who is not used to using mailing lists and IRC may well
> panic - swear and reinstall windows.
> 
> Indeed a lot of the grub / WinXP problems are not getting responses on
> the Mailing list - I am sending people to IRC but this is not ideal -
> for one thing the answers are not being archived.
> 
> So I think we need a WinXP & a grub howto/troubleshooting document for
> Newbees - and possibly a what to do if have problems installing dual
> boot.
> 
> Currently the wiki is being frozen while it is migrated to a new
> system.  I am not technical enough to write the document but if
> someone wanted to volunteer and send it to me I will make sure your
> work is not wasted (I am posting this to the user/ devl and docs list,
> those on the docs list obviously do not need to post it to me but it
> would be good if they could tell me if they are doing this).
> 
> Ben Edwards
> Documentation Team
> 
> PS apologies to the moderator of the devel list - could you please
> moderate this through
> --
> Ben Edwards - Poole, UK, England
> WARNING:This email contained partisan views - dont ever accuse me of
> using the veneer of objectivity
> If you have a problem emailing me use
> http://www.gurtlush.org.uk/profiles.php?uid=4
> (email address this email is sent from may be defunct)
> 
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> 
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>