Dual Boot Puppy and XP? [SOLVED]
Dual Boot Puppy and XP? [SOLVED]
Hi everyone.
Well, ive been messing with puppy on my old laptop. Off the live CD it runs well sofar does what i want it to.
However This laptop is more of a large palmtop. The peripherals (CD Rom and Floppy) are external and can be left behind when you go traveling making it nice and small.
Here in lies the problem. I dont want to use the Live CD. I want to install puppy to HDD and dial boot with win 2k or XP.
Sofar i have installed windows 7 times and then installed puppy only to have either screw up windows "invalid partition" or give me a bunch of other boot options (Dos, Linux, XP) only one of wich actually works and its of coourse always the windows one!
One thing this forum sadly lacks is a guide on how to make dual boot.
Yes ive read the topics listed in the pinned topic in the top of the newbie forum, but none of it is useful, the threads are from 2years+ ago...
If you want to convert people to puppy, making this process easy would be a dam good step. I have no problem dual booting Ubuntu and XP or CentOS and XP.
Any help?
Thanks in advance!
Well, ive been messing with puppy on my old laptop. Off the live CD it runs well sofar does what i want it to.
However This laptop is more of a large palmtop. The peripherals (CD Rom and Floppy) are external and can be left behind when you go traveling making it nice and small.
Here in lies the problem. I dont want to use the Live CD. I want to install puppy to HDD and dial boot with win 2k or XP.
Sofar i have installed windows 7 times and then installed puppy only to have either screw up windows "invalid partition" or give me a bunch of other boot options (Dos, Linux, XP) only one of wich actually works and its of coourse always the windows one!
One thing this forum sadly lacks is a guide on how to make dual boot.
Yes ive read the topics listed in the pinned topic in the top of the newbie forum, but none of it is useful, the threads are from 2years+ ago...
If you want to convert people to puppy, making this process easy would be a dam good step. I have no problem dual booting Ubuntu and XP or CentOS and XP.
Any help?
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by Fee on Sat 24 May 2008, 09:38, edited 1 time in total.
Welcome!
I'm reading your post very carefully, to make sure I get the complaint right. You've said a lot in a few paragraphs.
1) I'm not sure what you mean by dial boot. Please elaborate for us.
2) You installed Windows 7 times. Why?
3) You think Puppy screwed up Windows, this must have been the seventh install, am I reading right? Do you have a theory on what Puppy did? Can you tell us your install type (frugal, full)? Did you use Puppy's GRUB installer? On what partition did you install Puppy?
4) If everything was okay, a portion of your complaint can be remedied by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to have it display things as you want.
I'm reading your post very carefully, to make sure I get the complaint right. You've said a lot in a few paragraphs.
1) I'm not sure what you mean by dial boot. Please elaborate for us.
2) You installed Windows 7 times. Why?
3) You think Puppy screwed up Windows, this must have been the seventh install, am I reading right? Do you have a theory on what Puppy did? Can you tell us your install type (frugal, full)? Did you use Puppy's GRUB installer? On what partition did you install Puppy?
4) If everything was okay, a portion of your complaint can be remedied by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to have it display things as you want.
I'm answering this special, not because I'm looking for converts. It's technical. If you have no problem multi-booting the combinations you listed. I don't see where you have a problem with Puppy. I'm NOT accusing you of omitting information on purpose, but there's an omission nevertheless.If you want to convert people to puppy, making this process easy would be a dam good step. I have no problem dual booting Ubuntu and XP or CentOS and XP
Please fill in the gaps.
Hi Bruce.
I ment DUAL not Dial
So what im trying to do is boot the PC with a boot menu that gives me the choice between XP/NT and Puppy on my old 500mhz lappy.
So ive formated the drive, created the nessecary partitions, installed windows. Sofar so good.
Boot from the puppy CD.
Run the "universal installer".
Install to HDA2
Install Grub
Reboot.
Then i either get:
"invalid Partition Table"
or when installing GRUB to the master boot record:
Ill be presented with a boot menu.
-HDA0 Windows
-HDA1 Linux
-HDA2 Linux
Windows Partition is bootable.
Linux fails to boot and informs me the file does not exist or some such error...
Sometimes there was other miscelanious options there for DOS partitions that didnt exist.
Then of course even after i delete the partitions and remove the entries from the MBR it goes to the same "invalid partition table" error.
Its not a "puppy problem" but a problem with its "universal install" process. The problem is its not particually universal. All it seems to do is dump the CD files to the HDD and then expect me to manually set it up in Grub.
Sofar puppy is the best distro ive used on that Laptop so i want to get it to install and not have to keep searching for another decent disrto. Ive already been through installing a good 25+ Distros in the search for somthing that runs this well.
So you might imagine im kinda dissapointed in the fact its not as easy to install and get working as some of the others.
Edit: The fact the windows install is so painfully slow (well xp anyway) makes this process very frustrating!
I ment DUAL not Dial
So what im trying to do is boot the PC with a boot menu that gives me the choice between XP/NT and Puppy on my old 500mhz lappy.
So ive formated the drive, created the nessecary partitions, installed windows. Sofar so good.
Boot from the puppy CD.
Run the "universal installer".
Install to HDA2
Install Grub
Reboot.
Then i either get:
"invalid Partition Table"
or when installing GRUB to the master boot record:
Ill be presented with a boot menu.
-HDA0 Windows
-HDA1 Linux
-HDA2 Linux
Windows Partition is bootable.
Linux fails to boot and informs me the file does not exist or some such error...
Sometimes there was other miscelanious options there for DOS partitions that didnt exist.
Then of course even after i delete the partitions and remove the entries from the MBR it goes to the same "invalid partition table" error.
Its not a "puppy problem" but a problem with its "universal install" process. The problem is its not particually universal. All it seems to do is dump the CD files to the HDD and then expect me to manually set it up in Grub.
Sofar puppy is the best distro ive used on that Laptop so i want to get it to install and not have to keep searching for another decent disrto. Ive already been through installing a good 25+ Distros in the search for somthing that runs this well.
So you might imagine im kinda dissapointed in the fact its not as easy to install and get working as some of the others.
Edit: The fact the windows install is so painfully slow (well xp anyway) makes this process very frustrating!
I won't try and solve everything in one post. But something caught my eye.
Let me give a briefing on partition tables:
* We are allowed only four primary partitions
* One of these and only one of these must be marked as bootable.
* Theoretically we should be able to boot from any of the four primary partitions. But there are limits. Sometimes if a primary partition starts beyond cylinder 1024 it can't be booted, but can be marked as bootable. If the primary partition being used as an extended partition, it will not boot.
* In spite of all the above, Linux is not a self booting operating system. But the information above needs to be understood.
---------------------------------
I have four primary partitions on all the drives on the machine.
I find that most users only have two primary partitions.
--------------------------------
In your example you SAY you have three primary partitions, but you didn't say it in words. But if what you posted is accurate you must.
--------------------------------
Now lets look at your post:
/dev/hda1
/dev/hda2
/dev/hda3
GRUB developers start counting from zero. So, it's likely that the corresponding GRUB designations are:
(hd0,0)
(hd0,1)
(hd0,2)
-------------------------
If you would like to complain and register a rant of sorts. I'm personally for that in your case. If you want tech assistance or advice I'm all for that also.
If you can boot a Linux, you could run a little utility and post the output for us. This way, I'd feel confident I'm giving you exact advice.
The command I'll ask you to run is this:
fdisk -l
That's a lowercase L
If you know how to put the output on a clipboard, great.
Otherwise do this.
fdisk -l >> tmpfile.tmp
Then open tmpfile.tmp with your text editor, browser and to the Ctrl+a to select and Ctrl+v to paste in the post.
Here's the output on my computer:
As you can see this tells a lot. Hey, where are my Microsoft partitions? No wonder Windows won't run. Just joking, there are no MS partitions.
Let me give a briefing on partition tables:
* We are allowed only four primary partitions
* One of these and only one of these must be marked as bootable.
* Theoretically we should be able to boot from any of the four primary partitions. But there are limits. Sometimes if a primary partition starts beyond cylinder 1024 it can't be booted, but can be marked as bootable. If the primary partition being used as an extended partition, it will not boot.
* In spite of all the above, Linux is not a self booting operating system. But the information above needs to be understood.
---------------------------------
I have four primary partitions on all the drives on the machine.
I find that most users only have two primary partitions.
--------------------------------
In your example you SAY you have three primary partitions, but you didn't say it in words. But if what you posted is accurate you must.
--------------------------------
Now lets look at your post:
Linus started counting at one, and uses lower case, so a correction would be:-HDA0 Windows
-HDA1 Linux
-HDA2 Linux
/dev/hda1
/dev/hda2
/dev/hda3
GRUB developers start counting from zero. So, it's likely that the corresponding GRUB designations are:
(hd0,0)
(hd0,1)
(hd0,2)
-------------------------
If you would like to complain and register a rant of sorts. I'm personally for that in your case. If you want tech assistance or advice I'm all for that also.
If you can boot a Linux, you could run a little utility and post the output for us. This way, I'd feel confident I'm giving you exact advice.
The command I'll ask you to run is this:
fdisk -l
That's a lowercase L
If you know how to put the output on a clipboard, great.
Otherwise do this.
fdisk -l >> tmpfile.tmp
Then open tmpfile.tmp with your text editor, browser and to the Ctrl+a to select and Ctrl+v to paste in the post.
Here's the output on my computer:
Code: Select all
Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 3825 30724281 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 3826 5284 11719417+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 5285 6743 11719417+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 6744 14593 63055125 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 6744 8202 11719386 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 8203 9661 11719386 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 9662 11120 11719386 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 11121 12579 11719386 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 12580 14593 16177423+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 9729 78148161 83 Linux
/dev/hdc2 9730 19457 78140160 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdd: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 * 1 4863 39062016 83 Linux
/dev/hdd2 4864 8510 29294527+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdd3 8511 12157 29294527+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdd4 12158 30401 146544930 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdd5 12158 15804 29294496 83 Linux
/dev/hdd6 15805 17628 14651248+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdd7 17629 19451 14643216 83 Linux
/dev/hdd8 19452 30332 87401601 83 Linux
/dev/hdd9 30333 30401 554211 82 Linux swap / Solaris
We'll wait for the fdisk output.Then of course even after i delete the partitions and remove the entries from the MBR it goes to the same "invalid partition table" error.
I type slower than I think and I think slow. I know what I mean to write and hope you can fill in the blanks. I have no editor to review my work. When I review, I'm blind to even the most obvious mistakes and typos.
The best I can hope for is AJ comes by, notices the errors and corrects them to make what I meant to write understandable.
I need to have more than 1 primary partition.
I intend to run XP, 2k and Puppy from the same machine.
As i said, ive done the same installation with a few other disttros, and whose most dont work, some like Ubuntu require no bs messing around, i just create the partition and install the OS. It does everything for me, reboot and i get a nice grub/lilo message asking where to boot to.
Thats all im suggesting is that if its to become useable for the average joe, it needs to be this simple.
I cant paste you anyoutput from fdisk if i cant boot into puppy.
Ive just installed it to HDA1 and its booting.
Now to attemptto install windows without messing up the boot loader!
I intend to run XP, 2k and Puppy from the same machine.
What rant... Im asking for somehelp!If you would like to complain and register a rant of sorts. I'm personally for that in your case. If you want tech assistance or advice I'm all for that also.
As i said, ive done the same installation with a few other disttros, and whose most dont work, some like Ubuntu require no bs messing around, i just create the partition and install the OS. It does everything for me, reboot and i get a nice grub/lilo message asking where to boot to.
Thats all im suggesting is that if its to become useable for the average joe, it needs to be this simple.
I cant paste you anyoutput from fdisk if i cant boot into puppy.
Ive just installed it to HDA1 and its booting.
Now to attemptto install windows without messing up the boot loader!
All you need to do is boot any Linux and you better be able to boot the Puppy disc if you want to do an install.
Without specifics from you, I can't be specific.
What's this invalid partition table, where is that coming from? You see I can't even speculate for you.
I don't know if there is data on hda2 and hda3 you want.
I don't know what partitioning utility you are using.
----------------
You can give me specific information as requested or I'll do the best I can with what I got, how would you like your help served?
Here' s your preview of what I can come up with as is:
0) run XP chkdsk to make sure things are looking right from that prespective
1) boot puppy with pfix=nox option
2) open cfdisk
3) delete hda2 and hda3
4) sync
5) reboot with same options
6) open cfdisk
7) you will make three primary partitions, hda1 is flagged as bootable.
hda2 is primary type 83 about 1/2 the size of the free space
hda3 is primary type 83 the rest of the free space leaving room for a 256 MB swap partition
hda4 is primary type 82 256 MB
write changes
8) sync
9) make filesystems
mke2fs /dev/hda2
mke2fs /dev/hda3
mkswap /dev/hda4
sync
11) reboot with Puppy CD
12 ) install puppy full install to /dev/hda2 or /dev/hda3,
install grub to the mbr
13) after you see things are working right, edit menu.lst to have it display titles as you prefer.
(presuming XP and Y2K on same partition /dev/hda1)
PS this method calls for more reboot and sync than necessary. you could do it in one boot. let's call it a more failsafe way of doing it.
Without specifics from you, I can't be specific.
What's this invalid partition table, where is that coming from? You see I can't even speculate for you.
I don't know if there is data on hda2 and hda3 you want.
I don't know what partitioning utility you are using.
----------------
You can give me specific information as requested or I'll do the best I can with what I got, how would you like your help served?
Here' s your preview of what I can come up with as is:
0) run XP chkdsk to make sure things are looking right from that prespective
1) boot puppy with pfix=nox option
2) open cfdisk
3) delete hda2 and hda3
4) sync
5) reboot with same options
6) open cfdisk
7) you will make three primary partitions, hda1 is flagged as bootable.
hda2 is primary type 83 about 1/2 the size of the free space
hda3 is primary type 83 the rest of the free space leaving room for a 256 MB swap partition
hda4 is primary type 82 256 MB
write changes
8) sync
9) make filesystems
mke2fs /dev/hda2
mke2fs /dev/hda3
mkswap /dev/hda4
sync
11) reboot with Puppy CD
12 ) install puppy full install to /dev/hda2 or /dev/hda3,
install grub to the mbr
13) after you see things are working right, edit menu.lst to have it display titles as you prefer.
(presuming XP and Y2K on same partition /dev/hda1)
PS this method calls for more reboot and sync than necessary. you could do it in one boot. let's call it a more failsafe way of doing it.
Yeh, i could boot to the CD eas enough.
Well ATM ive installed puppy, it boots fine, runs fine ect.
Right now im 1/2 way through the install of NT so i cant answer many of your questions for the next 40 min or so
Using cfdisk and paragon partitioner for the partitions. gparted just sits there scanning forever :/
The invalad partition table is the message i get on reboot after installing grub through puppy.
Ill follow your instructions when the PC and i have finished round 11 of out fight!
Well ATM ive installed puppy, it boots fine, runs fine ect.
Right now im 1/2 way through the install of NT so i cant answer many of your questions for the next 40 min or so
Using cfdisk and paragon partitioner for the partitions. gparted just sits there scanning forever :/
The invalad partition table is the message i get on reboot after installing grub through puppy.
Ill follow your instructions when the PC and i have finished round 11 of out fight!
If i had expertise i wouldnt be here :/It's made presuming you have enough expertise and common sense to do the task at hand.
And again, ive had the same thing happen.
This time however windows stoped the linux partition from being active so when it rebooted, theres no choice of OS. So i reactivated it and deactiated the windows partition. "Invalid Partition Table"....
Looks like puppy can kiss my ass.
If it doesnt want to work along side windows, then i have no use for it!
Even DSL installed easier than this. Too bad its crap
The "harddrive preperation" is 3/4 of the problem.
If i give puppy a blank HDD, it should set itself up like any other OS does, but no it expects me to do it...
EDIT: One of the most annoying thins ATM is the fact i can easily just activate and deactivate the windows partitions and they still boot!
Yet the goddam linux partition is telling me its invalid!
I blame grub!
EDIT2: Hmm.. i think i may have accidently got it working
Last edited by Fee on Sun 18 May 2008, 07:25, edited 1 time in total.
hmm.. yep its working with all 3 OS :O
I Installed Puppy on HDA1 Swap on HDA2
Then made 2NTFS partitions on HDA3 and 4
Installed NT
Installed XP
Rebooted into PE CD
Installed grub from there
And now i have all 3 OS running.
Thanks for the advice Bruce, im sure ill be harassing you more when things dont go my way!
I Installed Puppy on HDA1 Swap on HDA2
Then made 2NTFS partitions on HDA3 and 4
Installed NT
Installed XP
Rebooted into PE CD
Installed grub from there
And now i have all 3 OS running.
Thanks for the advice Bruce, im sure ill be harassing you more when things dont go my way!
Wow! Even I'm confused by the tortuous path of this thread!
Like the old Irish joke - WXP/W2K - I wouldn't start from here! Don't you have a rubbish bin out back of your house?! This is Linux - go for it.
But I have to agree with the general thrust of the complaint. Linux uses bizarre, counter-intuitive and arcane nomenclatures. Puppy is the brainchild of a single over-worked genius. This Forum is provided by a single generous benefactor, but has only one fully accredited moderator. Contributors, like for all other fora, are a ragbag of professions with much knowledge and little time and nondescripts with plenty of time and little knowledge (me!). None of these guys gets a bean for their efforts. Which one(s) are YOU going to sponsor with your crock(s) of gold???????????????????????????????????????! In default, you get what you get - be grateful and thankful. That's not a personal denigration, just a factual statement of where it's at. For more detailed help one can always strike up a more direct friendship via the P(ersonal)M(essage) system.***
In this case, a basic reassessment of the aims and objectives might help. It seems that all that's required is a little editing of the GRUB menu in /boot/grub/menu.lst and correct flagging of the boot partition. The 'doze boot can always be reinstated at any time as Bruce explains. Puppy can always be booted from a liveCD with pfix=ram and menu.lst edited. After that it's just a case of using the correct partition labels. But don't think that all of us (nearly all) haven't come to grief over that.
***Huh! Bruce got in his kind offer one minute ahead of me.
I've been advising John to make display of punters' location mandatory for years. Please edit your profile, Fee.
GPartEd has a very well known and publicised bug. You have to pop a floppy in the slot - any one, blank or full - because that's what its interminable search is looking for. You don't have to mount it and you can remove it and replace it just about any time. If you haven't got a FDD, fit one. For desktops 'without' a FDD, open the box and plug one in to the header. If you insist on using a laptop (never recommended), borrow a swappable or external FDD. Otherwise, use cfdisk from a console. All these manipulations need to be undertaken using the pfix=ram boot parameter - don't think Bruce mentioned that?gparted just sits there scanning forever
Like the old Irish joke - WXP/W2K - I wouldn't start from here! Don't you have a rubbish bin out back of your house?! This is Linux - go for it.
But I have to agree with the general thrust of the complaint. Linux uses bizarre, counter-intuitive and arcane nomenclatures. Puppy is the brainchild of a single over-worked genius. This Forum is provided by a single generous benefactor, but has only one fully accredited moderator. Contributors, like for all other fora, are a ragbag of professions with much knowledge and little time and nondescripts with plenty of time and little knowledge (me!). None of these guys gets a bean for their efforts. Which one(s) are YOU going to sponsor with your crock(s) of gold???????????????????????????????????????! In default, you get what you get - be grateful and thankful. That's not a personal denigration, just a factual statement of where it's at. For more detailed help one can always strike up a more direct friendship via the P(ersonal)M(essage) system.***
In this case, a basic reassessment of the aims and objectives might help. It seems that all that's required is a little editing of the GRUB menu in /boot/grub/menu.lst and correct flagging of the boot partition. The 'doze boot can always be reinstated at any time as Bruce explains. Puppy can always be booted from a liveCD with pfix=ram and menu.lst edited. After that it's just a case of using the correct partition labels. But don't think that all of us (nearly all) haven't come to grief over that.
***Huh! Bruce got in his kind offer one minute ahead of me.
I've been advising John to make display of punters' location mandatory for years. Please edit your profile, Fee.
Wow, thanks for the support call offer, but im in a far away land of pixies and faries know as Australia!
I thought the Dingo linux would be appropriate, turns out it wanted to bite me in the ass and steal my baby!
Hopefully i dont have too much problems getting everything else working... so here we go for round 15 of Fee V Old Laptop!
EDIT: Oh really.. well that may explain about tparted crashing or just searching. The floppy drive is external, i havnt hooked it up in a long time lol
I thought the Dingo linux would be appropriate, turns out it wanted to bite me in the ass and steal my baby!
Hopefully i dont have too much problems getting everything else working... so here we go for round 15 of Fee V Old Laptop!
EDIT: Oh really.. well that may explain about tparted crashing or just searching. The floppy drive is external, i havnt hooked it up in a long time lol
Edit your profile!!!!
There are lots of Aussies on this Forum who regularly provide excellent help and advice. Maybe you also have a nationwide 'free' telephone calls at weekends?
Everything said above has been thoroughly worked over ad inf here so a little searching may also be in order.
There are lots of Aussies on this Forum who regularly provide excellent help and advice. Maybe you also have a nationwide 'free' telephone calls at weekends?
Everything said above has been thoroughly worked over ad inf here so a little searching may also be in order.
Last edited by Sage on Sun 18 May 2008, 07:45, edited 1 time in total.
Ironically, my contract allows me to phone both of you 'free' at weekends. Not a great prospect in my case for technical conversations in view of my non-IT background!Sage, the offer is still open, but it will be on Fee's dime not mine.
You still have to use that option when you want to edit/manipulate files for a FULL install, else there's the risk that the CD detect the installation and will try to upgrade back to it's starting state or editing will not save successfully or w.h.y.? And NTFS isn't able to see Linux files, normally, so they cannot be edited from Wordpad. There's always System Rescue, of course, and despite Billyboys' insistence, NTFS is re-convertible back to FAT32 using third party utilities like Partition Magic. Like everything else out of M$, advantages of NTFS are vastly overstated; FAT32 is always the least worst option - learn to live with it if you plan to live with the devils' OS. Oh boy! I can hardly wait for Windows7 (and, of course, its SP99!).As far as the pfix=ram, I should have written that. But for some reason I thought we have a full install on our hands.
Addendum: Forgot to remind Fee that GRUB can be reinstalled separately any time from Puppy (pfix=ram pertains).