Multiple OS: new problems

[Sridhar_Rao]

Hi guys, you have been a lot of help in getting me to partition my HDD, install Ubuntu, then install open suse, then uninstalling ubuntu and then regaining the space. With your guidance I got gag installed at the boot. Please refer this thread and you will get an idea what I have been through. Time to remove suse 11....but how?

I am now put up with a strange problem. The windows XP is not activated and I can't get past it and have to shut it down. I can boot into ubuntu now. I want to uninstall and reinstall XP in that partition.

I could have posted this thread in other section, but since guys here already know my situation (partitoning/OS), you are in a better position than others to help me out.

How do I go about from here?

[Rahim]

Just format the windows partition and re-install XP. This will overwrite the mbr. So you have to re-install Grub to the mbr.

[Sridhar_Rao]

Ok, but how should I format the C drive? Using the Gparted? After installation of XP, how do I reinstall the grub to MBR? Remember I have GAG installed after a big messy changes.

[Rahim]

^Cant help you with GAG as it seems alien to me. COntact NucleusCore.
Yes use GParted to format the partition.

[Sridhar_Rao]

NucleusKore, waiting for your response!

[NucleusKore]

Originally Posted by Sridhar_Rao

I am now put up with a strange problem. The windows XP is not activated and I can't get past it and have to shut it down.........

What do you mean by not activated?

[Dark Star]

^^Pirated ver. caught by Windows Genuine Advantage

[NucleusKore]

Ok if that is the case I do not understand what he exactly wants to do??

[Sridhar_Rao]

Sorry Darkstar, your interpretation is right, but the copy is not pirated. I tried installing the licensed version on another system (which, of course is not permitted). Let us leave it at that.

Nucleuskore, to make things simpler for you, here are the facts. Currently, ubuntu is installed on one partition and XP on one. With your guidance, I got GAG installed which helps me to choose between XP and Ubuntu. Now, I want to format the partition where XP is installed and install a (licensed version of) XP all over again; without disturbing the master boot record.

If I use GParted and format the C drive and install XP, XP will overwrite the MBR. How can I install XP and still not affect the MBR (remember, I have GAG already installed) .

[NucleusKore]

In the GAG bootloader archive you downloaded there is a live cd iso (a very small one). Burn that to a cd and try booting from it to test it (that is method 2 in my tutorial for installing GAG).

If it boots to the GAG install screen your boot cd is working.

Now reset the system, remove the GAG boot cd and insert your windows xp cd and install it; yes it will overwrite the MBR.

Then using the GAG boot cd reinstall GAG boot loader.

[Sridhar_Rao]

I have run into serious problem.
As per your instructions, I used Gparted to format the C drive where XP was installed. I even have GAG CD ready, now the computer fails to boot at all. How do I install XP from here. I have set booting from CD as first boot device. Even when XP installation CD is kept and rebooted, the computer does not boot. I can only access the BIOS, nothing else.

What to do now?

[phreak0ut]

See if you can boot with another XP cd. Which format did you partition your C: in GParted?

[Sridhar_Rao]

Looks like the XP installation CD is not bootable. I don't have any other copy. The C drive was formatted in NTFS file system only.

Other bootable CDs (such as Gparted) boots perfectly. I now need a bootable media and then get to start installation from XP CD.

So, I am in search of a bootable USB drive. My BIOS supports booting from USB drives but I am not able to find bootable files (such as bootsect.bin etc). I searched a lot and came across some tips from weethet, bartcd etc. I downloaded mkbt20 also. None of them helped, these system requires a floppy drive. finally came across this suggestion:

The command is:
mkbt -x bootsect.bin I:
like this..
C:\mkbt20>mkbt -x bootsect.bin i:
* Expert mode (x)
* Warning different filesystem ID
Size=0bytes OEM="(=_[sIHC" VolLabel="NO NAME" FileSys=""
C:\mkbt20>
Don't stuff up the drive letter which is shown above as I:. Yours is likely to be different. All
being well, after the smoke has cleared you will have a bootable boot sector on your
thumbdrive.

There is more after this step:

Once the drive is bootable, it would be nice to have some essential files on it, for the computer to make sense.
Copy all the files of the A: drive to the thumbdrive.
Naturally the boot floppy used to extract the bootsectors from should be in that A: drive.

Where do I get the other contents of drive A:

How to proceed from here?

[drsethi]

A simple matter is being complicated. A good Windows XP CD should take care of everything. So get another copy of Windows XP. Another advice is keep only one version of Windows and Linux each e.g. Windows vista and Opensuse 11