I just installed a Linux distro in a new partition I made in the unallocated space in my HDD.
I have two separate partitions for Windows XP and Windows 7.
Before installing Linux, XP could see and work with the Win7 partition.
After installing Linux, that is no longer the case. XP doesn't see the Linux partition either.
The partitions do show up in the disk manager. The Windows 7 one is a primary partition, and its filesystem is NTFS. The Linux partition is logical, and its filesystem is ext4, I think.
My question is: How can I make my Windows XP work with the Windows 7 partition again? Additionally, how can I make Windows XP also work with the Linux partition?
>>143065
- open Computer Management
- go to drives
- assign drive letters to the partitions you're not seeing
In general, Linux is shit at NTFS, and Windows is shomit at Ext[2-4]. If you write to an NTFS partition using Linux, Windows will want to scandisk it next time it boots. Windows can only access Ext using third-party tools.
It sounds like you don't even know why you want Linux, which is why you're dual-booting. Dual-booting is stupid. Get a raspberry pi or something if you want to play with Linux; then you can use your Windows machine at the same time.
Right click my computer - disk management. Check to see if Windows 7 partition has a letter from within windows xp
>>143068
>>143070
That option is grayed out or not available in computer management for the partitions in question.
>Get a raspberry pi
I am unable to comply. Poorfag, third world, etc.
The situation has developed: Windows 7 is now unable to successfully boot, repair itself, or be repaired with an installation disk. It is still able to lead Windows XP into booting. I imagine that XP now depends on Win 7, so I can't just delete the Win 7 partition.
It seems that if I want to regain full control of my HDD, I'll have to nuke the whole disk and install everything again.
Funny enough, huh?
>>143074
>It seems that if I want to regain full control of my HDD, I'll have to nuke the whole disk and install everything again.
For you, that might be the quickest option.
>That option is grayed out or not available in computer management for the partitions in question.
Screenshot of Disk Management, please.
>I imagine that XP now depends on Win 7, so I can't just delete the Win 7 partition.
Windowses are independent of each other. They're loaded by a "Windows Loader". Nothing you claim to have done should have damaged the actual Windows installs, just the bootloader. If you're booting XP, chances are you're using XP's NTLDR, and not Vista/7/10's BootMGR.
A lot of the steps you'll need to take to fix this mess will need Windows 7. You need to obtain a Windows 7 ISO, verify it against the SHA1SUMs on the MSDN website, and burn it to a DVD. From there, you can boot it, and press shift-f10 to open a recovery console.
What you need to do to fix this mess is:
- Work out what partition you're supposed to be booting from (probably it'll be the Windows 7 partition), and mark that one as active.
- Overwrite whatever you did to the disk's MBR with a clean Windows 7 MBR (fixmbr.exe)
- Fix the Windows 7 bootloader (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/927392)
- Add XP back to the Windows 7 loader, if it's not there already
- Add NeoGRUB to the Windows 7 loader, so you can boot Linux from the Windows boot menu
There's something called "easybcd" that apparently makes the last two things easy, but you don't actually need it: all the functionality comes with Windows.
>>143065
>My question is: How can I make my Windows XP work with the Windows 7 partition again? Additionally, how can I make Windows XP also work with the Linux partition?
download a win7 repair disc and boot to it, it should be able to get win7 booting again
if you want to use windows and linux, you might need grub....I used it on a netbook with win7, XP, and android
>>143115
>Screenshot of Disk Management, please.
I don't see how that's relevant after the information I gave in the OP, but here, go nuts.
>- Work out what partition you're supposed to be booting from (probably it'll be the Windows 7 partition), and mark that one as active.
I did that. The computer completely failed to boot, with the following message: "bootmgr missing. Press ctrl+alt+del to reboot"
In diskpart.exe, the Win7 partition was marked as hidden, even after I set it as active.
To get XP to boot again, I had to mark the XP partition as active.
>- Overwrite whatever you did to the disk's MBR with a clean Windows 7 MBR (fixmbr.exe)
That's probably why I don't even get the option to boot Linux anymore.
I might be able to use EasyBCD to gain access to the Linux installation again, but at this point I'm afraid that might break things even further.What I'm going to do is install Windows 7 again, followed by installing Linux again.
>>143227
Oops, forgot the picture.
>>143227
Oh, for fuck's sake.
You have three working operating systems, and you're going to wipe all of them because you're having a little trouble with the bootloader?
Man up.
The partition you should be marking as active is whichever one has bootmgr on it. That's not necessarily the partition Windows 7 is on. On modern installs, it lives on a tiny (100MB) "System Reserved" partition, which you don't seem to have (did you delete it? If so, oops!). Find the partition that has bootmgr on it, mark it active, and go from there.
Once you get bootmgr booting, all you need to do is add your operating systems to the BCD (which you can do from the recovery console), and your computer is fixed.
In the meantime, you can boot your linux from any USB with Grub on it.
inb4: I want to keep my MBR because it's kinda-working
You absolutely have to replace the XP MBR, because it's loading NTLDR, which cannot load Windows 7. No ifs, no buts.
inb4: I don't want to load grub from bootmgr, I want to load bootmgr from grub
You absolutely have to load Linux from Windows 7's Bootmgr, not the other way around, otherwise your computer will be able to start linux while Windows is hibernated, which will comprehensively fuck your filesystem if you resume.
>>143286
The problem doesn't exactly seem to be the bootloader.
When I tried to use Windows 7, it acted like it was booting, and got stuck in that screen with the marquee animation. Later I tried safe mode; the last thing it loaded before getting stuck was something like *pnp.sys (I don't remember the exact name).
I don't have that partition because I first installed Win XP on a blank HDD and later added Win 7.
>You absolutely have to load...
Cool explanation; I didn't know that.
Anyway, I think my plan is good enough. I'll just install Win 7 again, while keeping the XP part intact.
>>143314
Before reinstalling because of a classpnp.sys hang, try switching your IDE controller from AHCI to "IDE" or "compatibility" in the BIOS.
