I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

radumash · 2007-07-28 09:16:29

Hello.

Here's my problem. A have a dual boot system, with Windows XP on a first partition and Arch on the next partitions. A have a single 200 GB hard drive, with an 150 GB ext3 partition i use for storage (media, software, etc.) that is almost full. Now, my problem. Windows has fallen to entropy and I have to reinstall it. But the setup process hangs at the beginning, at "Setup is inspecting your hardware". I've had that issue before, by googling I found out that it is due to my existing linux partitions. The last time I had tot do this, I had to wipe my drive clean to install Windows. I really can't do that this time. There's no way I can backup that big 150 gig partition nor do I intend to lose it.
Does anybody know of a less damaging way to install Windows? Has anybody had any success in this situation?

All input is greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

Radu

dojo · 2007-07-28 09:36:24

A promising approach could be to hide the linux partitions.

Greets

dojo

radumash · 2007-07-28 09:51:54

Really sounds promising.

What do I use to hide them? fdisk, parted?

rayjgu3 · 2007-07-28 10:49:36

dont know if it will help you on a work around on this but maybe if you slipstream win xp being sure to put drivers, ext2FS if possible into the install cd

Jack B · 2007-07-28 18:04:58

qtparted (and therefore I assume parted also) has the ability to hide partitions. It might be prudent to do this using a live CD, rather than trying to hide the partitions holding the running OS.
IIRC however hiding all your Linux partitions will break grub (but so will installing windows), so be warned.

Jack

Bes · 2007-07-28 23:25:28

I also have to reinstall XP

I don't mind reinstalling GRUB but really don't want Arch touched. Is partition hiding the best way around it? Is there a way I can do XP with just repairing the installation?

Thanks

lucke · 2007-07-28 23:40:09

I had to install Windows XP a week or two ago. Arch was already installed. For what's it worth, I only had to change partition beforehand designated for Windows from logical to primary. Didn't experience any hangups - it was an installation media already with SP2 though, maybe that makes the difference.

Bes · 2007-07-28 23:55:40

Superb- no GRUB or Arch losses then?

lucke · 2007-07-29 00:32:49

You lose GRUB when you install Windows - but it's trivlal to set up back. Lately I just put in RIP, use its GRUB (yay, interactivity) to boot into Arch and run "grub-install /dev/sdX --recheck".

karsten · 2007-07-29 00:42:39

or boot with your arch install cd, go to install/rescue and run grub-install. 10 seconds tops.

mezoko · 2007-07-29 01:34:58

Is windows the first partition on your drive (aka sda1) IIRC if windows is not it will hang on install which sounds like this might be your problem

radumash · 2007-07-29 08:12:34

Hello.
Thanks far all your suggestions.
First let me clarify a few things, as it seems I have omitted some details in my original post. The windows partition is the first one on the drive and it is a primary partition. The second partition is a primary ext3 partition (the big one at 150 GB), the last partition is an extended, which contains logical partitions for the linux system (/boot, /, /home, swap).
I'm going to try using a live cd right now, to try and hide my partitions. If that doesn't work, I don't have anymore time to spend on this problem. I got a deadline and I'm lucky a do my work in linux.
Maybe in week or so, I'm gonna come back and figure out.
Thanks again.

Radu

radumash · 2007-07-29 10:06:10

i tried using a gparted live cd and it cannot hide any linux partitions, just the windows ones (i tried ntfs, i don't have any fat partitions).
I'm going to let it be for now.
Thanks everybody

mezoko · 2007-07-29 12:59:28

Well one more suggestions I'm gonna through out there. I had this motherboard that for whatever reason it would hang I think I had the on the secondary IDE on the mobo and hard drive on the primary IDE slot (blue) maybe it was vicversa but switching them around for me help do the trick.

Bes · 2007-07-30 11:26:26

lucke wrote:

I had to install Windows XP a week or two ago. Arch was already installed. For what's it worth, I only had to change partition beforehand designated for Windows from logical to primary. Didn't experience any hangups - it was an installation media already with SP2 though, maybe that makes the difference.

Sorry newbie question coming up.... Do I have to switch the partition to the primary using the Arch basic install disc? or can I do it from within Arch, or do I need a proper partition manager app?

Thanks

karsten · 2007-07-30 16:50:13

from within arch run cfdisk as root: cfdisk /dev/sda or whatever your drive is maybe delete that first windows partiton and create a new one as a primary partition good luck oh if you get stuck you can boot to your arch install with your arch install cd at the first prompt do arch root=/dev/sda3 or whatever:)

Last edited by karsten (2007-07-30 16:53:10)

smurnjiff · 2007-07-30 17:00:23

Haha, this exact same thing happened to me, luckily the solution is simple. Download and burn a livecd that contains Grub. I used the System Rescue CD: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page.
I'm assuming your partitions are set up like so:
sda1 - windows
sda2 - ext3
sda3 - nothing
sda4 - extended
sda5 - /boot
sda6 - /
sda7 - /home
sda8 - swap

So, boot into the livecd that contains grub. Do the following:

grub 
hide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,3)
quit
reboot

Install Windows and make sure you select the first partition. After the installation is complete, reboot into the livecd and type:

grub
unhide (hd0,1)
unhide (hd0,3)
quit
reboot

Reboot into the live cd again then finally do this:

grub
root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0)
quit
reboot

That's basically what I had to do, if everything goes smoothly you'll see grub next time you reboot.

Note: If sda3 does actually contain something, hide that also. It will be designated as (hd0,2).

Last edited by smurnjiff (2007-07-30 17:01:58)

Bes · 2007-07-30 18:22:30

Excellent, thanks for all the advice- I'm sure it will be extremely useful to both me and the OP.

It's nice to see such an excellent distro has such a great community

Newnux · 2007-07-30 22:45:10

Thought I'd mention that I reinstalled WinXP earlier and used the Super Grub Disk to fix the MBR, which worked perfectly. I didn't do anything else, such as hiding partitions.

Last edited by Newnux (2007-07-30 22:46:00)

radumash · 2007-07-31 06:58:26

Hey I'm gong to try out your advice just now. If it works you've just spared me a lot of hassle. Keep in touch.

Update: I tried it, it works. Thank you very much. Hey, I learnt something new today ).

Thanks to everybody for the input. I guess this topic is [SOLVED]

Last edited by radumash (2007-07-31 07:56:20)

kilolima · 2008-04-04 10:05:02

hi,

I tried to hide my linux partitions but then could not unhide them (they were in an extended partition, I don't know if that had something to do with it). I couldn't get windows xp to install after arch, and in desperation removed all partitions but this still didn't work, and then I finally read about removing grub and did so with "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1" wich then allowed the win xp disc to boot.

so now it's time to re-install arch, but this time with encryption.

kilolima

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-28 09:16:29

I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#2 2007-07-28 09:36:24

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#3 2007-07-28 09:51:54

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#4 2007-07-28 10:49:36

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#5 2007-07-28 18:04:58

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#6 2007-07-28 23:25:28

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#7 2007-07-28 23:40:09

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#8 2007-07-28 23:55:40

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#9 2007-07-29 00:32:49

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#10 2007-07-29 00:42:39

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#11 2007-07-29 01:34:58

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#12 2007-07-29 08:12:34

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#13 2007-07-29 10:06:10

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#14 2007-07-29 12:59:28

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#15 2007-07-30 11:26:26

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#16 2007-07-30 16:50:13

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#17 2007-07-30 17:00:23

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#18 2007-07-30 18:22:30

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#19 2007-07-30 22:45:10

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#20 2007-07-31 06:58:26

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

#21 2008-04-04 10:05:02

Re: I have to reinstall Windows XP alongside Arch

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