Getting back in Vista

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 19:59:44

Hello all. I've been using Ubuntu for about a year and wanted to dabble with some other distros, hence why I'm here. I started to install Archlinux this morning and completely forgot about some important files on my Vista partition (Ubuntu stuff is on there too). After installation, I kept getting a Grub Error 17. Turns out that Grub cannot mount the partitions because it doesn't know the filesystem or some BS like that. Can anybody help me get back into Vista so that burn those important files? Give me a sec and I'll post my grub config file. Thanks in advance!

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:03:49

You could always just mount the partition in Arch, it is NTFS, with the standard driver you can read it but not write to it, the NTFS-3g can read and write.

Mr Green · 2007-11-04 20:03:55

go and get a livecd [like Knoppix!] and see if you rescue your system or if you are happy at the command line use Arch install disc...

yeah post your grub config and a list of partitions maybe we can some more

Mr ' I loves ssh' Green

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:06:44

title     Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root    (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic . . . .  (doesn't really say this but just for times sake)

title     Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root     (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

FYI, I tried to get back into Vista via the Grub menu but it goes to the recovery partition. Don't wanna do that unless I need to.

Also, Here are my hard drive partitions:

sda1 - Windows Vista
sda2 - Recovery Partition
sda3 - /
sda4 - swap

Last edited by sixstorm (2007-11-04 20:08:26)

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:09:34

Wouldn't sda1 be hd0,0?

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:12:16

elliott wrote:

Wouldn't sda1 be hd0,0?

I tried changing it to hd0,0 and grub kept popping back out to the menu. I'm beginning to think I'm screwed.

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:14:24

Hmmm, I have one with Vista on it, I'll check my menu.lst.

Edit: I only have this:

Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

Make it (hd0,0) for yours of course.

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 20:17:20)

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:19:59

elliott wrote:

Hmmm, I have one with Vista on it, I'll check my menu.lst.
Edit: I only have this:
Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
Make it (hd0,0) for yours of course.

If I make it hd(0,0) and i choose it in the menu, it will just take me back to the grub menu.

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:25:51

Did you try it with rootnoverify?

If so, then something may be wrong with your Vista install, mounting it from another OS may be your only option now.

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 20:26:41)

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:35:26

elliott wrote:

Did you try it with rootnoverify?
If so, then something may be wrong with your Vista install, mounting it from another OS may be your only option now.

Yeah, just tried it and it's a no-go. I tried going back into Ubuntu and mounting the drive . . . but there's nothing there. I believe that my data is gone for good. That's a good lesson for me to learn about backing up my stuff before I try new things out.

Guess I'll do the system recovery and try Arch Linux out again. Since i have this thread up, can somebody tell me how to partition the hard drive when you have a Vista partition already installed? I don't want the error 17 again.

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:36:49

Do you have to resize the Vista partition to install, or is there already a spare partition?

hacosta · 2007-11-04 20:38:55

i think you installed grub on your mbr AND on your vista partition, if that is the case, check this page out
http://www.josephhall.org/grub_install_hda1.html

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:40:14

elliott wrote:

Do you have to resize the Vista partition to install, or is there already a spare partition?

I took the original Vista partition and resized it (small 10GB partition). I just started the system recovery . . .

Any partitioning tips for next time?

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:44:37

Well, the Arch installer can't resize partitions without damage, so start with a gparted livecd or something similar. When installing don't let it touch your Vista partition, set up it's mount point later if you want. Should be fairly straight forward, your partition scheme seems OK to me, though a separate /home partition would be helpful in the event of a reinstall.

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 20:46:21)

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:47:27

elliott wrote:

Well, the Arch installer can't resize partitions without damage, so start with a gparted livecd or something similar. When installing don't let it touch your Vista partition, set up it's mount point later if you want.

When I ran the installer this morning, I set up my / partition and my swap partition like normal. Also I set the / bootable (just following directions via the wiki). Where I made it bootable is the only thing I can think of that screwed everything up. The Windows partition was bootable as well and the installation went through, no errors.

I guess next time, should I not make / bootable?

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:51:08

I have my Vista partition set to bootable, never had a problem with it.

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 20:53:26

elliott wrote:

I have my Vista partition set to bootable, never had a problem with it.

Next time I go to setting up ArchLinux, should I set my "/" to bootable or not?

elliott · 2007-11-04 20:57:27

Well, I would guess you should set your Vista partition to bootable, but I think I set / to bootable on my Arch/XP install, works fine too.

Here is my partition table, little more complex than yours:

     
      sda1                         Primary      Compaq diagnostics                   Vista Recovery   
      sda2     Boot                Primary      FAT16 (really NTFS)                  Vista
      sda3                         Primary      Linux ext2                                   /boot
      sda5                         Logical       Linux ReiserFS                             /
      sda6                         Logical       Linux ReiserFS                            /home
      sda8                         Logical       Linux ReiserFS                            /var
      sda7                         Logical       Linux swap / Solaris                    swap

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 21:00:44)

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 21:00:45

elliott wrote:

Well, I would guess you should set your Vista partition to bootable, but I think I set / to bootable on my Arch/XP install, works fine too.

Here is my partition table, little more complex than yours:

     
      sda1                         Primary      Compaq diagnostics                             8381.57      Vista Recovery   
      sda2     Boot              Primary      FAT16 (really NTFS)                           35985.60      Vista
      sda3                         Primary      Linux ext2                                            98.71        /boot
      sda5                         Logical        Linux ReiserFS                                      5000.98      /
      sda6                         Logical        Linux ReiserFS                                     23762.84     /home
      sda8                         Logical        Linux ReiserFS                                      5239.51     /var
      sda7                         Logical        Linux swap / Solaris                                1554.58    swap

No, I'm talking about my /, not Vista. Should I make / bootable next time I setup Arch? I did try to make a 2GB partition for /home but it kept saying "unusable".

elliott · 2007-11-04 21:01:32

I honestly don't know, you can only have one bootable partition, I have them both ways, both work for me. Also, I think you would want a lot more than 2gb for /home.

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 21:02:18)

thorstenhirsch · 2007-11-04 21:06:02

sixstorm wrote:

elliott wrote:
I have my Vista partition set to bootable, never had a problem with it.
Next time I go to setting up ArchLinux, should I set my "/" to bootable or not?

The bootable flag is necessary for DOS/Windows 9x only. Linux doesn't care about it.

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 21:25:53

Ok, so just for clarification . . .

When I already have a Vista installation and I go to install ArchLinux and I want the following:

/ 8GB
/home 30GB
swap 1GB
Total 39GB

The only bootable partition should be the Vista partition. Correct? This means that when I boot up my laptop, Vista's menu will include an entry for ArchLinux.

elliott · 2007-11-04 21:29:26

That partition scheme looks great.

Yes, I would say setting Vista to the bootable partition would be a safe bet. No, you will still have grub, and you will have to add Vista's entry manually.

Last edited by elliott (2007-11-04 21:30:55)

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 21:33:35

elliott wrote:

That partition scheme looks great.
Yes, I would say setting Vista to the bootable partition would be a safe bet. No, you will still have grub, and you will have to add Vista's entry manually.

Awesome. I hope that everything goes well this next round. I'm having so much fun taking the bloatware off of my new Vista recovery.

sixstorm · 2007-11-04 22:37:40

Ok, here's another question. No matter how much space I leave for swap, it labels my remaining space as "unusable". Why?

Vista: sda1 60GB
root: sda3 8GB
/home sda4 40GB
unusable 3.6 GB (this needs to be swap)
Recovery: sda2 8.8GB

Arch Linux

#1 2007-11-04 19:59:44

Getting back in Vista

#2 2007-11-04 20:03:49

Re: Getting back in Vista

#3 2007-11-04 20:03:55

Re: Getting back in Vista

#4 2007-11-04 20:06:44

Re: Getting back in Vista

#5 2007-11-04 20:09:34

Re: Getting back in Vista

#6 2007-11-04 20:12:16

Re: Getting back in Vista

#7 2007-11-04 20:14:24

Re: Getting back in Vista

#8 2007-11-04 20:19:59

Re: Getting back in Vista

#9 2007-11-04 20:25:51

Re: Getting back in Vista

#10 2007-11-04 20:35:26

Re: Getting back in Vista

#11 2007-11-04 20:36:49

Re: Getting back in Vista

#12 2007-11-04 20:38:55

Re: Getting back in Vista

#13 2007-11-04 20:40:14

Re: Getting back in Vista

#14 2007-11-04 20:44:37

Re: Getting back in Vista

#15 2007-11-04 20:47:27

Re: Getting back in Vista

#16 2007-11-04 20:51:08

Re: Getting back in Vista

#17 2007-11-04 20:53:26

Re: Getting back in Vista

#18 2007-11-04 20:57:27

Re: Getting back in Vista

#19 2007-11-04 21:00:45

Re: Getting back in Vista

#20 2007-11-04 21:01:32

Re: Getting back in Vista

#21 2007-11-04 21:06:02

Re: Getting back in Vista

#22 2007-11-04 21:25:53

Re: Getting back in Vista

#23 2007-11-04 21:29:26

Re: Getting back in Vista

#24 2007-11-04 21:33:35

Re: Getting back in Vista

#25 2007-11-04 22:37:40

Re: Getting back in Vista

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