Windows No Longer Boots After the Installation of SuSE Linux
Support knowledgebase (jsj_windows_not_booting_7.3)
Applies to
SuSE Linux: Version 7.3
Symptom
Your Windows operating system that was installed on your hard disk prior to the
installation of SuSE Linux no longer boots, despite the fact that the Windows
partitions were not touched during the installation of SuSE Linux.
Cause
During the installation with YaST2, you selected the option Activate LILO partion
when the boot loader was configured.
Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME installations only start if the partition used by these systems
is marked as active. The above-mentioned option modifies this setting by activating a Linux
partition.
Solution
Your can reactivate your Windows partition with tools included in both Linux and Windows.
- Linux:
As user root, start the program fdisk in a console.
fdisk /dev/hda
By means of the parameter a you can assign the activation flag to
another partion, i.e. the Windows partition in this case.
Now take a look at the valid partition table. For this purpose, please press p.
The second column of the table has the heading Boot. The active partition
is indicated by a * in one of the lines.
Normally Windows is installed in the first partition. You can activate
this partition with the command a. You will be asked for the partition
number. Enter the number of the Windows partition, usually 1.
In order to save the change to the hard disk, enter w.
Following the termination of Linux you will be able to boot your Windows installation.
- Windows:
Start Windows by means of a boot or installation floppy and press F5 in order
to skip the processing of the boot files.
At the command line prompt, start the program fdisk. In the options menu,
select function 2 - Set active partition and select the first partition.
Terminate the program and reboot the system. Now both Windows and Linux are
bootable.
Keywords: INSTALLATION, WINDOWS, BOOT, PARTITION, ACTIVE, ACTIVATE
Categories:
Booting
SDB-jsj_windows_not_booting_7.3, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany
- Version: 01. Feb 2002
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 01. Feb 2002 by tino (sdb_gen 1.40.0)