How to add a boot record which used to startup windows under my Grub boot loader?
 

I am installing dual system (the one is windows 2000 and the other is RedHat 8),but at my initial installation of Redhat, I delete the record which used to boot windows 2000 under Grub, now I want to restore the record , How could I do????

and if there is a answer ,please reply me at the following:
yunxianglzy@263.netyunxianglzy@263.net

I'm not sure what you deleted, but assuming that you had Win2K on a disk and then installed Red Hat 8 and Grub as the boot loader. Somehow, you deleted a key file for Grub and need to reinstall it. Do this:

Use a boot disk to start Linux and log on as root. Type this:

/sbin/grub-install /dev/hda

Remove the disk and reboot--should be fine.

fdisk /mbr is always an option. But you will have to reinstall red hat and be sure to install the boot loader. I personally would recommend the lilo boot loader when trying to dual boot with windows 2k.

Windows 2000 does not have fdisk; and I'm not sure we need to get that extreme yet. This is a system that Grub was apparently working fine on and just needs to be repaired. If he can repair it, that is by far the simplest solution.

If he wants to try LILO, there is no need to clear Grub from the MBR with something like fdisk /mbr or Win2K's fixmbr. He would merely need to check /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda to make sure it is correct and, as root, issue the command lilo.

the problem is not as hard as your think
 

I have format my HD with two active Partition, one for windows 2000 and the other is for linux, as usual , I could switch between the two by activating one of them using sfdisk, but for a time later, I feel it is not so convenient to reboot-> activating -> loading another when I need to use the other system , so I just want to add a record either in OS loader or Grub to load its counterpart system. But I don't how to do this, either OS loader and Grub is OK, beside both of my two active partition is larger than 2GB so perhaps LILO is not so available for me ,is any one could tell how I could do ??? please give me some advice , I will Appreciate your help very much

What you are trying to do is quite common and well documented in this forum. Using fdisk, or any variation of it, to activate partitions is not required. Usually, all three of the popular boot loaders will work just fine. At boot up, they will present you with a menu to select from. From it you can boot either of your operating systems. I'm assuming this is what you want.

I need some more information, though. There are a number of things that can go wrong and their solutions are usually different. It is best to first narrow the scope of the problem. To aid in that, please answer these questions about your system:

1. Did it ever work? My original post assumes that you had successfully installed a second operating system and could boot both of them through Grub. Is this true?

2. What did you do to delete a "record"? I'm assuming you accidentally deleted one of the files Grub needs to operate. I'm assuming you had a problem with Windows, put the Win2K install in and reinstalled it, overwriting the MBR (master boot record) of the hard drive. The symptom of this is your computer would now boot directly into Windows. Is this what is happening?

3. Can you boot Linux through a boot disk? If my assumptions in 1 & 2 are correct, and you can boot Linux, then the solution I proposed in my original post should work.

These ought to get us on the correct track.

I think the first case will suit my condition
 

both of my two OS can correct load independently, but the only problem is I can only Boot either of them at one time,once I switch , The only thing I can do is firstly boot my computer by CDROM and then activating the other Active partition instead of simply by choosing the other OS on one active partition, it is so inconvenient, I just want to know how to configure my Grub config file in order to add a boot record so I can boot my windows 2000 under the Boot environment of Grub.