I am compelty brand new to this. I just burnt my Mandrake 10.0 to DVD and installed fine. I'm using VMWare Workstation because I do not want Linux to be my default OS. Now, my problem is this. When I startup Linux, I have three options. They are: linux, linux-nonfb, and failsafe. I chose the first option linux. It starts to start up normal with the message System Boot or something I forget exactly what it says, but it is the normal Linux Bootup. After that all I see is text scrooling with [ OK ] next to some of it. What should I do to get into the actual Linux OS? Thanks for your help!

if you are at a command line, report what happens when you type the command
startx
and press enter........Assuming that during the install you selected some options on your video card and monitor settings your os should become graphical.

if it does not it means you need to configure your X server settings.

if you know what your video card is, what kind of mouse etc do a search for XF86Config and see what your file should look like if its got an error in it

For some time now Mandrake detects VmWare video card with no prob, so if you accepted the default settings Mandrake should boot up correctly.

The green OK you at the end of each line mean that that service or driver loaded correctly this is a perfectly normal situation, just wait until you have a graphical login manager or until you are dropped into a shell.

JdogPC

Well, I think I'm stuck in the screen with all the OK's. I keep typing startx, but nothing happens. I keep typing and typing, and this is what I end up with after typing it so many times:

startx
startx
startx
startx
startx ...

What should I do? Would screenshots help?

it doesn't look like your graphics have been setup correctly

try command

xf86config

and go through lots of options then save that then try startx and report back only if you have a problem

btw is that the manufacturer? as no mention at this database
http://www1.mandrivalinux.com/en/hardware.php3

Actually, it kind of looks like the system is not completing the boot:

No mention of a prompt-- much less a login prompt, which you would get if the boot completed and dropped you into a shell, and so he'd have to login first before typing 'startx', which you'd think Daniel8802 would mention if he had done. Further notwithstanding that under normal circumstances, Mandriva should just take you into X anyway, which under "normal circumstances" (where VMware apparently also counts as a 'normal circumstance', according to previous posters) should "JustWork(TM)".

I'd be interested to hear what is the last line saying [ok] on the screen where you're typing, and is there another line following that saying that the system is attempting to do something else (which it has not completed with either an [ok] or [failed].

I think that there's something 'stuck' in the boot process itself, right near the end and the user is not even getting to login at all, either via the console or X (since X isn't even attempting to start, which Daniel8802 would also have mentioned if he got the 3 retries and the message that the X server could not be started, do you want to look at the log? etc business... before being dropped into a console login prompt).

It can quite happen that one can type on the console when the console is not in fact available to you, though usually this is not the case; any typing is displayed as garbage. But sometimes it is not, but your typing is simply ignored (after all, if no user is logged in, who's typing startx? Linux doesn't believe in ghosts),

This is the screen where I am stuck. If you have any suggestions they would be great! If you can't get the link to work, let me know.

http://images.snapfish.com/3448%3B%3...3B626562ot1lsi

Daniel8802 I'm sorry for you but you didn't finish your boot.
The procedure stucked during the network start-up, it happens when the network is not properly installed.
I worked only a little bit with VMWare and Mandrake 10.1 and I had some problem with the configuration both for the vdeo and for the net.
I've a suggestion for you: try to install Linux and work with it without VMW, you'd have Win/Linux altogether with win as you default OS, it's the same situation on my pc 'cause my wife prefers to work in a well known environment, at least for the moment.
You only need to recover some space on your HD for the new OS repartitioning the drive and nothing else.

How have you setup the network device in VMWare? Bridged, NAT or Host-only? I wouldn't have thought this would make much of a difference but it might shed some light.

Have you tried answer 'N' to bringing up eth0 to see if that works?

I'm not sure what you mean ... I'm just going to install on my second hard drive even though I didn't really want to. It will make life eaiser though.

Two questions:

1. How do I delete Linux off of my harddrive so I do not see it at startup anymore,
2. If I set ML to setup on another partition on my hard drive, will all of my data on my hard drive be erased?

1) First of all it's necessary to restore the Win MBR -> insert the installation CD, boot from CD and recover it from the recovery-console; at the end you'd format again the HD to your favourite file system(NTFS or FAT32).

2) only the data contained into the partition you choose for linux, this is the reason why it's better toresizethe partition before you install the tux.

Can I just reformat Windows all together? Will that take care of it?

I'm not even sure what you're trying to 'take care of'-- but if you feel the need to nuke your Win install to get rid of Linux (only to reinstall Linux?)... well that sounds like using an elephant gun to kill a mosquito, and just as likely to succeed.

sam.pedraglio is perfectly correct. If you 'don't want to see Linux when you start up', that means that you need to replace the current bootloader with the Windows bootloader (which can't see Linux at all).

Boot from the Windows CD (I'm assuming Win2k or XP) and, instead of installing, go to the Recovery Console. Log in with the Administrator password when asked, and at the prompt, type

FIXBOOT

This will restore the Windows bootloader, and when you reboot, Windows will boot up normally, because as far as the Windows bootloader is concerned, Windows is the only OS on the system.

Once you're in Windows, you can use any partitioning program to delete the partitions where you installed Linux, reformat them to a filesystem that Windows understands (FAT32 or NTFS), and use them for any purpose you like under Windows.

If you want to use one or all of the partitions for a reinstall of Linux, you have no need to reformat; any Linux installer will format the partitions you designate to Linux file formats at the time of install.