restoring back to before i messed up partitions

Hi :)

I wouldn't do that from GPartEd. Generally it is worth staying away from gparted as it is a very powerful tool, easily able to wipe all your data! It can be quite handy for looking things up tho :)

To fix it i would just reinstall just grub2 to the / partition
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD

I could help with this in about 12 hours time if you give us the output of

sudo fdisk -l

where "-l" is a lower-case "-L" and also let us know which partition has "Mount Point" = /
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I will attempt to do what you ask.  I unfortunatly am not familiar with Ubunto or any other form of linux.
I got the following with the command

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -l
Matching Defaults entries for ubuntu on this host:
    env_reset

User ubuntu may run the following commands on this host:
    (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Donaldjj

--- On Sun, 4/25/10, Tom <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Tom <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #108398]: restoring back to before i messed up partitions
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010, 4:36 PM

Your question #108398 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

    Status: Open => Answered

Tom proposed the following answer:
Hi :)

I wouldn't do that from GPartEd. Generally it is worth staying away from
gparted as it is a very powerful tool, easily able to wipe all your
data! It can be quite handy for looking things up tho :)

To fix it i would just reinstall just grub2 to the / partition
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD

I could help with this in about 12 hours time if you give us the output
of

sudo fdisk -l

where "-l" is a lower-case "-L" and also let us know which partition has "Mount Point" = /
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398/+confirm?answer_id=0

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Hi :)

Please close that terminal console! Open a new one and try

sudo fdisk -l

Regards from
Tom :)

Here is the answer to your request
Don

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12921 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfc6ba95f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *         527       12920    93698640    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2               1         526     3976528+   b  W95 FAT32

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x453363a6

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       64529   518329161    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2           64833       77825   104366272+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5           64856       77292    99900202+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb6           77293       77825     4281291   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb7           64834       64855      176683+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

--- On Sun, 4/25/10, Tom <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Tom <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #108398]: restoring back to before i messed up partitions
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010, 5:10 PM

Your question #108398 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

    Status: Open => Answered

Tom proposed the following answer:
Hi :)

Please close that terminal console! Open a new one and try

sudo fdisk -l

Regards from
Tom :)

--
If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
know that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398/+confirm?answer_id=2

If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

hi :)

You might find these links generally useful
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Signpost
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
& this one i am not sure about, i haven't read it at all
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Beginners/FAQ

The one about GPartEd looked very confused and misleading. It mentions another distro which you really dont need to use. Ubuntu already has the GParted program on it's LiveCd so there is no need to download another one. I think you are already managing to do this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Once you have booted into the installed Ubuntu then it is worth quickly working through the Medibuntu page to try to get most of the multimedia issues all sorted out in one easy session
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Should my computer be booting properly now?
I did not try rebooting as you did not indicate that I should do so.
Don

--- On Sun, 4/25/10, Tom <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Tom <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #108398]: restoring back to before i messed up partitions
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010, 5:27 PM

Your question #108398 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

Tom posted a new comment:
hi :)

You might find these links generally useful
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Signpost
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
& this one i am not sure about, i haven't read it at all
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Beginners/FAQ

The one about GPartEd looked very confused and misleading. It mentions another distro which you really dont need to use. Ubuntu already has the GParted program on it's LiveCd so there is no need to download another one. I think you are already managing to do this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Once you have booted into the installed Ubuntu then it is worth quickly working through the Medibuntu page to try to get most of the multimedia issues all sorted out in one easy session
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Yes I am working with an ubunto live CD as that is the only way my computer will boot.  I answered my own question about booting by rebooting and got the same error that I have been getting.
Don

--- On Sun, 4/25/10, donald johnson <email address hidden> wrote:

From: donald johnson <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #108398]: restoring back to before i messed up partitions
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010, 5:33 PM

Your question #108398 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

You gave more information on the question:
Should my computer be booting properly now?
I did not try rebooting as you did not indicate that I should do so.
Don

--- On Sun, 4/25/10, Tom <email address hidden> wrote:

From: Tom <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #108398]: restoring back to before i messed up partitions
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010, 5:27 PM

Your question #108398 on gparted in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108398

Tom posted a new comment:
hi :)

You might find these links generally useful
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Signpost
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
& this one i am not sure about, i haven't read it at all
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Beginners/FAQ

The one about GPartEd looked very confused and misleading. It mentions another distro which you really dont need to use. Ubuntu already has the GParted program on it's LiveCd so there is no need to download another one. I think you are already managing to do this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Once you have booted into the installed Ubuntu then it is worth quickly working through the Medibuntu page to try to get most of the multimedia issues all sorted out in one easy session
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Hi :)

Please follow the links into the thread at Launchpad rather than replying to the email. There are other things at Launchpad that might also be of interest to you. If you have to reply by email then please delete off all the bit that we sent you as we already have that here and it's getting very confusing trying to work out what is going on in this thread!

Ok, from the guide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD
you can see that we are already at step 4.

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt

note there are 3 spaces separating the 4 sections of that command. The last 2 parts are "/dev/sdb5" & "/mnt". Ok, now for the crucial

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb

If that doesn't work then do the same 1st command and try

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

but i really think that should be sdb at the end of the line. Note that this 2nd line also has 3 spaces as the last 2 sections are "--root-directory=/mnt/" and "/dev/sdb".
Ok, good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Ok I will try the next part tomorrow when I get back to the computer involved.

here is the result of the commands listed in your last note

command1

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

command 2

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /mnt//boot/grub.

No path or device is specified.
Try ``grub-probe --help'' for more information.
Auto-detection of a filesystem module failed.
Please specify the module with the option `--modules' explicitly.

command3

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /mnt//boot/grub.

No path or device is specified.
Try ``grub-probe --help'' for more information.
Auto-detection of a filesystem module failed.
Please specify the module with the option `--modules' explicitly.

 little more info,
after reading the grub docs as you suggested i tried it and when first booting it comes up saying

grub rescue>
I type
grub rescue> ls
it responds (hd0) (hd0,2) (hd0,1) (hd1) (hd1,7) (hd1,6) (hd1,5) (hd1,1)

I type
grub rescue> ls (hd0,2) ot any other (hxx,y) and it responds with
error: unknown filesystem

these are all hand written and retyped as no way to save actual screen text that i know of (even ctrl P won't work. as I said earlier I am very new with linux and really do not know where to look next
Don

Hi

Sorry i missed all that. Please can you boot up from a LiveCd again and try the

sudo fdisk -l

again?
Regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12921 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfc6ba95f

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 527 12920 93698640 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 1 526 3976528+ b W95 FAT32

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x453363a6

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 64529 518329161 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 64833 77825 104366272+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 64856 77292 99900202+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 77293 77825 4281291 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb7 64834 64855 176683+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Hi :)

So staying in the LiveCd session please can you give us the output of this command from the 4th step of the guide?

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt

Regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C

Hi

Weird, it didn't mention that in the guide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD

It is usually possible to get useful information about a command by adding a -h tag (or --help) after the command so in this case try

mount -h

Regards from
Tom :)

unfortunately that only tells me things that I know absolutely nothing about.

Hi :)

Ok, i looked up the "man" (=manual page) & found this
mount -t type device dir
is the layout of the command. Then i used gparted & "sudo fdisk -l" on my own machine to confirm that "83 Linux" = ext3
So, we should be able to mount the sdb5 with this command

sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb5 /mnt

if that doesn't work tho then don't bother to try the next command

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb

However, if the first command just got accepted without giving an error message then the 2nd command should work and make the hard-drive bootable again
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb5 /mnt
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb5,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

I also did the dmesg on line above and suspect from answer that it needs better syntax

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dmesg | tail or so
tail: cannot open `or' for reading: No such file or directory
tail: cannot open `so' for reading: No such file or directory

hi :)

I think sdb5 just needs a fsck partition check. Probably easiest from the LiveCd. Try

fsck /dev/sdb5

I'm not convinced about my syntax either but i think it looks exactly right from the "mount -h" command. At the end of that quick help guide it says how to look up the man page which is worth a quick look imo.

If the fsck says that sdb5 is mounted then don't run it
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi, errr try

sudo fsck /dev/sdb5

Sorry i forgot the crucial sudo there! Hopefully it is just a bad super-block & one that is easily fixed too.
Regards from
Tom :)

at least I can understand this one. don't know what to do but I know what it is saying

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ fsck /dev/sdb5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.16
e2fsck 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
fsck.ext2: Permission denied while trying to open /dev/sdb5
You must have r/w access to the filesystem or be root
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

i caught your correction and got this

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sdb5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.16
e2fsck 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb5

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

Hi

Oh no, this isn't looking good but it does explain why we have been having such trouble. Its a 102Gb partition isn't it? Can you open GPartEd

System - Administration - "Partition Editor"

and see if you can check the partition from right-clicking it in there? Is there a lot of data on Ubuntu that needs recovering? If so do you have an external hard-drive or something that you can borrow for a few days?
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

hard drive #1
/dev/sda2 fat32 3.79gib 2.17 gib 1.62gib
/dev/sda1 ntfs 89.36gib 48.21gib 41.14gib

hard drive 2

/dev/sdb1 ntfs 494.34 gib 108 used 385.86 unused windows partition I must recover
/dev/sdb2 extended 99.53 gib suspect this is linux partition that has never worked
/dev/sdb7 linux-swap 172.54 mib
/dev/sdb5 unknown 95.27 gib most likely the crashed partition
/dev/sdb6 linux-swap 4.08 gib

Hi

sorry i have to sleep now. i will try to get back to this in about 8 hours. Gparted should have a right-click options to "Check" each partition.

To try to recover data on sdb5 this guide might help
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Its sdb5 that is the install that didn't work, i think. If it doesn't have data on it then we can just start again with it tomorrow :) sdb2 is a different type of partition. Extended partitions are a work-around to allow more than 4 partitions on a drive.

Regards from
Tom :)

Sorry about keeping you up so late. just 4pm here :-) we can trash the unwanted linux and just restore the windows then i will be out of trouble. what time will you be around tomorrow as in 8 hours I will be going to bed. Use Gmt and i will figure my local time

Hi :)

These threads are useful for keeping it all together. If you are using the link to navigate into your thread at Launchpad then it's easy to see the progression or at least see the last few posts to see how things are developing.

A fresh install would be the most ideal answer right now :) Well, sometime after you get up & have done non-computer stuff if required! I might post in here about an ideal way to do this but please don't try it until after you have had a good sleep!

Good night chap :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Yes, a fresh install of Linux is best as it has never worked in this computer however for the windows I hope we can recover without an install. I can backup the windows info as I do have a backup drive and the live CD can read it or at least it could before I messed everything up :-)
It is 6am here now and will backup first if that is your suggestion.
Don

Hi :)

Yes, backing up is usually a good move. 6am sounds horribly early! Any chance of starting the backup & then getting more sleep? We don't have to do this in real-time

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

yes I will start the backup but wife would complain should I try and get any sleep where I am as left home for her friends house where computer crashed :-)
I am never in bed after 6am as have always been an early riser. Is there any kind of backup on the live cd?

Hi :)

I would just copy&paste or drag&drop folders and files onto the external drive. Preferably neatly into usefully named folders jic. While linux is faster at file transfers this is running from a LiveCd so it might take just as long as it would with Windows

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, so in the LiveCd session go up to the top taskbar and open gparted by clicking on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

Then right click on the end partition, sdb6, "Swap Off" and then delete it. Next right-click on sdb5 "Umount" and delete. Then on sdb7, "Swap Off" again and again delete it. This should now allow you to delete sdb2 :)

Keep gparted open but get to a command-line to get the results of

free -m

to see how much ram Ubuntu thinks you have. We are goign to need a "swap" partition approx = 2 x Ram. An ideal layout of the new partitions is something like this

sda1 Windows = no change
sda2 Primary Partition 5Gb file-system = ext3
sda3 Primary Partition 2x"Ram size", file-system = linux-swap
sda4 Extended Partition, a bucket for holding other partitions because drives are only allowed to have 4 primary partitions when you need to be able to use Windows (or 3 & 1 extended partition)
 . sda5 Logical Partition 10Gb file-system = ext3 this is the partition that could be anything from 5Gb to 15Gb fairly comfortably. It is going to be where all your data & settings will be. We call this the /home partition.

The main reason for keeping Ubuntu small is because it can quite happily read & write data on the Windows partition. It does need a small space for itself and for things that Windows cant cope with, such as saved web-pages because of the long names. Windows can't read the linux partitions at all so it's 'better' to keep most of the data on the Windows side :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

HI :)

Ok, so now everything is ready for the actual install at last! The installer on the desktop of the LiveCd is usually best for me.

When you get to the Partitioning Section choose the very bottom option "Advanced" or "Manual" partitioning. This should show the partitions you have already prepared although you could create (or delete) them in here. It's just not so easy in here.

Right-click on the 5Gb partition and "Edit" or "Change" it to set its "Mount Point" to / Then right-click the one we called /home and set it's "Mount Point" to "/home" (predictably, sorry). The linux-swap partition doesn't need a "Mount Point" because that is sorted automatically.

Hopefully this should all work completely fine!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ok I am ready to try and get my windows running (without linux at this time).

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ free -m
             total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2004 922 1081 0 32 254
-/+ buffers/cache: 636 1367
Swap: 0 0 0

do I really need to create the linux swap partition if I am not going to be using it? If this was my machine i would reinstall but my friend is very discouraged and at this time just wants her machine back without linux,
I did go and delete the linux partitions as you suggested but did not recreate the linus swap. Is there any way to expand the windows back to normal?
Don

presently my hard drive looks like this
/dev/sda2 fat32 3.79gib boot
/dev/sda1 ntfs 89.69gib

/dev/sdb1 ntfs 494.34gib
unalocated 101.85

The partition marked boot is when I messed it up I suspect as I do not remember which one was original boot

Hi :)

Don't worry about which was is marked as boot. We are going to have to put a linux or at least a grub boot-loader on there. The easiest & fastest way is to do a dual-boot install of Ubuntu.

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Don't worry about which was is marked as boot. We are going to have to put a linux or at least a grub boot-loader on there. The easiest & fastest way is to do a dual-boot install of Ubuntu.

Regards from
Tom :)

ok then what to do next?

Hi again :)

The Windows partition can be resized from inside a LiveCd session or from inside Windows. The problem at the moment is trying to get Windows to boot & the only way we can do that is through installing a linux.

If you have another machine that does boot-up then you could use a 30Mb sliTaz. So, quite fast to download, fast to make a LiveCd and fast to install.

Stuff like this is discouraging and it might seem like we are making it worse but once a Windows can't boot then it's stuck which is why a lot of people tend to use a linux boot-loader purely to boot a Windows-only system. The boot partition could be at the end of the drive & only needs about 200Mb

Personally i would seriously go for a full dual-boot install of Ubuntu but let me know which way we can go with this. We can get the system working within 1 hour 30mins by installing Ubuntu & just by using what we already have
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi

Gparted to set up the partitions as advised earlier

LiveCd to create

sdb1 no change
sda2 Primary Partition 5Gb file-system = ext3
sda3 Primary Partition 5Gb file-system = linux-swap
sda4 Extended Partition10Gb
 . sda5 Logical Partition 10Gb file-system = ext3 this is the /home partition

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Sorry those were all on sdb. So boot up a LiveCd session and from the top taskbar

System - administration - Partition Editor

sdb1 no change, this is going to be best resized inside Windows later
sdb2 Primary Partition 5Gb file-system = ext3
sdb3 Primary Partition 5Gb file-system = linux-swap
sdb4 Extended Partition10Gb
 . sdb5 Logical Partition 10Gb file-system = ext3 this is the /home partition

sdb5 is contained inside sdb4.
Regards from
Tom :)

in otherwords we just need to reinstall this system as dual boot and it should work?

what is slitaz? and my only machine that has linux on it is 10 miles away :-)

"If you have another machine that does boot-up then you could use a 30Mb sliTaz. So, quite fast to download, fast to make a LiveCd and fast to install."

would simply installing the easy way from live cd work?

Hi :)

SliTaz is a smaller version of linux, another distro like Ubuntu (750Mb) but less fully featured and lacks stuff like OpenOffice. It is a French distro but is also translated into English.

Simply installing the easy way from the LiveCd would work but it would leave the partitions quite messed up as it tends to use an existing Ntfs partition and then resizes that. So it would leave 101Gb unallocated.

The way i am proposing would not be much extra effort but would leave the system top-notch & all the disk being used

Regards from
Tom :)

ok I have second HD sdb set up as you requested. next

Hi again

Please be careful if you choose the easy route. Make sure that the Windows partitions are still shown in the graphic in the Partitioning Section!

It is safer to ...
When you get to the Partitioning Section choose the very bottom option "Advanced" or "Manual" partitioning. This should show the partitions you have already prepared.

Right-click on each of the following and "Edit" or "Change" them to set their "Mount Points" as shown
sdb2 /
sdb5 /home

Make sure that column "Format?" is UNticked for all partitions although it only really matters that the Windows one has no tick. The rest are fine either way. Swap always gets formatted so don't worry about that when you see it in the Summary section before the actual install starts
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Ok, how is it looking?

OK I am still up using the live CD.
If I understand you correctly you want me to go to the install Linux icon on screen and when it starts to install then I need to select the various options as they show on screen

I am being slow and careful unlike yesterday :-)

Yep, that way we can stay in contact during the installers questions

Hi :)

Most of the things can be changed later on from inside Ubuntu but it's 'nice' to try to get the right, especially the keyboard lol. Really those early questions are not particularly crucial!

It's only really the Partitioning Section that matters & even that can be altered a bit later. Resizing takes such a painfully long time tho. It's really beast to get something roughly right to start with.

Regard from
Tom :)

When you get to the Partitioning Section choose the very bottom option "Advanced" or "Manual" partitioning. This should show the partitions you have already prepared.

Right-click on each of the following and "Edit" or "Change" them to set their "Mount Points" as shown
sdb2 /
sdb5 /home

Make sure that column "Format?" is UNticked for all partitions

ok I will start and proceed and ask questions as needed if system allows me to use internet.
otherwise I will come back here if things do not go as wanted.

Hi :)

Ok, i have to pop out for 30mins. The Partitioning Section has to re-scan the partitions when you choose the "Advanced" option so don't worry when it takes a couple of minutes before giving you the new special screen showing the layout of the drives. Note that sda should be at the top & sdb is lower down but they are all in the same table. So it looks a bit different from partition editors you have seen previously (except, perhaps the Windows one). You can see why i prefer GPartEd now! Much nicer colour scheme!

Regards from
Tom :)

i keep getting an error message

The mount point you entered is invalid.

Mount points must start with "/". They cannot contain spaces.

hi :)

Lol, i'm back already! Yeh, try using the drop-down to see what choices you are offered :)

Regard from
Tom :)

Hi ?

Ok, the Mont Point for sdb2 is

/

and the Mount Point for sdb5 is

/home

Regards from
Tom :)

ok now I see what I did wrong. I hand typed in what you said instead of selecting from the drop-down. now to continue :-)

Yup, it allows you to type in just because linux users can be quite contrary and usually want to do the impossible. There would be endless moaning at any restriction of free choice!

Hi :)

Has it started on the installing part yet? have you got passed the Summary Section?

Regards from
Tom :)

Tom I had a big problem and need to make a new live CD.  it apears that at some point the one I was using got a scratch and will no longer install.  It does boot live though so is why I did not note it.  I will be back in business tomorrow with a new live disk but need to dl it again.

Hi

heck. Do you have a non-linux machine there that can download and make a Cd of sliTaz?
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slitaz

On their downloads page try their latest stable version, or any of them, it doesn't matter which one
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, we have partitions set-up already don't we? So now we can try just installing the boot-loader?

sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

Note that there are 3 spaces in each line. People often miss out the space before and after one of these 2 "/dev/sdb2" or/and "--root-directory=/mnt/"

I can't believe how much misfortune we are having here!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ok now that i have downloaded slitaz i will do back in the morning and attempt to continue. anything i should watch out for before i start?
Don

Hi :)

SliTaz is a great tiny linux distro, very fast to download & burn to Cd. Ideal if you get caught out somewhere and need something in a hurry. The installer is a little different from Ubuntu's but not by much. I'm sure you can figure it out. Ideally still use sdb2 as / and sdb5 as /home but it really doesn't matter if the whole thing gets installed to either of sdb2 or sdb5.

If you can then downloading Ubuntu again or just making a new Cd of Ubuntu would be more ideal. Perhaps make 2 tho, just in case 1 gets damaged?

Ubuntu uses grub2 which is much better but not quite so well understood just yet. The older grub is the one that sliTaz uses and although it's well understood it is going to become fairly obsolete within a year or 2. Hmm, actually there are still people that use Lilo so perhaps there's not much to worry about here. Grub2 does allow customised configurations to make the boot menu look a lot nicer.

I tend to keep a sliTaz Cd in the small bundle of Cds i take around to fix people's Windows problems but i usually try to leave Ubuntu Cds with people and show them how to use the LiveCd session on Ubuntu.

Should i say "good luck" or is that tempting fate?
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

I think it is worth md5sum checking the Cds before trying to use them although usually if the LiveCd works then that's usually all that matters

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM#MD5SUM%20on%20CD

This is really a lot easier than it sounds. I seem to remember using a calculator to compare the 2 numbers. The one from the table minus the one from the Cd should = 0 ;)

Regards from
Tom :)

Tom,
I am back to step 4 of the install of ubunto. I selected manual /advanced and this time it did not come up and show the second hard drive. It just shows a solid brown line. The last time it did the same then changed after about 30 seconds into the second hard drive. Today after over 5 min no change.

Hi :)

Errr, ok. So you booted to a LiveCd session? Can you get to a command-line & try the old

sudo fdisk -l

to see what that picks up? Also try going into GPartEd to see if the partitions on sdb are marked with a key showing them to be mounted? They shouldn't be mounted at this point (except perhaps the Windows one). Can you keep GPartEd open while running the installer?

Regards from
Tom :)

I just can not beleive that it took yahoo almost 40 min to tell me you had answered

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12921 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfc6ba95f

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 527 12920 93698640 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 1 526 3976528+ b W95 FAT32

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x453363a6

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 64529 518329161 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 64530 65166 5116702+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 65167 65803 5116702+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb4 65804 67078 10241437+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 65804 67078 10241406 83 Linux
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ^C
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

/dev/sdb1 ntfs 494.32
/dev/sdb2 ext3 4.88
/dev/sdb3 linux-swap 4.88
/dev/sdb4 extended 9.77
/dev/sdb5 ext3 9.77
unalocated 82.33

no flags set on sdb
sda is same as previous

Part of the problem may be that I cannot go down the screen far enough to see the continue button when manual is set. what is the default setting? hopefully continue. I suspect that setup screen is only 640X480 or possibly 800X600 and just not large enough to see buttons

Hi :)

Ahh, ok. Try going up to the top-taskbar and click on

Systems - Preferences - Monitor (or Screen in 9.10 i think)

and change the resolution to something higher.
Ok, so is any of that enough to make a difference to the installer? If not then try cancelling the installer and double-click on it again.
Regards from
Tom :)

It is set for 800X600 already and will not allow larger in this mode. it will go smaller :-)

I hit enter to see what would happen (after all o can stop before anything is written if i get lucky) and it went into the scanning disks and came to where i was yesterday. so continuing.

someone needs to correct the problem I had so it won't happen again or at least tell them to hit enter :-)
I must have done so yesterday without realising it.

after setting up the partitions i do not have an otyion to continue. i only can revert or new partition table the rest are greyed out

Hi :)

Make certain you have set a Mount Point to be /

Regards from
Tom :)

ext2 = /
ext5 = /home
per what you sent yesterday

Hmmm, is the key-symbol beside those 2 partitions in Gparted? If so perhaps try to "umount" them?

key in first but not the second
I have no option to mount or dismount

Hi :(

I don't know what is happening here! I don't know why your screen resolution is so low, is this the same resolution as yday?

Perhaps just try the grub2 install?

sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

Alternatively try installing sliTaz instead of Ubuntu? Let me know which you try & how it goes!
Regards from
Tom :)

found the problem! it is same as previous. hidden buttons install is set up for 1024X768 or larger. so in default mode you can NOT get to buttons. i hit return and it continued another step but now it is on a screen that asks if i want to continue and only button is saying advanced so since it is stuck in a loop I am gound to tab and unhighlight the advanced button and hit return
hmm it is continuing hope they FIX this install program soon

Tom ,
we got good news ans bad news
good news YAHOOOO it is working in windows eith only a few extra steps to boot into windows.
bad news is i need to teach a 90 year old lady the extra steps to boot into windows.
is there any way to tell the system to boot automaticly into windows if i do nothing and let it time out during boot?

also how do we inform the powers that be about the screen problem. I bet they use a 1024X768 and never saw it.

Hi

Grrrr it has only just occurred to me that you might have been able to maximise the installer to fill the screen (making it smaller by maximising it!

The critical part of this install is the boot-loader and that should be totally fine.

It does, however, worry me that the LiveCd is stuck in 800by600 and i wonder if the hard-drive install will suffer the same problem! Next time you try booting up the LiveCd please could you try any combination of boot-options that looks vaguely sensible?
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
Hopefully one of these should be able to give better resolution?

I can't remember if i asked for the specs of the machine before. Do you happen to know the cpu speed? Do you know whether the graphics card is Ati, nVidia or intel? Is the machine a netbook or laptop or something like that or is it a desktop? I guess i can probably find out by scrolling up so don't worry if you have already let me know.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Woooohoooo :))

Congrats :) It took me ages to move away from lower resolution formats but now i am on 1280by1024. Given how far i sit from my screen this is only possible for me because i went into

System - Preferences - Appearance - Fonts

and changed everything to at least 14! Now all my menus and everything are quite easy to read and a little bit sharper around the edges :) So going up in resolution has been a big & unexpected benefit.

About setting the default i really don't know. The official guide is at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Boot%20Display%20Behavior
but i have not had much luck with it so far. The original author has just gone on 2 weeks holiday and no-one else understands grub2 well enough to edit it yet!

I have just been re-reading some of it & i am about to test a new theory i have about how to set the default menu. Wish me luck!
Regards from
Tom :)

I can't remember if i asked for the specs of the machine before.
Do you happen to know the cpu speed? 2.33 ghz quad core intel

Do you know whether the graphics card is Ati, nVidia or intel? g33/g31 Express chipset

Is the machine a netbook or laptop or something like that or is it a desktop? desktop

Hi :)

WoooHooo for me too :) Ok, changing the default is easy (lol). First count how many lines down (starting with 0 for the first line) the Windows line is but boot into the Ubuntu that is on the hard-drive. Then get to a command-line and try

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

about the 4th line down says "Grub Default" change the 0 to whatever number you counted to. Also change the TimeOut to something a LOT more reasonable, say 30 and avoid the temptation to make the menu hidden. I have a bad feeling that after a few updates things are going to change a little bit. Now save and exit back to a command-line to type in

sudo update-grub

This is the command that finalises the changes you made in /etc/default/grub now try updating and reboot :)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Tom,
I am going to try and do what you suggested to boot directly into windows. however there seems to be a slight problem in that ubunto will not boot up. there is an error that essentially says that it is out of memory. it was on screen to short a time for me to write it down. if necessary i will do a screen shot with camera and get it for you. can i do the mod with the live cd?

Hi :)

Yes, please can you try some of the boot-options when you try the LiveCd again? I think about 3/4 of the way through this guide should help you with that
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

From the LiveCd you will first have to find the right partition. So try this command

sudo blkid

and give us the output from that. Also take note of the result for sdb2 (right-click on the desktop, choose create document then copy&paste the uuid number of sdb2 in as the file-name, or anything like that just to note the number temporarily)

cd /media
ls

where "ls" is a lower-case "LS". Hopefully there should be at least 2 folders in there and 1 of those should have the same name you noted down as the uuid for sdb2? Now type "cd " and the first few numbers and then press the tab key. It should finish the number off for you? If not then copy&paste it in with the mouse :) Now try the gedit command again but this time miss off the / from the beginning because you don't want it to start again from the / folder

gksudo gedit etc/default/grub

and after saving the changes try

sudo update-grub

This last command might not have the desired effect but at least we can get the gedit stuff done from the LiveCd. Have you ever used vim or vi text-editors before? If not then it's worth missing out on this time! It is a fantastic text-editor but only if you are used to using it or have plenty of time to try it out & learn!

If the last command didn't work then boot into one of the "recovery mode" options and "Drop to a root shell" from the menu on the disturbingly bue screen. Then try

update-grub

from there. This will definitely work but its a bit of a faff, sorry :(
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Tom,
I have not used vi since I tried to run MINIX which turned me off completely but that was in 1992 and things have improved since then. want a floppy set for MINIX or the version that will run on an XT from a 360 floppy. didn't think so :-)
will try what you suggest and report back tomorrow as need to take wife shopping now and won't be back before you pack it in for the day.
Don

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

results of commands

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: UUID="FEA8470FA846C63D" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="" UUID="423B-2BDF" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="6908D8FE78902019" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb2: UUID="cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb3: UUID="9ab8308b-4945-412e-83ef-65b867de74f6" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb5: UUID="e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-3a6b3441538b" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ ls
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$

no file name with sdb2 and no files listed
Don
now going shopping

Hi :)

Ok, so try

cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d/etc/default

gksudo gedit grub

copy&paste with the mouse works and the tab key does do auto-complete or "predictive texting" a bit more intelligently than mobile phones. Tab complete can handle commands & pathnames. Try it if you type as far as

cd /media/cb97

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I think that the ubunto did not install at all

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d/etc/default
bash: cd: /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d/etc/default: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Hi :)

But you are getting a boot-menu allowing you to login to Windows?

Ok, on a LiveCd command-line try

cd /media ls

and just paste the output into here?
Regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media ls
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$

heck, sorry i meant

cd /media
ls

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ ls
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd /
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ ls
bin cdrom etc initrd.img media opt rofs sbin srv tmp var
boot dev home lib mnt proc root selinux sys usr vmlinuz
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$

@ donald johnson

If you want Windows to be default on boot,from synaptic install startup manager and with it choose your default boot system.If you want to delete Ubuntu first read ( and do ) http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p18.html#MbrFix.exe . After that you can delete ubuntu partitions if you want to.

Yeh, good point Zvacet :) I had completely lost track of that!

Donald if you boot into windows and get to a command-line and type in

fixmbr

then that should fix the Windows boot-loader to completely avoid needing to use grub or linux at all. Sorry we couldn't get this to work more smoothly or faster!
Regards from
Tom :)

If Tom gives his OK I will try what you suggest. I do appreciate your help though.

Err, normally you don't need to download anything. "fixmbr" is normally in all Windows machines right from install
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Yup Zvacet is a star quite often. I was still hooked on trying to get Ubuntu usable on this machine because it's difficult to let it go after all that struggle! Normally Ubuntu is easy!

Regards from
Tom :)

I missed the part about fixmbr so will do now.

fixmbr may be a command in XP Professional, it is not showing up at command line. I remember an old command from 98 fdisl/mbr but it is definatly missing in XP.

I have yo go out for about 2 hours.  back at 2pm PST 10pm gmt i think
Don

Hi

Ok, i should have expected that. Also i couldn't find a big green download button on Zvacet's link :(

The grub is booting straight into Windows now? I think it is time to give up fro today! 10.04 has just been officially lunched so even tho the number of UK servers has doubled on last year they are still crashing! So i can't access any of the Community Documentation either right now. It will calm down in a couple of days!
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

perhaps you could find the Ubuntu partition from the top taskbar on the LiveCd

Places - "4.65 GB Media" (or something like that?)

Regards from
Tom :)

Right now it is booting into the menu that asks me to select ubunto (4 selections) or windows (3 selections).I wieh there were an easy way to screen save and send it to you but not that I can find.
I will try your last selection.
don

Hi, hmm, ok so we do need to try to sort the menu. Please try to find the Ubuntu Partition in a way that you can find again.
Regards from
Tom :)

when I do an ls command I get this
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos

so I try and change into one of the directory's and get this.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /Desktop
bash: cd: /Desktop: No such file or directory

there is a 10GB file system with 2 folders in it
lost&found and Verna
Verna is the name of owner of computer and is what I named the linux system

there is also a 5.2GB file system and it has the following folders in it
bin boot cdrom cev etc home lib lost&kound media mnt opt tmp root sbm selinux srv sys tmp usr var initdr.img

since only one folder is on both i tried to change into the directory and got this
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /lost&found
[1] 4393
bash: cd: /lost: No such file or directory
No command 'found' found, did you mean:
 Command 'pound' from package 'pound' (universe)
found: command not found
[1]+ Exit 1 cd /lost
[1]+ Exit 1 cd /lost

I realize that the & symbol is not liked by the command system
what should I try next

Hi :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /Desktop

didn't work because there is no folder in / called Directory. Try

cd /

to see what folders are there. Hopefully some of these are beginning to look familiar. Notice that the prompt

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

has now changed to

ubuntu@ubuntu:/$

if you now cd into /media then the prompt becomes

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$

now try

cd ~/Directory

The ~ is short for /home/Verna
Also note that the old Dos .. & . work so try

cd ..

and then press the up arrow and enter the same command a couple of times like that. Now try pressing up arrow a few times until the "cd ~/Directory" appears again and now type

cd media

which should fail because media is in the / folder, not the ~/Directory folder. Since media is in the / folder try

cd /media

cd ..

cd media

This time it should work because we are already in the / folder ;)
Regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ ls
bin cdrom etc initrd.img media opt rofs sbin srv tmp var
boot dev home lib mnt proc root selinux sys usr vmlinuz
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd ~/directory
bash: cd: /home/ubuntu/directory: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd ~/Directory
bash: cd: /home/ubuntu/Directory: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd /home/verna/Directory
bash: cd: /home/verna/Directory: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd..
cd..: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ ls
cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-3a6b3441538b
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$
Not sure what these results mean :-)

Tom,
I just got a call on a job opportunity and need to go for an interview. send me what You want me to do next and I will be back tomorrow morning.

Hi :)

Linux is case sensitive. So verna is completely different from Verna. Also i don't know why i kept going on about Directory when i meant "Desktop" lol

I think the point i was trying to make is that / contains certain folders but none of them is called "Desktop" so when you ask it to

cd /Desktop

it says "but i haven't got one there? :(" Each user does have their own Desktop tho so you can cd into that by doing

cd ~/Desktop

The other point i was making is that the prompt changes according to which folder you are in. As you changed from one folder to another in the last posting the prompt changed to these different ones

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$
ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$

Luckily we also found the crucial info we have been looking for over the past few days! So try this

cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-3a6b3441538b/etc/default

sudo cp grub grub.300410
gksudo gedit grub

That should open the 'gedit' text-editor so that you can edit the 'grub' file. About the 4th line down it says "Grub Default" now change the 0 to however many lines down the bootable Windows is in the boot-menu. Note that the first line would be 0, the second line in the boot-menu would be 1.

Also change the TimeOut to something a LOT more reasonable, say 30 and avoid the temptation to make the menu hidden. I have a bad feeling that after a few updates things are going to change a little bit. Now save and exit and reboot. This should still get you back into Ubuntu?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Ok, good luck and stay cool :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Well no luck on the job front:-( I am about to do what you suggested on friday.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-
bash: cd: /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ 3a6b3441538b/etc/default
bash: 3a6b3441538b/etc/default: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-3a6b3441538b/etc/default
bash: cd: /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d e03fdcff-3da4-4d6b-953a-3a6b3441538b/etc/default
bash: cd: /media/cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$

these are the results of trying your commands

on another front! remember the problems with screen size that I was having earlier? Well on another computer the screen in the same mode was 1280X1024 and did not have same problem and gave me 11 screen sizes to use so must be something in the way it detects the video card. the other computer is 7 years old and this one is one year old and windows allows this one to have 1280X1024.
mine at home axts like this one except once it was installed on HD it then allows 1280X1024. If anyone wants to work on this I am willing yo use mine and this one as test beds.

What might help is having the path in your commands like I have in mine. then I will know for sure that I am where you want me to be before entering a command.

Hi :)

I usually try to be quite specific, using the / at the front of cd commands so we start from the root directory of your machine. However, it seems that the partition we really need to look at is sometimes not mounted at all and sometimes is. So for the last few posts i have been trying to clarify exactly what having the / at the start of a pathname does. It is quite tricky because when we boot a LiveCd on a machine the / takes us to the root of the LiveCd, not the hard-drive install.

For the last few days i have been trying to help a friend with his new machine while he was waiting to get his Windows Install Cd. It really surprised me to find that he had absolutely no idea of where his operating system is running from. Watching his reaction to a LiveUsb session and then a LiveCd session really brought it home to me how difficult these concepts are. He studied English at Cambridge University and took physics to a very advanced level & now earns his living showing his art to a paying and very appreciative general public so clearly any misunderstandings are my fault for not describing well enough.

I was slightly tempted to try a LiveCd session of something like SliTaz just after he worked it out and then pull the Cd out of the drive!! Sadly he never managed to realise the concept of what was happening so the humour would be lost.

You seem to understand the difference of a LiveCd compared to an installed boot but even so i am having a tough time trying to express what we are trying to do. Also i seem to have lost direction a bit myself now!

I have got to work out a way of explaining this stuff so that it can be understood as i only seem able to totally confuse very intelligent people at the moment.

So, i will have to try to figure out what we were trying to do and get us back on-track
Many apologies and regards from
Tom :)

ok tom,
I do know what is happening but am not familiar enough with linux to make much in the way with the suggestion area.
I will wait for you to think out what we need to do. take your time and go through all the previous stuff carefully. also ignore my typos as I usually don't see them.
 I suspect what the real problem is as you say getting me to know where I am in the system. if the drive is not mounted will this cause what we are seeing? I have not mounted anything ! tell me what to mount in the instructions may be important.
I actually am very familiar with windows /dos but unfortunately not linux.

I don't know if this will help but this is the contents of file grub.cfg

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
  have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
  saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
  save_env saved_entry
  prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
    # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
    # understand terminal_output
    terminal gfxterm
  fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
 set quiet=1
 insmod ext2
 set root=(hd1,2)
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d
 linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d ro quiet splash
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
 insmod ext2
 set root=(hd1,2)
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d
 linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=cb97f339-1d0d-4b04-af80-5c5a6c8aba3d ro single
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
 linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
 linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" {
 insmod ntfs
 set root=(hd0,1)
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set fea8470fa846c63d
 drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
 chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda2)" {
 insmod fat
 set root=(hd0,2)
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 423b-2bdf
 drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
 chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)" {
 insmod ntfs
 set root=(hd1,1)
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6908d8fe78902019
 drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
 chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

Hi :)

Sorry i abandoned you! How are things going at the moment? The machine boots up but your friend has to use the boot menu to get into Windows? Is this still a problem or is she ok with it now?

Regards from
Tom :)

Hi tom
Yes still stuck the same as it was. No she is not happy and I need to get it back the way it was. I can find and read the necessary file using the guey but do not have write privileges so can not save it back. I can not find the file with the term program.

Hi :)

Ok, here's the answer
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+question/108890

Hi :)

This will need to be from the installed Ubuntu rather than from the LiveCd i think. Is that possible? If so then try

cd /etc/grub.d
sudo mv 30_os-prober 08_os-prober
sudo update-grub

and hopefully Windows should be at the top of the boot-menu list :)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I have not yet had a chance to get to the computer but I will mention that the ubunto that is on it has a problem. As it boots into the last window on boot it prints an "out of memory" error on the screen and locks up so the live CD is the only way I can do anything.
I am now headed over to the computer in question and should be there by 7:45 am about 1/2 hour from now

Hi :)

It might be better to find another way to try to do this then. Sorry i will look up my other question about this now

Regards form
Tom :)

Hi :)

The file to edit is in

/etc/default/

and is just called "grub". After changing the default to the right number you need to run this on the command-line

sudo update-grub

When you are editing the "grub" to change the value of default from 0 remember that the first option in the boot-menu is 0 so just count from there how many lines down it is to get to the Windows line. I would probably do the edit as a guess the first time and then make it right the 2nd time!

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

The question about editing a system file from the gui is
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+question/108028

sudo apt-get install nautilus-gksu

should allow you to right click on the file you need to edit and then choose "Open as administrator" from near the bottom of the right-click menu.
Regards from
Tom :)

I am having trouble getting what I need this morning
I got this error using guey

You do not have the permissions necessary to save the file. Please check that you typed the location correctly and try again.

got this error with term

ubuntu@ubuntu:/etc/default$ ls
acpi-support brltty devpts ntpdate saned useradd
alsa console-setup grub pulseaudio speech-dispatcher
apport cryptdisks halt rcS tmpfs
bootlogd cups locale rsync ufw
ubuntu@ubuntu:/etc/default$ sudo update-grub
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /.
I don't have any idea why i was able to get there today and not the last time

Hi :)

Don't worry about it not being smooth sailing. I think we have to accept that nothing is going to work smoothly in this particular case. Try this on a command-line in the LiveCd first

sudo apt-get install nautilus-gksu

and then right-click on the file to "Open as Administrator". Then you should be able to save any edits
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again

I just noticed that you are on a command line and able to see the "grub" file in /etc/defaults so perhaps just try

gksudo gedit grub

from there, and change the value of "default" from 0 to whatever you need. Either way of editing the file seems good :)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ok the line edited properly but it still try's to boot ubuntu? I went back and examined the line and it says that it is 0 again. I have done this twice and neither time did I get an error on save.

Hi

Ok, so you are modifying the redundant grub on the LiveCd rather than the one on the hard-drive. So we really need to get to grips with mounting the hard-drive's Ubuntu partition and be able to know where it is so we can navigate into it. Try this to see about the mount command

mount -h | more

Note the | on an English keyboard is between the Z key & shift on the left-hand-side, and you need to press shift to get the symbol. It looks a little different on the keyboard as the line appears to be broken in the middle but on-screen it is contiguous, a straight unbroken line. We call it a "pipe" but i'm not sure why. The " | more" pipes the command through the "more" function which results in the display only showing a screen-full at a time. Press space-bar to get the next 'page'. At the end of the "mount" help-file notice that you can get more information about using "mount" by typing in

man 8 mount

and doing so gives a much better idea of what you are doing with the mount command although it still remains a bit of a mystery to me. I know that many things are automatically mounted and usually when you boot into an installed distro the "fstab" file will set-up certain mounts and mount-points. While "fstab" is possible to edit it is notoriously tough and easy to make mistakes that can cause some havoc! Luckily we don't need to touch fstab which is a relief!

From all this and looking at the output from "sudo fdisk -l" it looks as though we need to try

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt

but it might not be happy without us telling it what file-system is on the partition. Look in the /mnt folder to see if you can find sdb5. I don't know why it makes it tougher for us but it seems to be just the way it goes with this particular system. Some people think that if the way is tough it is a sign from the god(s) that we should steer clear but others say it is a clear sign that we have chosen the 'right' path. Anyway, lets try the more precise

sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb5 /mnt

and now hopefully there should be something in /mnt?
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ok here is exactly where I am now. also when I tried the man 8 mount command the system locked up completely. these are all the commands and results since boot.
 oh yes the pipe command is called pipe since it acts like a water pipe and everything after it is commanded will "pipe" into whatever device or file you "Pipe" into. it is a very OLD dos/unix command.

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt
lost+found verna
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt
lost+found verna
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt/verna
beau003.jpg Documents examples.desktop heic0411a .jpg Music Pictures
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls 5.2
ls: cannot access 5.2: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ mnt -h
No command 'mnt' found, did you mean:
 Command 'mft' from package 'texlive-base' (main)
 Command 'mgt' from package 'mgt' (universe)
 Command 'cnt' from package 'radiance' (universe)
 Command 'mt' from package 'mt-st' (universe)
 Command 'mt' from package 'star' (universe)
 Command 'mt' from package 'cpio' (main)
 Command 'mtn' from package 'monotone' (universe)
 Command 'ant' from package 'ant' (main)
 Command 'ent' from package 'ent' (universe)
 Command 'nt' from package 'd4x' (universe)
mnt: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb5 /mnt
mount: /dev/sdb5 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb5 is already mounted on /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev/sdb5
/dev/sdb5
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /dev/sdb5
bash: cd: /dev/sdb5: Not a directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd..
cd..: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ ls
ubuntu
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ cd /ubuntu
bash: cd: /ubuntu: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ ls
ubuntu
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ cd..
cd..: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ cd ..
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ ls
bin cdrom etc initrd.img media opt rofs sbin srv tmp var
boot dev home lib mnt proc root selinux sys usr vmlinuz
ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ cd boot
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ ls
abi-2.6.31-14-generic grub System.map-2.6.31-14-generic
config-2.6.31-14-generic memtest86+.bin vmcoreinfo-2.6.31-14-generic
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ sudo update-grub
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /.

ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ ls
abi-2.6.31-14-generic grub System.map-2.6.31-14-generic
config-2.6.31-14-generic memtest86+.bin vmcoreinfo-2.6.31-14-generic
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb5 /mnt
mount: /dev/sdb5 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb5 is already mounted on /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ ls
abi-2.6.31-14-generic grub System.map-2.6.31-14-generic
config-2.6.31-14-generic memtest86+.bin vmcoreinfo-2.6.31-14-generic
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ sudo update-grub
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /.

Hi :)

Ok, try

sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb2 /mnt

Clearly sdb5 is giving us the folders we would expect in a /home folder & we need the folders that are in /
Regards from
Tom :)

HI

Ok, so try

sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt
ls /mnt

There should be an "etc" folder in there now? Try

cd /mnt/etc/defaults
ls
gksudo gedit grub

and change the value of "default" from 0 to whatever you need, or as i said before guess and try to get closer to the right answer 2nd time. But to finalise the change made in "grub" file to get it into the right places try this again

sudo update-grub

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb2 /mnt
mount: /dev/sdb2 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb5 is already mounted on /mnt
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdb5 is already mounted on /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ ls /mnt
bin home mnt selinux var
boot initrd.img opt srv vmlinuz
cdrom lib proc sys
dev lost+found root tmp
etc media sbin usr
ubuntu@ubuntu:/boot$ cd /mnt/etc/defaults
bash: cd: /mnt/etc/defaults: No such file or directory

Hi

I think we are going to need to start afresh with a reboot back into a new LiveCd session & then try

sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt
ls /mnt

There should be an "etc" folder in there now? Try

cd /mnt/etc/defaults
ls /mnt
ls /mnt/etc
ls /mnt/etc/defaults
gksudo gedit grub

and change the value of "default" from 0 to whatever you need, or as i said before guess and try to get closer to the right answer 2nd time. But to finalise the change made in "grub" file to get it into the right places try this again

sudo update-grub

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I got an error

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt
bin dev initrd.img media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
boot etc lib mnt root srv usr
cdrom home lost+found opt sbin sys var
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cd /mnt/etc/defaults
bash: cd: /mnt/etc/defaults: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt
bin dev initrd.img media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
boot etc lib mnt root srv usr
cdrom home lost+found opt sbin sys var
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt/etc
00-header gre.d pam.d
acpi groff pango
adduser.conf group papersize
alternatives group- passwd
anacrontab grub.d passwd-
apm gshadow pcmcia
apparmor gshadow- perl
apparmor.d gtk-2.0 pm
apport hal pnm2ppa.conf
apt hdparm.conf polkit-1
at.deny host.conf popularity-contest.conf
avahi hostname power
bash.bashrc hosts ppp
bash_completion hosts.allow profile
bash_completion.d hosts.deny profile.d
bindresvport.blacklist hp protocols
blkid.conf ifplugd pulse
blkid.tab init python
bluetooth init.d python2.6
bogofilter.cf initramfs-tools rc0.d
bonobo-activation inputrc rc1.d
brlapi.key insserv rc2.d
brltty insserv.conf rc3.d
brltty.conf insserv.conf.d rc4.d
byobu iproute2 rc5.d
ca-certificates issue rc6.d
ca-certificates.conf issue.net rc.local
calendar kbd rcS.d
chatscripts kernel resolvconf
checkbox.d kernel-img.conf resolv.conf
compizconfig kerneloops.conf rmt
computer-janitor.d keys rpc
ConsoleKit laptop-mode rsyslog.conf
console-setup ldap rsyslog.d
console-tools ld.so.cache samba
couchdb ld.so.conf sane.d
cron.d ld.so.conf.d screenrc
cron.daily legal securetty
cron.hourly lftp.conf security
cron.monthly libpaper.d sensors.conf
crontab locale.alias services
cron.weekly localtime sgml
crypttab logcheck shadow
cups login.defs shadow-
dbus-1 logrotate.conf shells
debconf.conf logrotate.d skel
debian_version lsb-base sound
default lsb-base-logging.sh speech-dispatcher
defoma lsb-release ssh
deluser.conf ltrace.conf ssl
depmod.d magic sudoers
dhcp3 magic.mime sysctl.conf
dictionaries-common mailcap sysctl.d
doc-base mailcap.order terminfo
dpkg manpath.config timezone
emacs mime.types ts.conf
environment mke2fs.conf ucf.conf
esound modprobe.d udev
firefox-3.0 modules ufw
firefox-3.5 mono updatedb.conf
fonts motd update-manager
foomatic motd.tail update-motd.d
fstab mtab update-notifier
fuse.conf mtools.conf usplash.conf
gai.conf mysql vim
gamin nanorc w3m
gconf netscsid.conf wgetrc
gdb network wodim.conf
gdm NetworkManager wpa_supplicant
gimp networks X11
gnome nsswitch.conf xdg
gnome-app-install obex-data-server xml
gnome-system-tools openoffice xulrunner-1.9.1
gnome-vfs-2.0 opt zsh_command_not_found
gnome-vfs-mime-magic pam.conf
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt/etc/defaults
ls: cannot access /mnt/etc/defaults: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ gksudo gedit grub
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Hi :)

Ok, there is no "s" at the end of the "default" folder as you could see from "ls /mnt/etc" so try

cd /mnt/etc/default
ls /mnt
ls /mnt/etc
ls /mnt/etc/default
gksudo gedit grub

and change the value of "default" from 0 to whatever you need, or as i said before guess and try to get closer to the right answer 2nd time. But to finalise the change made in "grub" file to get it into the right places try this again

sudo update-grub

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

No Joy. the grub edit went fine but now the boot seems to hang forever. the highlighted line did not change from line 1
Grub looks like this
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=4
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=30
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entrys
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

Hi :)

Please try

sudo update-grub

Regards from
Tom :)

I still get this error

ubuntu@ubuntu:/mnt/etc/default$ gksudo gedit grub
ubuntu@ubuntu:/mnt/etc/default$ sudo update-grub
grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /.

Its late for you so you should hit the sack and we can continue tomorrow
Don

Tom,
Found what the real problem was, nasty insidious hard drive. I had a PATA drive as first drive ans a SATA drive as second drive. NO SATA drivers to boot with so windows would not boot from second drive. A friend came over last evening (3 weeks after I asked him for help) and we sat down and determined the problems involved.
the correction involved
1) Installing windows drivers on second hard drive and then Removing the first hard drive.
2) Reinstalling Ubunto on second drive.
So now the only thing left is to find why the video drivers are not detecting video properly as new installed Ubunto will not do better than 800X600 after install. as this is a different problem I started a new request at
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/110618
to prevent mixups
Don

Hi :)))

WooooHoooo !! [crosses fingers this time] [& touches wood]

Thanks for posting a new question about the other issue. Coincidentally i have to boot into "failsafe graphics" which gives me a "low resolution mode" where i can only use a much higher resolution than i normally like! I am totally clueless about graphics and resolutions so you will probably get someone else for that but doubtless i will see you in here again as there are usually a lot of questions at the start. 800 by 600 is probably a little bit grainy for me now tho. Hmm 840 by 640 or nowadays perhaps 1024 by 768 sounds about ideal to me at this point! My workaround was to set customised font sizes for everything in
System - Preferences - Appearance - errr somewhere in there.

I think the important thing is being able to boot into Windows! All i would do with the Ubuntu is quickly run through the Medibuntu page to get multimedia sorted
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
and install adobe non-free flash player through synaptic package manager
System - Administration - Synaptic
Then perhaps show off the BBC website and iplayer there?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Hopefully that should work with no additional hassles and might give a reason for booting into Ubuntu

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)