Botched XP & Linux dual boot - Only Linux loads

ralaz

Member
During Linux Mint install I selected "Use LVM with the new Linux Mint installation" at the Installation Type window (no prior partitioning by me, thought this option would do it). Now when I reboot, I am not given an option to load Windows XP, its loads directly to Linux. I'd like to have the option of loading either OS when booting. Currently I can only open Linux

I am not sure where the problem is, but was hoping that EasyBCD would help. I have another computer running Vista and downloaded EasyBCD to view it. I noticed that BCD Deployment has an option to "Install the Windows XP bootloader to the MBR."

Absolute newbie question (don't now enough to adequately state the problem): can I use the "Install the Windows XP bootloader to the MBR" option to load to a usb stick, then use it to fix my XP Computer?

Thanks
 
It sounds like you have replaced XP with Linux.
Can you still see the XP partition from Linux ?
I've not seen a Linux distro yet which didn't automatically dual-boot itself with Windows if installed alongside it.
 
During the Linux install, I didn't notice an "Install Linux Mint alongside" option, so I mistakenly selected LVM.
Below is the partition info:
-------------
$ cat /proc/partitions

major minor #blocks name

8 0 39070080 sda
8 1 248832 sda1
8 2 1 sda2
8 5 38818816 sda5
11 0 494894 sr0
252 0 37203968 dm-0
252 1 1560576 dm-1
-------------

Is there anyway to fix this?
 
Sorry I can't tell anything from that.
From the Linux equivalent of Explorer, can you see a partition with a Windows folder in it ?
 
I checked throughout with Midnight Commander and didn't see a windows partition. Can EasyBCD help to be able to boot XP?
 
No.
If you've overwritten your Windows partition with Linux, your only option is to reinstall XP.
Next time, create space in the HDD for an extra partition and install Linux into the empty space.
If you bought the PC with XP already installed, it probably has a recovery partition which you can use to "factory reset" the PC.
That will put XP back in the state which existed at the time you bought it.
Since XP support ceased 4 days ago, it's probable that you will be unable to bring the XP OS completely up to date, though I think they are continuing to provide critical security fixes for a while.
 
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