Thread: Silly Vista...

you can't mount it from Ubuntu at all?

Originally Posted by arby

My Vista just all but ate itself >.<

Right now i'm running in Ubuntu, BTW. Y'know, its actually really nice to have Vista prove its idiodicy and not have to worry too much about it. I have another OS that can preform better!

But I still have some info on there that took a lot of time to make and I want to save it if possible. The problem is that I can't even mount the drive anymore. Any references I had to locations in there are now "unaccessible".

I unfortunately need windows for games and stuff. How can I retrieve my info so I can wipe away Vista and get XP on there?

Also, Can I install XP with Ubuntu already on here?

If you're just using your Windoze partition for games, i suggest you get WINE. It runs basically every windoze game.

ah, I just checked /media..

Its mounted but its totally empty

So far I've had troubles with wine too =/

Originally Posted by arby

ah, I just checked /media..

Its mounted but its totally empty

So far I've had troubles with wine too =/

Wow. What are your system Specs and settings?

if it's empty, chances are it's not mounted

can you type

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

into the console and post the output

also, post output of

Code:

df -l

Originally Posted by Seismosaur

Wow. What are your system Specs and settings?

I'm pretty sure its not my computer or Wine but rather something I'm not doing. I'm still in the linux baby steps bumbling stage.

Originally Posted by Ynot

if it's empty, chances are it's not mounted

can you type

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

into the console and post the output

also, post output of

Code:

df -l

fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1       11572    92950321    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2   *       18402       19457     8482320    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           11573       18116    52564680   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           18117       18401     2289262+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           18117       18401     2289231   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

' The first partition here is my vista partition and the second is a Vista recovery partition that doesn't work anymore either. The rest is my Ubuntu installation

df -l

Code:

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3             51739516   6118832  42992452  13% /
varrun                  965244       140    965104   1% /var/run
varlock                 965244         0    965244   0% /var/lock
procbususb              965244       116    965128   1% /proc/bus/usb
udev                    965244       116    965128   1% /dev
devshm                  965244         0    965244   0% /dev/shm
lrm                     965244     38972    926272   5% /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/volatile
/dev/hda                637196    637196         0 100% /media/cdrom0

Perhaps I should clarify "empty"? The folder sda1 is there but theres nothing in it. When I right click and see preferences, it tells me theres nothing in there with 41 GB free space. The shortcuts for the drives have dissapeared too

Ok, do these in the console

Code:

sudo mkdir /media/vista1

Code:

sudo mkdir /media/vista2

Code:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o force /dev/sda1 /media/vista1

Code:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o force /dev/sda2 /media/vista2

you should be able to access both NTFS partitions, and copy across anything you need

aha! that did the trick. Thank ye kindly.

Gah, I really need to learn all the terminal commands. I'm often lost just trying to install all the stuff I need.

Heh, Ynot beat me to it. I had to manually mount my Vista partition in Kubuntu too, on the Live CD. I was, quite frankly, surprised that I still remembered how to do it.

Not that that adds anything of worth to your topic, but I was going to, if that counts...

Edited to add: Yes, it's pretty much a necessity to learn as many of the more frequently-used terminal commands as possible in Linux. I'll try to round you up a website or two that list them, I know I used to have them bookmarked...

Just be aware that installing XP will hose your grub bootloader
Windows has a nasty habit of completely commandeering the MBR

after you've reinstalled XP, you will not be able to boot into linux

you will need to reinstall grub to get back access to your linux install

You will need a Ubuntu CD to reinstall grub, so if you haven't got one, get yourself a copy off the ubuntu site


*edit*
as for the terminal commands, you'll pick them up over time (just like DOS commands)

you can get graphical interfaces for most operations, but the terminals easier to explain (hence most howto's will tell you the terminal way to do it, rather than "click here, select that, press apply") - also, if you do any remote admin, GUI's are too slow

Ok, here we go: Beginners' Guide to Bash This one gives a good explanation of the basics, as well as a few basic commands, some of which I'm sure you already know.

This one, Linux Command Directory, on the other hand, is a pretty much complete directory of commands, each with a description and a list of arguments.

See, I did contribute something.

Originally Posted by arby

I'm still in the linux baby steps bumbling stage.

aren't we all....
trust me, there are very few non-bumblers in the IT world

@ Ynot

Yeah, I found an online tut that tells how to dual boot em with nix first. It shows me how to undo the fun fun windows stuff so I should be fine =)

@MoS

thanks for the links. i'll be sure to check em out when I have time


I think I've finally gotten ndiswrapper up and running too. Now I'll finally be able to use my wireless card =)

Originally Posted by arby

@ Ynot

Yeah, I found an online tut that tells how to dual boot em with nix first. It shows me how to undo the fun fun windows stuff so I should be fine =)

@MoS

thanks for the links. i'll be sure to check em out when I have time


I think I've finally gotten ndiswrapper up and running too. Now I'll finally be able to use my wireless card =)

Hey, how did you do that? I couldn't figure it out on my Ubuntu box .

Originally Posted by Seismosaur

Hey, how did you do that? I couldn't figure it out on my Ubuntu box .

ndiswrapper works with a lot (but by no means all) wireless cards

In the terminal, do

Code:

lspci

this will list all PCI devices on your system (I'm assuming your wireless is PCI)

See if your wireless card is working with ndiswrapper, by searching for you card here
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/j...id,33/id,list/

Ha, Im clueless when it comes to fixing a computer

Originally Posted by Ynot

ndiswrapper works with a lot (but by no means all) wireless cards

In the terminal, do

Code:

lspci

this will list all PCI devices on your system (I'm assuming your wireless is PCI)

See if your wireless card is working with ndiswrapper, by searching for you card here
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/j...id,33/id,list/

I'm not at my linux box atm, but my card IS supported. How do i get ndiswrapper working, tho?

Originally Posted by Seismosaur

I'm not at my linux box atm, but my card IS supported. How do i get ndiswrapper working, tho?

I have no first hand experience with wireless under linux (nor windows, to tell you the truth - never owned a laptop)

So far I've had troubles with wine too =/

if you want to play games you're going to need Cedega.

Originally Posted by Pyrofan1

if you want to play games you're going to need Cedega.

recent wine versions (over the last 3 months or so) have been superb, and outperform cedega in terms of compatibility

there's usually per-game threads around on forums to sort out any little bugs / glitches

Originally Posted by Seismosaur

I'm not at my linux box atm, but my card IS supported. How do i get ndiswrapper working, tho?

This tells you how to get it working. Took me a lil while and you may have to put sudo in front of some of the commands such as modprobe.

On another note, XP is installing on my laptop as I sit here =)

Taking its sweet time though -_-

ARG! I think I just found the root of my Vista crash. My month or so old computer has a bad sector on the hard disk.....