BombayNews wrote:
How does one change the boot.ini on a computer?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022
The problem is this: The
machine had Windows XP running originally with Ubuntu Dapper Drake running on a partition. So a user has to choose the OS from the Grub menu. Now after some boot files in XP got corrupted, the computer refused to boot. The technician did a back-up installation of XP and now the machine works okay GRUB, Ubuntu and all. According to the engineer this is a usual problem with XP. He has advised editing boot.ini to make Linux the default OS but he warned that it can be done only once. Also that if Linux is made default Windows XP cannot be opened, etc.
Form the above manial, boot.ini is a hidden, read only file. But I wonder why you want to alter boot.ini. Grub can very well help you in booting up other OS, but if the other OS gets corrupted then its not GRUB's fault. I don't understand why you need to alter boot.ini at all.
If you want to still, check this: http://home.ubalt.edu/abento/linux/redhat-install/dualbootNT.html
So how does one configure boot.ini so that the computer begins working even with the XP files corrupted, etc. The person who owns the computer wants both Windows XP and Linux on one machine for the near future. Maybe make GRUB run on Ubuntu OS instead of Windows XP at present.
GRUB, when installed on to the MBR can boot both your WinXP and Ubuntu. Infact when installing Ubuntu, it will auto-detect the other OS and provide a appropriate entry in GRUB menu. But, you can not use GRUB to directly boot windows. You can do the same using chainloader, check this out: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#chainloader
Some more links for your reading, regarding dual boot with winxp [1] and an article on GRUB [2]
[1]http://home.ubalt.edu/abento/linux/redhat-install/dualbootNT.html [2]http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/4622
Pardon if I sound like verbally challenged!!!!
No problem, without asking nobody can learn better!