Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, SecretSquirrel, notfred
RAMBO wrote:I read that ext2 should be used for Mint/Maya 13-Linux/Unix /boot rather than ext4 because of problems with Grub with ext4, is ext2 a better option for stability considering my system? Also, can I just skip the /home partition during install or would this cause instability-I think it would be better to start from scratch for each distro I test out, the /home partition contains your settings and personal folders right?
Madman wrote:That pie chart thing? It was ok, although not as cool as this scanner for Windows - http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/
Either way, it's possible to figure out what's happening if needed, but that's not very easy if multiple mount points are used.
RAMBO wrote:I screwed up, tried to delete partitions in windows. I livecd booted to Mint and in os-prober it says "/dev/sda1:Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition:Windows:chain". I am at "GRUB RECOVERY" at the start of my computer. is there a way to solve this?
edit: All it says under computer is "filesystem" and Mint files and programs are in there.
sudo fdisk -l
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18725 150403072 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18725 19458 5884929 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 18725 19458 5884928 82 Linux swap / Solaris
sudo mount /dev/sda# /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
EsotericLord wrote:This is a tech savvy guy just trying to get one of the simplest versions of Linux running comfortably.
Could probably get rich and famous if you could successfully make a version of *nix for the everyman.
EsotericLord wrote:Side Note, as a Windows PC tech for a local college, reading this article is an amazing example as to why Linux hasn't come anywhere close to breaking into the mainstream market. This is a tech savvy guy just trying to get one of the simplest versions of Linux running comfortably.
Can you imagine the confusion an outside person would have if you tried to expose them to stuff like this after the decades of the stupid simplicity of Windows?
Could probably get rich and famous if you could successfully make a version of *nix for the everyman.
Madman wrote:If you really want to feel pain, try setting up Windows as a second OS on a PC containing Linux install and some free unpartitioned space, that will be pain, I tell you. Please post back after a month when wou have figured out it's almost impossible, and given up.
bjm wrote:So, at that point, you have two options: 1) You can add a Linux boot entry to NTLDR or BOOTMGR to boot Linux (tools like EasyBCD make that easy) or 2) You can re-install GRUB into the MBR and add the appropriate entries for Windows and Linux. The above steps to RAMBO is option #2, since he already had GRUB installed but I presume it was mis-configured (due to his removal of a partition and the way GRUB counts partitions).
bjm wrote:It's difficult to say without seeing your partition scheme, but you may need to re-install grub as the partition order has changed since your removal of the Windows partition. You can boot the Linux Mint live CD and open a terminal, then do the following:
1. First, check your partition scheme to find your Linux Mint root partition. In terminal, type in:Code: Select allsudo fdisk -l
You should see something similar to:Code: Select allDevice Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18725 150403072 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18725 19458 5884929 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 18725 19458 5884928 82 Linux swap / Solaris
What you'll want to note is the "sda" or "sdb" letters and the numbers after them. "sda" denotes the hard drive, while 1-4 denotes primary partitions and 5+ are logical partitions. Once you find the hard drive that Linux Mint's root is on, proceed to step 2. (Though from your first post, you mention only one hard drive, so you should only have "sda"). If you'd like to do this in a GUI, you can also open Gparted. It should be on the Linux Mint live CD. If you're going to use Gparted to check the partitions, just be sure to unmount any partitions before proceeding. Our only purpose is to find the sda# of your Linux Mint root.
2. Next, mount your Linux Mint root partition by typing in terminal the following:Code: Select allsudo mount /dev/sda# /mnt
Replace the "#" with the partition number of your Linux Mint root.
3. Now, you can re-install grub2 to point in the proper locations:Code: Select allsudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
Reboot, and that should get you back into Mint. If it still fails, paste your fdisk-l results into the thread. That will let us know your partition scheme.
RAMBO wrote:I forgot my username and password, I had to reinstall multiple times and chose different passwords each time, yeah intelligent of me. I have read the posts reguarding recovery then root, but the boot screen does not give me the option to boot into recovery mode. It starts with bios options, goes blank for 20 seconds and then goes right into the log in manager. I had the boot options when I installed Mint 13/Maya on a seperate partition from windows, but I deleted windows and installed Mint 13/Maya on the whole HDD in my last install-I chose "erase everything" and did not create my own partitions. I can LiveCD boot and I tried to find etc/shadow to find my username, but I cannot find it. I have tried no passwords and everything else I can remember. Please help.
cheesyking wrote:If you don't have any other OSs installed grub doesn't ask you which to boot into it just does the default thing. You can force grub to show itself by holding the escape key before the bios screen disappears.
Choose the "rescue" option nearest to top of the screen and then drop to the root shell when the next menu appears. You can now change your user's password with:
passwd USERNAME
Then reboot with:
reboot
IIRC you aren't really supposed to edit shadow, passwd or group by hand using standard text editors (although I think that's more for multi user servers where other users might be trying to change passwords at the same time)
EsotericLord wrote:Side Note, as a Windows PC tech for a local college, reading this article is an amazing example as to why Linux hasn't come anywhere close to breaking into the mainstream market. This is a tech savvy guy just trying to get one of the simplest versions of Linux running comfortably.
Can you imagine the confusion an outside person would have if you tried to expose them to stuff like this after the decades of the stupid simplicity of Windows?
Could probably get rich and famous if you could successfully make a version of *nix for the everyman.
Madman wrote:Yes, but try to get Linux and Windows working with Windows DVD only and installing Windows 2nd, and not resorting to Linux to fix the mess.
cheesyking wrote:Choose the "rescue" option nearest to top of the screen and then drop to the root shell when the next menu appears. You can now change your user's password with:
passwd USERNAME
RAMBO wrote:Awesome thank you, how would you see your username, as I had the foresight to forget that as well.
Flatland_Spider wrote:EsotericLord wrote:Side Note, as a Windows PC tech for a local college, reading this article is an amazing example as to why Linux hasn't come anywhere close to breaking into the mainstream market. This is a tech savvy guy just trying to get one of the simplest versions of Linux running comfortably.
This is an example of why messing with partitions is dangerous, nothing more nothing less. The OP could have been installing Win8 on a second partition, and the results would have been the same.
This is high level stuff, and it's not something I'd expect everyone to do.
cheesyking wrote:IIRC you aren't really supposed to edit shadow, passwd or group by hand using standard text editors (although I think that's more for multi user servers where other users might be trying to change passwords at the same time)
Madman wrote:Sounds fishy, that would mean anyone can turn on a PC, keep ESC for a few seconds and get full root privileges.
RAMBO wrote:It is difficult, but I wish to learn. I will be in school doing it in about a year, but my instructors told me jump in and worry not about mistakes, I can fix them and possibly have a leg up when I start class.
cheesyking wrote:well it's a bit hackish but unless you've been doing anything weird
RAMBO wrote:cheesyking wrote:well it's a bit hackish but unless you've been doing anything weird
Yeah looking at what I have asked it does sound like that but it is not what I am doing. I don't do that crap. I just want my bookmarks back and I thought Firefox would have stored my stuff. If nothing else you guys can print what I have asked and said and delete or edit your posts. Ill get some pics on here so you can see the difference of the firefox sites if I do have those bookmarks on there. Then again I dont see how that would prove anything to you either. Im just want my stuff back and I think Im doing all this in vein-cant remember if I synced Firefox before I crashed yesterday. I should have waited before I installed over my entire HDD. This sucks
cheesyking wrote:This is probably the place to start:
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ive-lost-my-firefox-sync-account-information
Basically yes, you should have waited before wiping your hard drive and it's always a good idea to have a backup of anything important before you mess with partitions (whatever OS you're doing that in).
bjm wrote:Once there, open the .mozilla folder and then try to find your old Profile (.mozilla is a hidden folder, so be sure to enable viewing of hidden items).