Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Hardware/Software - Fixing the Master Boot record in XP
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Sokarhacd
Posts: 1495/1757 |
yep, thats what it is, its stupid if you ask me. not necessarily true though with the if D partition gets messed, it lets me make a recovery CD's/DVD's so that I can copy everything off the D drive just incase something happens, although, I havent done it yet, and really if something happened, I have ubuntu cd's so I could get on the ubuntu one, and see what compaq would say, maybe then they would send me one, if not there are other ways to get a CD, since I have my windows CD key on the side of the pc, I just need to get a CD. |
Surlent
Posts: 921/1077 |
Windows' files is on another partition ?
You are stuck with a recovery version which just restores the original state; I think it overwrites simply all the contents on the hard disk.
Of course, You could ask the dealer/manufacturer if they could send you a normal installation disk, but often the vendors sell computers very cheap with these recovery OEM versions of Windows only.
It is more like a gift, recovery CDs and/or partitions are usually worthless (if you deleted your D:\ partition accidently, you couldn't install it anymore and whenever the system is messed up, you're stuck).
If you have a i386 folder on D:\. you can turn it into a normal XP installaton disk, but don't ask me about a tutorial, I only found German ones, but I am lacking the right keywords to bring up an English one. |
Sokarhacd
Posts: 1491/1757 |
I was thinking of that, but if something messed up, and the distro didnt install, then, I would have a problem, and my brother would kill me lol, since he has so much anime that would be lost, as well as music...maybe ill just download windows, since technically I should have a windows CD, since I bought this new, but they never gave me one....although there is a D partition that compaq had on here, and it seems to have all the windows files, because thats how ive reinstalled windows before, ill take a look
edit: well technically, the recovery console is installed, but I cant use any commands in it... thats where I reinstalled windows before, and it only boots up, and asks me if I want to reinstall windows.... |
FreeDOS
Posts: 1530/1657 |
Try to find a friend with a Windows CD of your version, and use that to get into Recovery Console. Or you can install another distribution immediately, and it'll install a new bootloader on the MBR and every should work out fine. |
Sokarhacd
Posts: 1477/1757 |
I know there are many ways, mainly the recovery console, and stuff, but is there a way if I dont have any window's CD's or anything, like a program or anything? I need to do this, because I use Ubuntu on a seperate HDD, but I was thinking about using a different distro, but since it changed the mbr, if I removed it without doing anything, it would be messed up i would think, so anyone have any ideas? |
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