XP

[Nicki]

Hello xdog.
You have got a smaller problem. We need some more info how you had made your install.
Because you installed XP after Mint, it could happened that XP wrote over the entire harddisk and wiped away Mint.

[pluraldave]

You need to restore grub. Boot up the LInuxMint LIveCD. You also need to know:
1. Which harddrive Mint is on
2. Which partition of the harddrive Mint is on.

If you are unsure find partition editor in the menu and have a look at your partition table. (If you want you can even post a screenshot here for help). Do not make any changes in the partition editor. You are just looking for the designation of the ext partition with Mint on it.

Open up a terminal and enter the following commands:

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sudo grub

Wait for the probe to finish. When it is done a new line will appear that starts as:

grub>

Insert these commands after the grub>

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root (hdX,Y)

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setup (hdX)

Where X is the number of your HDD and Y is the partition number. Remember that the numbering starts at 0 instead of 1. For instance if Mint is on the partition sda3 then Y=2. If you only have one hard drive then X=0.

Exit and it should boot to Mint.

You will have to add a line to /boot/grub/menu.lst for Windows XP to be able to boot into Windows. Search the forum to find the parameters you need to add.

[pluraldave]

You should have a button on your keyboard called "print screen". Press the button and a save box should appear (if you're on gnome/main edition at least). If that doesn't work you can press alt+F2 and type gnome-screenshot into the box. I don't know how the other editions handle screenshots, xfce might have the same command but others will differ.

If you have to reinstall at least it will take care of the grub entries for you.

[pluraldave]

I assume that's the only hard drive? I don't know what's going on here. According to that you have an empty hard drive so something must be corrupted. How to fix it I don't know so you will have to wait for someone else to come along.

[Nicki]

You wrote that you have installed and could only run XP. But how does it come that the harddrive is empty? The printscreen you show up here must be taken when you are running the Live-CD. OK? But where is XP and Mint? There must be another drive. Can you fould down the menu just up in the right corner to see if there isn't another drive there?

[Nicki]

There is a big mystery here. I can't explain what is going on. It seems that you have missed to give us all correct information.
Until then, at least I am incapable to solve your problems, sorry.

[rhY]

Generally, I do a clean XP install (or edit*, these days!), and then do a Mint Wubi install. This is guaranteed success 99% of the time. But this is just a plan for the future, not to solve your current dilemma.
*Edit by Husse - no references to pirated software please

[Nicki]

Well. Dear xdog.

You must tell us how you have installed Mint, if you are only running the Live-CD or if you have made a real install. This because you/we couldn't see the installed partition.

Do you have only one hard drive?

[Nicki]

Ok, now we can see the partitions. And that's better.

But you have Mint in the beginning of the drive and the boot sector in Windows partition. That's bad.
You must have Windows first with the boot sector and after that you can have Mint.

Restart the system with your Live-CD and delete all the Mint partitions, move the Windows partition to the begining. Then make a new Mint install. Just follow the standard choice and install Mint in free space. When you're done, restart and see what's happened. Tell us the result.

[Nicki]

Edit: When deleting the swap partition, you must first unswap it.