Windows not starting

Asked by ashok

have looked at answers to similiar problems but is there a simple way of correcting the problem of missing file system32\hal.dll on Win xp.

Is it best to first re-install Win XP and then Ubuntu which of course is time consuming or is it possible to delete winxp from my hard drive altogether in a simple way as I can live without it.

Ashok

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David Friedman
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David Friedman (david-kit-friedman) said :
#1

Do you have a dual boot system? You can just delete the disk partition where WinXP is installed.

To do this you can use gparted (available from the Synaptic package manager).

Alternatively, there is a command line tool called fdisk which can also modify disk partitions.

David

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ashok (athadani) said :
#2

Thanks for the response David.

Yes I have a dual boot system.

Would you please walk me through the steps to follow for both the above mentioned procedures. As I am not very advanced with code please give me instructions eg. applications/terminal/ sudo apt-fdisk........enter.

If you can find a moment, would greatly appreciate it.

Ashok

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Best David Friedman (david-kit-friedman) said :
#3

Alright, I can let you know what the procedure is, but are you sure that you want to delete the Win XP partition?

If you don't need/want Windows XP any more you can just delete that choice from the menu, and make Ubuntu the default choice. To do this you just edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst :

You can use whatever editor you'd like to edit the file. If you are not sure I'd recommend using gedit.

To get gedit:

1. Go to Applications->System->Synaptic Package Manager
2. Scroll down until you see the gedit package, and mark the package for installation
3. Apply changes and install the package.

Now to edit the file

1. Go to Applications->Accessories->Terminal
2. Type sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst (this will open the gedit editor)

You should see an entry in the file that looks something like this:

title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Comment out all of these lines so that it looks like this:

# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
#root (hd0,0)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

4. Save the file.

Then when you boot up you should no longer see Windows as a choice.

You can also edit this file to change the default choice, timeout, etcetera.

David

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David Friedman (david-kit-friedman) said :
#4

Also as Fabián Rodríguez said in another thread:

>You can also install the startupmanager package which will help you manage many elements of the boot >sequence from a GUI program, including the number of kernel options in the GRUB menu. Once installed >you'll find it under System > Administration.

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub/+question/54170

To install this you can use Synaptic.

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ashok (athadani) said :
#5

Thank you, that solved it.

Happy New Year,

Ashok