Retrieve MyConfig after HD install

**JPsDad** · 01-08-2005, 08:43 PM

I have been using v.3.6 from CD on a P-II 333mh with a broken Win98se. I can no longer boot into Win98 but can read the files in Linux. I have a persistent home and myconfig on hda1. I have just done a HD install using Knoppix-installer, into hda2 and hda5(swap). My first boot was default config, including German keyboard. I had to restart from CD to be able to register for this forum- I could not find the "@" !
Is it possible to inport my config and/or home?

2. What is the right way to quit,exit shutdown now, Ctrl-Alt-Del?

Thanks for your help.

**OErjan** · 01-08-2005, 09:15 PM

if you use kde you should get a nice "K" icon at lower left corner, klick that and chose exit then shutdown on the menu that pops upp.
if you are in a console there are several (each work by themselves no need to type them all)

Code:

sudo init0

Code:

sudo halt

Code:

sudo shutdown -h now

should all work.
for rebooting

Code:

sudo reboot

Code:

sudo init 6

Code:

sudo  shutdown -r now

should work.

**CrashedAgain** · 01-09-2005, 12:51 AM

Originally Posted by JPsDad

I have been using v.3.6 from CD on a P-II 333mh with a broken Win98se. I can no longer boot into Win98 but can read the files in Linux. I have a persistent home and myconfig on hda1. I have just done a HD install using Knoppix-installer, into hda2 and hda5(swap). My first boot was default config, including German keyboard. I had to restart from CD to be able to register for this forum- I could not find the "@" !
Is it possible to inport my config and/or home?

2. What is the right way to quit,exit shutdown now, Ctrl-Alt-Del?

Thanks for your help.

What type of HD install did you do? If you did anything other than a 'Knoppix style' Install, the toHD & home= codes are probably not going to work.

In any case, it is probably easier to forget about using your old config files, just make the setup as you want it & it will stay that way, unlike the CD where everything defaults to default since the CD is read only.

Likewise, it is probably easier & better to copy anything important from your old persistenet home to your new HD install home file. Your persistent home will be a file called knoppix.img on whatever partition you used for persistent home. You can access the files in the persistent home by mounting the file on a loopback device:

Code:

root@desktop:# /sbin/losetup /dev/loop0 /mnt/hda1/knoppix.img
root@desktop:# mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/test
root@desktop:# ls /mnt/test
         <your files should list>
root@desktop:#cp <whatever files you want>   /<your new home directory>

Language: on a HD install, the active cheatcodes are in the 'append=' line in /etc/lilo.conf. Edit this file to add 'lang=us' to the list then 'sudo lilo' to implement the changes. If you have done a Debian type install you won't be able to sudo until you edit /etc/sudoers to give your user sudo privileges.

**JPsDad** · 01-09-2005, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by CrashedAgain

"What type of HD install did you do? If you did anything other than a 'Knoppix style' Install, the toHD & home= codes are probably not going to work."

I ran knoppix-installer and chose the beginners option. I believe it is a knoppix style.

Originally Posted by CrashedAgain

"In any case, it is probably easier to forget about using your old config files, just make the setup as you want it & it will stay that way, unlike the CD where everything defaults to default since the CD is read only. "

When booting from the CD, at the boot prompt I type" myconfig=scan home=scan" and it loads mydesktop, printers, etc. When I boot from HD, with LILO, I have no opportunity to specify lang=us, so I have a de keyboard, on which I can't find @ to enter an email address, and I cannot spell my name (s=z)

"Likewise, it is probably easier & better to copy anything important from your old persistenet home to your new HD install home file. Your persistent home will be a file called knoppix.img on whatever partition you used for persistent home. You can access the files in the persistent home by mounting the file on a loopback device:"

??

I have no idea whatyou are saying but I blindly followed your command

"root@desktop:# /sbin/losetup /dev/loop0 /mnt/hda1/knoppix.img "
I entered this at the #prompt and it returned: "/mnt/hda1/knoppix.img; no such file or directory" However, it is there, with the same path, in Konqueror

"root@desktop:# mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/test
root@desktop:# ls /mnt/test
<your files should list>
root@desktop:#cp <whatever files you want> /<your new home directory>
[/code]"

Language: on a HD install, the active cheatcodes are in the 'append=' line in /etc/lilo.conf. Edit this file to add 'lang=us' to the list then 'sudo lilo' to implement the changes. If you have done a Debian type install you won't be able to sudo until you edit /etc/sudoers to give your user sudo privileges.

I was able to read lilo.cong using xedit and see where lang=de, but it was read only. I tried to edit from root console and chmod to make it writable, but no success. I never expected all these frustrations.

**CrashedAgain** · 01-10-2005, 06:07 AM

OK, let's try a different approach. Boot your CD with the bootcode: 'knoppix root=/dev/hda5 lang=us noinitrd ro'
This should boot your HD install in English from the CD.
If this works OK, open a console, type 'su' to become root & edit /etc/lilo.conf to add 'lang=us' to the 'append=' line. Then type 'lilo' to implement the changes. You should now be able to boot your HD install in English.

OR: working with the german version: Just let Knoppix boot in German. Click on the Konsole symbol to open a terminal, then edit /etc/lilo.conf with a text editor. lilo.conf should be in english even if the editor is in German. If you are familiar with xedit use it. I use 'joe' as I am familiar with the commands:
-su
-joe /etc/lilo.conf <not sure if the period & the / are in the same place on german keyboard, you may have to feel around for them>
-make the edit
-then crtl-k X to save changes & exit. (ctrl-k Q to exit without saveing changes)
-then 'lilo'

You probably got the 'file not found' error because hda1 was not mounted. Do 'mount -rw /dev/hda1' (as root) first & it should work.

I did a beginner type install once; it's sort of half between Knoppix style & Debian style. Functionally the most noticeable difference is that Knoppix style re-configs as if for new hardware with each boot, Debian does not. Knoppix user has full sudo privilidges which means you can type 'sudo <command>' to run the command as root and Knoppix style overwrites fstab with each boot. You may want to make changes to /etc/fstab so your other drives are auto mounted at startup & Knoppix style will overwrite this unless you add in the bootcode 'nofstab'.

**JPsDad** · 01-10-2005, 07:58 AM

Well, I fixed the lilo.conf by booting from cd, think I used myconfig=/dev/hda1. I was able to open and edit lilo.conf using a root terminal. I am now able to boot from HD, with US keyboard. I am slowly rebuilding my config again.

I'm still trying to run Win98 from hda1. It hangs right after I accept starting the GUI (step by step boot) , so I re-ran setup. It appeared to go normally until the first restart. No OS found. Now I cannot open in either DOS or Linux. I see hda1 under devices but when I try to open it in Konqueror or to mount it in root konsole, I get the following:

"mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
or too many mounted file systems"

should I try fdisk /mbr or ? I would like to keep the data files if possible and I need to re HotSync my Palm.

Somewhere in this sequence of unfortunate events, I tried to configure Wine, opened about 8 windows and froze. I had to power down to revive it. This may be the point where I compromize hda1? I am feeling very stupid right now.

Do I understand correctly that currently my hardware is probed each time I boot, but if I did a Debian install, it would be stored and I presume load a lot faster? After the mess I've created already, are there any disadvantages? What doI do to convert?

**CrashedAgain** · 01-11-2005, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by JPsDad

Well, I fixed the lilo.conf by booting from cd, think I used myconfig=/dev/hda1. I was able to open and edit lilo.conf using a root terminal. I am now able to boot from HD, with US keyboard. I am slowly rebuilding my config again.

I'm still trying to run Win98 from hda1. It hangs right after I accept starting the GUI (step by step boot) , so I re-ran setup. It appeared to go normally until the first restart. No OS found. Now I cannot open in either DOS or Linux. I see hda1 under devices but when I try to open it in Konqueror or to mount it in root konsole, I get the following:

"mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
or too many mounted file systems"

should I try fdisk /mbr or ? I would like to keep the data files if possible and I need to re HotSync my Palm.

Somewhere in this sequence of unfortunate events, I tried to configure Wine, opened about 8 windows and froze. I had to power down to revive it. This may be the point where I compromize hda1? I am feeling very stupid right now.

Do I understand correctly that currently my hardware is probed each time I boot, but if I did a Debian install, it would be stored and I presume load a lot faster? After the mess I've created already, are there any disadvantages? What doI do to convert?

If you fdisk fix your mbr (from Windows), you will lose lilo; not a big deal, you can boot into your HD install again & reinstall it. I doubt if event with wine killed the hda1 but it's possible.
Try the usual fixes for hda1 ie scandisk fromWindows floppy, etc. which might fix it. If that doesn't work, try cfdisk (Linux) & make sure the f/s type is correct. I once lost windows for a while because somehow the fs type got switched to fat32(hidden) instead of fat32.

The hardware config does get stored with a Debian style install but the startup is not a whole lot faster. You can't really 'convert' from beginner to Debian, it's easer to just reinstall. If fact, unless you have a whole lot of data you might lose (bearing in mind you may have to format/reinstall windows) it might be easier to reinstall the whole thing. If you do, make also a separate partition for data (format vfat) so you won't lose data if you crash.

**JPsDad** · 01-11-2005, 07:32 PM

cfdisk shows my hda1 as Win95FAT32 LBA. with 15 GB data. This is correct, but it will not mount in Linux and in DOS I cannot do a dir. I tried fdisk /mbr with no luck.

Re: reinstalling LILO, I have to boot from floppy which takes me to LILO. Linux installs from hda2, I open root terminal window and type "lilo" at the # Everything looks ok but next boot from hd gives error message. I need to put in boot floppy and hit the "any key" Am I missing something or way off base??

Thanks for your help.

JP's Dad

**CrashedAgain** · 01-12-2005, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by JPsDad

cfdisk shows my hda1 as Win95FAT32 LBA. with 15 GB data. This is correct, but it will not mount in Linux and in DOS I cannot do a dir. I tried fdisk /mbr with no luck.

Re: reinstalling LILO, I have to boot from floppy which takes me to LILO. Linux installs from hda2, I open root terminal window and type "lilo" at the # Everything looks ok but next boot from hd gives error message. I need to put in boot floppy and hit the "any key" Am I missing something or way off base??

Thanks for your help.

JP's Dad

Sounds like it should work. Check lilo.conf, make sure boot=/dev/hda, not /dev/hda2.

Maybe post your lilo.conf.

Try fsck (Linux's file system checking utility) on hda1. Check with the manpage ("man fsck") for more info on how-to.