Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

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francois
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Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#1 by francois » 28 Jan 2016, 03:53

I have lost my home linux box. It seems that the lithium battery of my msi340x laptop has done like the from in the story of the frog and the beef. I was to buy a new battery but at the price of the battery and as I found this Dell desktop computer in the garbage some one year ago, I thought I would use it.

@ed_P and the other windows 7 users Dual boot:
On a Dell optiplex 746 desktop, I have done the dvd windows 7 32 bit repair boot disk, there is a partition on the hdd called repair disk. Is this enough to survive to a major failure or do I need also some backup of some kind? The owner of the computer seemed to never made a restauration point.

Thanks.
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Re: Windows for the first time on my hdd for the last years

Post#2 by Ed_P » 28 Jan 2016, 05:05

francois wrote:On a Dell optiplex 746 desktop, I have done the dvd windows 7 32 bit repair disk, there is a partition on the hdd called repair disk. Is this enough to survive to a major failure or do I need also some backup of some kind?
Repair disks are designed to restore the system to the way it was when it was brand new. But it will not restore it to the last time it was used especially it will not include all the monthly Windows updates that have been installed over the months/years since the system was brand new. Nor any customizations you have made to it like Favorites and wallpapers and etc.

So, my recommendation is to use Windows 7 Backup and Restore to create an image backup of the sda drive to the sdb drive. To keep the backup separate from Porteus create a partition on the sdb drive for the backups. My backup partition is 144 GB.

And once you have created the backup, boot the Windows 7 Repair Disk and verify it can find the backup image.
Ed

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Re: Windows for the first time on my hdd for the last years

Post#3 by francois » 29 Jan 2016, 15:36

As I have written elsewhere this desktop computer was from a gamer and I found it in the garbage at the recuperation center. He left everything on the box without any backup setup point. I am not really interested in his content. And in fact, I would like to be able to have a pristine windows 7 professional installation on the hdd. Additionally, I might even want to be windows 7 only within vbox and get rid of the hdd installation. Should I move up to win 10, which I read somewhere is free for those with windows 7 licence?
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Re: Windows for the first time on my hdd for the last years

Post#4 by Ed_P » 29 Jan 2016, 15:54

francois wrote:this desktop computer was from a gamer
Sounds like a nice machine. :good:
and I found it in the garbage at the recuperation center.
Did you buy a Lotto ticket too? Sounds like you hit a lucky streak. :)
I would like to be able to have a pristine windows 7 professional installation on the hdd.
When booting the machine press F2 or Del or F12 and see if you can get into the machine's option to restore the hard drive from the repair partition. That will put you back to the day the machine was build.
Should I move up to win 10, which I read somewhere is free for those with windows 7 licence?
Yes it is and I would recommend it, I upgraded and like it. But there's no need to if you don't want to, Windows 7 is a nice system.

Once you have Windows 7 running and doing Windows updates you should get a prompt to update to Windows 10. What I would suggest doing is not accepting the Win 10 update option till after you have all the other outstanding Windows updates installed. This will take several updates to complete. Then run the Windows Disk Cleanup function followed by the Windows Defrag function, then do a backup. With this approach if you then upgrade to windows 10 and don't like it you can easily and quickly get back to Windows 7. You may even be able to use the backup for running Win 7 in a VM.
Ed

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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#5 by francois » 30 Jan 2016, 15:41

I have changed the title and edited the first post for more clarity, at least I hope. I will keep this thread for exclusive windows settings and use the other one on grubloading:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=5457

As I have tried to install without success grub2 with arch, which is more a grub2-beta version, from what I understand, there is no way now that I can boot into windows. I get stuck with the a grub command line.

What I want for the moment is to be able to restore windows booting and to understand if I am a EFI case or not. Yet I have never worked EFI with my boxes.

1.0 Restore win 7 bootup:
I am presently with the windows boot dvd able to boot. I get into a popup window called system restore (this is direct translation from french). Different dates are possible according to windows update dates or java update. The latter is the oldest manipulation removed java 6 update 33 on the 11-12-2014. Don't forget that I would like to restore to the more pristine installation as possible. What choices do I have? If I restore to an older restore point will I be able to restore to a more recent point? I think that the pristine state will not be possible until I boot directly to windows hdd, am I right?

2.0 EFI or not EFI:
My hdd settings are available in the above mentioned thread of this post. I will repeat the info for easiness of consultation:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:/home/guest# lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE   LABEL            UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                                   
├─sda1 ntfs     Réservé_au_système
                                 2820436A20433DD6                     /mnt/sda1
└─sda2 ntfs                      A0C24553C2452F3A                     /mnt/sda2
sdb                                                                   
├─sdb1 swap     swap             6947cb4e-9b09-4d2b-b3cd-432b51fdd953 [SWAP]
├─sdb2 ext4                      41aaa421-6db0-4f40-937b-71caabaa788f /mnt/sdb2
├─sdb3 ext4     manjaro          41324bfd-f30b-47cf-91de-d0b7304be74e /mnt/sdb3
├─sdb4                                                                
├─sdb5 ext4     fedora           b762b048-abc0-4683-a157-f6c190219369 /mnt/sdb5
└─sdb6 ext4     manjaro          6a43b82a-8f20-47bf-b914-65f7cee7ea52 /mnt/sdb6
sdc                                                                   
├─sdc1 ext2                      bf2386b2-c19c-43ed-8517-0eef3b9cc5b0 /mnt/sdc1
└─sdc2 vfat                      F4D3-7E12                            /mnt/sdc2
sr0
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#6 by donald » 30 Jan 2016, 16:10

What comes in mind is:
Try plop to boot into your Windows
also iirc there are the fixmbr and/or fixboot commands.
google this because I don't know this anymore.

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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#7 by Ed_P » 30 Jan 2016, 21:50

francois wrote:As I have tried to install without success grub2 with arch,
What exactly does that mean? How did you try to do that? With Grub2Win?
What I want for the moment is to be able to restore windows booting and to understand if I am a EFI case or not. Yet I have never worked EFI with my boxes.
EFI requires a VFAT partition and you don't have one.
I am presently with the windows boot dvd able to boot. I get into a popup window called system restore (this is direct translation from french).
OK. It has other options too, yes?
Different dates are possible according to windows update dates or java update. The latter is the oldest manipulation removed java 6 update 33 on the 11-12-2014. Don't forget that I would like to restore to the more pristine installation as possible. What choices do I have? If I restore to an older restore point will I be able to restore to a more recent point? I think that the pristine state will not be possible until I boot directly to windows hdd, am I right?
You're thinking that the restore points are on the DVD, they are on the hard drive and the restore app will restore the hard drive Windows system to the date/time of the restore point. As for restoring to and older restore point then be able to restore to a new one I would think not but I'm not sure of that, since I have never tried it. Try restoring to a newer point and see what you get then try an older one. The farther back you go the closer to the pristine state you will get but not all the way.

To get to the pristine state you need to restore the System Reserve partition and that should be via a F8 boot option. Disconnect all external peripherals:

Code: Select all

An external peripheral is a device that connects to a port on the front, side or back of the computer, like a printer or memory key.

Scanner
Printer
Modem or Network cables
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
USB flash drive or other external Hard Drive
Any other external devices (e.g., USB-attached devices)
then follow this procedure.
http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN117599 wrote:Restore the computer's software to original condition.

1. Turn on the computer.
2. As the computer starts, press < F8 > on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.

You must press before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press after the Windows logo appears on the screen, the Advanced Boot Options menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen.

3. Press the < Down Arrow > on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press < Enter >.
4. Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.
5. Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK.
6. Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
7. In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
8. Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.
9. Click Next.

The computer is restored to the default factory configuration.

10. When the restore operation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.

The software is now installed as it was when the computer was first received.

Download and install driver updates

Once your operating system has been restored, visit the Dell Support website to download and install the latest drivers and firmware for your computer.
And as noted before, once this is done you will have many Windows Updates to install. It will take time so plan accordingly. Once current then do a backup.
Ed

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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#8 by francois » 01 Feb 2016, 04:26

Thanks guys. These are exactly the type of counseling I needed. I will try that. My windows skills are kind of rusty, if not dusty. Happy to read that I did not turned EFI. :wink:

Concerning grub2, I chrooted with a net-install manjaro usb install. I have reported also on the manjaro forum to see what they propose.
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#9 by Ed_P » 01 Feb 2016, 16:04

francois wrote:Concerning grub2, I chrooted with a net-install manjaro usb install. I have reported also on the manjaro forum to see what they propose.
If you want to ADD grub2 to your Windows machine use the Grub2Win app that I suggested. It ADDs grub2 to the Windows boot loader rather than replaces it. Thus when you boot you will have a menu of 2 options, 1 for Windows and 1 for grub2, and the grub2 menu will allow you to boot Porteus and other systems you want to try. This is similar to the approach I have used for years with grub4dos.

BTW Grub2Win will work with EFI and non-EFI systems without hurting the machine's base booting system.
Ed

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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#10 by francois » 03 Feb 2016, 02:50

Finally restoring will not work. And I am stuck with that silly grub2 command line with no menu entries. Grub2win, from what I understand has to be added from the windows installation. I will try grub2 command line as soon as I get what to write on it or simple the old supergrub iso (a saviour, for me).
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#11 by Ed_P » 03 Feb 2016, 07:05

francois wrote:Finally restoring will not work. [
Using the F8 function key when you boot didn't work? No menu, no error msg?
Grub2win, from what I understand has to be added from the windows installation.
Yes, that is true.
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#12 by francois » 03 Feb 2016, 16:37

Using the F8 function key when you boot didn't work?

Oh! So I can do that from the windows boot dvd.
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#13 by Ed_P » 03 Feb 2016, 21:26

francois wrote:Oh! So I can do that from the windows boot dvd.
No, no dvd, no usb, just turn on the machine and press F8 repeatedly is the way it works on the machines I've worked with. It will either boot the recovery partition directly or display a text msg giving you the option to restore or maybe do a diagnostic. Did you do that?
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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#14 by Jack » 03 Feb 2016, 23:12

I have a question my wife sister has a dell desktop and someone put a password so when it bootup it ask for it. Can that be fix if you don't know it? I even try to restore it back to day one but still wants the password. Any idea how to fix it? It has Windows 7 OS.
I just like Slackware because I think it teach you about Linux to build packages where Ubuntu is like Windows you just install programs you want.

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Re: Linuxer windows naive user: best setup

Post#15 by Bogomips » 03 Feb 2016, 23:53

^ If it's a Bios password, you've had it :evil: Got same problem, set bios password which at the time was very obvious for me, but now have a block. Tried all my obvious passwords, but no joy. :cry: Perhaps a new dose of firmware could cure it?
Linux porteus 4.4.0-porteus #3 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 23 07:01:55 UTC 2016 i686 AMD Sempron(tm) 140 Processor AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
NVIDIA Corporation C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] (rev a2) MemTotal: 901760 kB MemFree: 66752 kB

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