Windows XP.... anyone going to keep on using it?

[Glenn]

is a bit stupid that you have to 'lock' the computer to even see the off button!
Cheers Ed

No need to lock it,
Move the mouse to the botton right corner then select the Settings option
or
Ctrl + Alt + Del = power button in bottom right
or
Win + I = Power button on Setting screen
or
from the desk top Alt + F4 gives a shutdown menu as in previous Windows versions.

 

[Glenn]

The company I work at went from XP - Win 8 in June last year, anything that needs to be on XP or IE6 is now run vix Citrix. There was a lot of apprehension at first, but now most users (approx 3000) are happier using 8 over XP, less compatibility issues/crashes etc.

 

[jonesy]

It does sound like the Linux installation has damaged the partition table. Possibly (Hopefully) it just resized your C: drive too small, so you won't have lost any data or overwritten any files. You could try to access the C: drive from the Windows installation you've got from "My Computer", if it's there. If not, try a Dos box (to get one, go to the start menu, click on "Run Program" and type in "cmd".) That way you can at least check to see if your data is still intact. You should be able to run one of the partitioning utilities on your working Windows installation - it's a long time since I've had to use one in anger, so I can't give you any recommendations, I'm afraid.

The Linux installation will have set up at least part of your system disk as a Linux file system disk. The Windows installation disk doesn't recognise that, so it will report it as unallocated space. A Disk partitioning utility will report the Linux partitions as "ext4" or (less likely) "ext3". If you delete those Linux partitions and increase the size of the Windows C: partition (it will most likely be the first partition reported on the partitioning utility), hopefully you should be able to start Windows normally - provided none of the data or files has been lost! Good luck, there should be someone along to give you better advice shortly. Let us know how you get on, or if you've got any questions, someone should be able to give you a few tips.

Thanks McWobble. To clarify, yes Windows (the new installation in new Windows partition H: ) can see C:, but only a very small one that doesn't seem to have any of the original files on it, only a few Dell drivers and utilities. The Windows disk utility can see the Linux partitions, but, as you imply, can't do anything with them, whereas Linux can see the Windows partitions and has access to those folders. So I think I'll need some sort of fixing tool to get C: back to its correct size, picking up the files that seem to have been left outside the partition.

All that said, I am very impressed with how slick Chrome is running on Linux, compared with the old XP installation, with all its updates, and LibreOffice looks like it deal with most if not all my requirements to open old MS Office documents, which I've got backed up on the external hard drive anyway, so I am now wondering if I should simply try to make the best of that, rather than go through the pain of re-installing an out of date version of Windows. One immediate problem is I can't get Linux to print, even though it has recognised the printer, installed a driver and even says it is printing when I run a test. But nothing appears. I'll need to do more digging around the PCLinuxOS websites, but if anyone has any immediate suggestions then, as ever, that would be welcome!

 

[raleighnut]

Was at a M$ conference on Wednesday and XP from development is actually 16 years old, so built on 16 year old technology so you can see why it needs replacing.

I don't think many companies will upgrade to windows 8 anytime soon and think that windows 7 will become the new XP and the one that M$ won't be able to kill off for years

I agree as windows 8 was designed for tablets and mobile devices also 7 is available in 32 and 64 bit versions so any XP machine is upgradable but I think you have to transition through Vista as some elements are absent in XP.

 

[accountantpete]

One immediate problem is I can't get Linux to print, even though it has recognised the printer, installed a driver and even says it is printing when I run a test. But nothing appears. I'll need to do more digging around the PCLinuxOS websites, but if anyone has any immediate suggestions then, as ever, that would be welcome!

You could try making sure that the software is pointed at the right printer - the easiest way is going into Libre Office writer and at the bottom of the drop down menu under File are Printer Preferences. Check that you have the right one selected as I think there may be a default printer option.

 

[Wobblers]

Thanks McWobble. To clarify, yes Windows (the new installation in new Windows partition H: ) can see C:, but only a very small one that doesn't seem to have any of the original files on it, only a few Dell drivers and utilities. The Windows disk utility can see the Linux partitions, but, as you imply, can't do anything with them, whereas Linux can see the Windows partitions and has access to those folders. So I think I'll need some sort of fixing tool to get C: back to its correct size, picking up the files that seem to have been left outside the partition.

Ah, that sounds a little less promising. As @compo suggested, try Gparted to look at the partition set up of the hard disk. If there's lots of unallocated space next to the C: drive, then the installation program probably didn't resize the C: drive properly. Use Gparted to allocate all that free space back to C: and hopefully all will be okay. If there isn't any free space, then it's very likely that most of the data was overwritten: I doubt you'll be able to recover much, if anything.

 

[jonesy]

Thanks, and to @compo I'll give Gparted a go. Looks promising. I've managed to get printing working now, so not far off being able to do most of what I did with XP on Linux now. So hopefully will be able to end up with what you describe in the other thread- Linux for all internet use and a useable version of XP kept for a few standalone purposes that I can't do on Linux.

 

[compo]

I wasn't looking to repair my drive, retaining it's data but to format it to it's maximum size after restoring a single partition. I don't know if it was necessary to boot from a USB stick containing a copy of Linux. I was taught in the good old days of DOS and early Windows to play with drives and format etc using Fdisk on a drive other than the one being worked on. Back then it would generally be using the "A" drive to work on the "C" . It is just a habit I still retain. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge could confirm if this is still the way to go.

 

[Ian A]

Funnily enough I installed Mint on someones XP computer at the weekend. You get the option of how much HDD to use if you don't go for the automatic HDD allocation install option. Said person changed their mind about how much disk space they needed for XP after I'd installed mint. To increase the Windows partition I loaded the live version of mint again, deleted the mint partitions, extended the Windows partition and re-installed mint using less disk space. If data is lost this is a different issue. I've never seen linux try and install by resizing a Windows partition to be smaller than the size of the data originally installed on it .

 

[mr_cellophane]

anyone going to keep on using it?

40,000 Dutch men apparently

 

[jonesy]

An update on my self inflicted Linux woes, as a warning to anyone else tempted by how straightforward some of the explanations on the web can appear at first sight!

I decided not to try Gparted, I wasn't sure where to get it on Linux and decided I'd prefer not to mess around with windows partition settings with non Windows applications that I don't really understand fully! So I ran Testdisk, which was installed with Linux (first having to discover the root terminal...), from which, after a certain amount of head-scratching, I realised that the new Linux partitions overlapped the original Windows partition, which still occupied the full hard disk. Clearly, whatever I'd tried to do with my first Linux installation hadn't tried to resize the windows partition at all... So I used Testdisk from the Liveboot Linux CD to restore the WIndows partition, loosing the new Linux ones. For some reason there are now two Windows partitions, which have become drives C: (only 50MB, with booting files and some Dell utilities) and D: (the rest of the hard disk).

Not surprisingly, Windows still couldn't boot, but with use of chkdsk from the Recovery console I got it to list the folders and files within, showing that at least most files were still there. I then had to re-install Windows from the CD, it couldn't repair the installation. Which is a bit annoying because this is the 2003 version and you can't update from MS anymore, so lots of recent software won't download or install. But then the whole point was to move away from Windows anyway. So once it was all working again, I downloaded the EaseUS partition utility, which I should have done at the start, de-fragmented the hard drive (it took 14 hours!), which I also should have done at the start, and then, once I was sure everything then worked, used EaseUS to shrink the Windows partition leaving a nice big unallocated space. Then, when I'd rebooted a few times and checked everything again, I re-ran the PCLinux liveboot CD, and then the installation wizard, which worked exactly as it was supposed to and set it up in the newly created free space. So, after a lot of hassle which I could have avoided had I spent a bit more time preparing, I now have a dual booting PC, with Linux bit running nice and fast!

 

[classic33]

our office is currently upgrading and as usual loads of problems with compatability are emerging. If history repeats itself they will probably only just have sorted the problems by the time windows 97 comes out

Got a copy of that.

 

[BAtoo]

Well I'm typing this on my net-book running Linux Puppy from a USB stick that I downloaded the "iso" to, having found a suitable program to burn it to the USB stick!
Its "talking" to my iPhone for the wireless connection but I have so far failed to get it to connect via my USB 3g dongle.
When I get home I shall download the Linux Mint suggested above and give it all a go.
If my memory serves me correct I think that I have got this far before......time will tell if I get any further with Mint!!

An update if you're interested.

I downloaded the Mint "iso" to a USB drive and ran it from there. I then chose the very obvious install option and have installed Mint on my netbook as a dual-boot (although it goes to mint if you don't select XP). I've got it to recognise my mobile dongle with no problems, it recognises my home WiFi and logging-in was easy. I can still see all of my stuff saved in their original files on XP, and overall I like using it! It seems a little quicker than XP on my netbook which is of a lowish spec (Atom450). I had no problems with partition selection and just let it sort itself out.
But...I can't get it to use Garmin Connect yet so transferring routes/rides between my Garmin device and the netbook is not automatic. However I can transfer the files manually as Mint sees the Garmin as another drive so it's usable.
(Actually I find Garmin Connect a bit of a faff anyway - I was transferring some routes from a friend's Garmin site for a ride we are doing together and although it said they were transferred they were not in the "saved routes" file but instead went into a file under training which took some finding! )

 

[BAtoo]

An update if you're interested -

Still on Linux Mint and I've even got it talking to my Garmin device!!
Plugged the device in when on the Garmin site; told I needed Garmin plug-in for Firefox, downloaded it, opened it and then found an option to install as Windows/WINE which it did automatically, no command line at all!!

Overall I'm still liking it and cant see a need to change (pay) and I like it's random screen savers some of which are pretty cool.

 

[marknotgeorge]

No need to lock it,
Move the mouse to the botton right corner then select the Settings option
or
Ctrl + Alt + Del = power button in bottom right
or
Win + I = Power button on Setting screen
or
from the desk top Alt + F4 gives a shutdown menu as in previous Windows versions.

If you've got 8.1, you can right-click on the start icon, and 'Shut down or sign out', as well as lots of other options, is on the menu that appears.