Update from Suse 11.0 to 11.1

[mingus725]

Originally Posted by achu_182

It says Reinstallation DVD Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT SP1. It is to be used only to reinstall the OS on a Dell PC.

The DVD you have is not intended for repair or reinstallation of Vista. Your PC either has a hard disk partition on which there is an "image" of the operating system as installed in the factory, or possibly that image is on the DVD itself. It is used to "re-image" the OS, which means that it simply copies the factory image back on to the hard disk (whereas a "clean install" actually rebuilds the OS; the process is different and the image will include modifications Dell makes that are not in the standard Vista install). And of course, whether a re-image or a re-install, also means that any programs you have installed, all your user data, etc. are erased.

The link above is for the "Recovery Environment". (It is the Vista equivalent of XP's "recovery console", if you ever used that.) The RE is bootable, and has both automatic and manual repair capabilities. It does not install Vista, only repairs it.

[achu_182]

i committed a mistake yesterday.
Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

following instructions from this link, i downloaded the iso file, burnt it onto a CD and then booted from it. then step 2 didnt work for me (automated repair). so as instructed i went into command prompt, and typed the first command-

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

and then when i tried this-
xboot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force


it said path not found. then i realized that bootsect.exe is not present on the disc. i downloaded it (from EasyBCD). Then I copied the files from the recovery disc, and together i made an image of it which i burnt onto another disc. but now when i tried to boot from it, it directly takes me to vista bootloader, instead of taking me to the install/repair menu. i think this is because of the first command that i typed in command prompt. is there anyway is it because of that, and if yes, is there anyway i can correct or undo that.
btw i have installed opensuse and i can access the windows partition through it (if it helps).

[mingus725]

It probably said "path not found" because you used "x" rather than replacing the x with the Windows "drive letter" as detected by the RE. And the reason the second media you created doesn't boot is probably because it doesn't have a boot sector on it. In any event, you say that when you boot from the hard disk now it takes you to the Vista bootloader - is that properly booting Vista now?