VMWare server: has it messed up Fedora and/or XP?

[anax93]

I have a dual boot system with Fedora Core 6, kernel 2.6.22.9-61.fc6, and Windows XP Pro. Tired of rebooting to get from one to the other, I discovered VMware, downloaded VMware Server 1.0.4 from http://www.vmware.com/download/server/, installed it successfully and configured it following the instructions at http://mazimi.wordpress.com/2007/06/...-within-linux/ . Now, these instructions warn one not to let GRUB run Linux from the virtual machine. This "will corrupt the Linux install and make it unusable". I was aware of this, but when I first ran the virtual machine, I didn't realize I had to click inside the window for me to be able to control GRUB so that it would run XP - and it did start Linux.

I frantically closed the VM window. I then restarted it, but it was hanging in Linux (Kernel panic and all). This went away when I stopped it using its stop button. I then used it to properly enter XP, which was very very slow. Even so, it seemed to work but asked for my activation number - which I didn't have. So I stopped the machine again. When I tried again, Windows did not start properly. It asked me to do an fcheck etc.

I don't dare start VM again. In fact I don't dare do much in terms of shutting down and restarting!

The upshot of this is, I've remained in Linux ever since. Everything still works perfectly, but I fear that if I reboot, nothing will work, and I'll have to reinstall both operating systems. I really need to know if there is anything I can do before I shutdown. Is this really as bad as I fear, or am I being paranoid?

This is a laptop, so I can't stay on forever. But I have to be ready for a re-install if that's what will be needed. In particular, I need to get hold of my XP reinstallation CD, which is thousands of miles away from here...

Thanks for any help!