Okay, then...............here's a workaround that should provide best compatibility.
The Windows NT bootloader can work with mbr image files to load other OSes. So what you can do is to install lilo for each Linux OS to the mbr of the primary master disk (hda), one at a time. When you do, you can comment out the timeout and prompt options in lilo.conf so that lilo will immediatley boot that particular OS only. Then after installing lilo to the mbr, create an image of the mbr with dd. For example, in SuSE:
Code:
dd if=/dev/hda of=/suse.mbr count=1 bs=512
This will create a 512-byte image of the mbr in the SuSE's root directory ( / ) that the ntloader can use. Copy the file to the C:\ directory in XP (hda1). If you're using NTFS in XP, then copy it to a DOS formatted floppy that XP can copy from.
Do the same for RH by configuring and installing lilo and using a different name for the .mbr file (such as, rh.mbr).
Now you will need to restore the mbr so XP can use it (plus you need to be in XP for the next steps). If you have a Win98 startup disk, you can use that and run the command,
fdisk /mbr................If not, you;ll need the XP install cd. Run the cd and choose the repair option. You'll then be given a choice to use the recovery floppy or recovery console. Choose the console. After logging in to the console, run the command,
fixmbr. And to be safe, run this command also,
fixboot.
Now you should be able to boot into XP. Log on as Administrator. In Notepad, open up C:\BOOT.INI. This will be a hidden file. Add these lines in BOOT.INI:
Code:
C:\SUSE.MBR="SuSE"
C:\RH.MBR="RedHat"
If you had to copy the image files to a floppy, now's the time to copy them both to the C:\ directory...................That's it. Now you'll be presented with two more options in the NT boot menu.
