OK I didn't know your kernel is that old. Can't recall getting into that position in my 14 months into Linux and I do have 40+ distros working in the box.

You can get a Linux live CD to do the same thing. That shouldn't be a problem, should it? The live CDs are give-away from the Linux magazines, assuming it takes too long for you to download.

If you get Slax, Mepis or Knoppix any of them will mount your Windows partition "automatically" so no mounting is needed.

Lastly when in terminal you type something in and nothing happens it means Linux has accepted the command. If you keep an eye at the desktop with a file manager opened and showing the directory /mnt you can see the icon /hda1 added there the moment after you enter the command.

Ok, i have mandrake move (live cd, i think)..

What do i do when I am on it?

Hi, sorry to post about my problem, but it kinda relates to the original post for this thread, Mods feel free to delete if you feel appropriate

When I started partition my only HDD (40gb IDE) yesterday Windows XP (NTFS) was at the start of the disk, I then moved it forward 550mb, to incorporate a 50mb boot sector (NTFS) and Linux Swap BEFORE Windows partition and installed a Linux partition for Slackware after Windows.

Installation of Slackware 10 went smoothly until it came to installing LILO - I don't have a FDD installed on the computer and it said on the menu that I could skip the installation and Linux would boot straight from the partition, so I chose this - reason being I was worried about losing my Windows boot!

I take the CD out and reboot, straight into Windows. So with cfdisk I changed the boot from Windows to Linux, and after rebooting it said 'Invalid Operating System' or along those lines.

In disk management in Windows it says the Linux partition has 0% use?!

Basically what I'm asking is: is there a LILO or GRUB bootable CD so I can install it to the boot partition I created, or even a LILO/GRUB boot cd that goes straight into Linux - to save me from getting hold of a FDD or reinstalling Linux (as that seems the only way to get hold of LILO installation menu!).

IIRC hda2 is the boot partition, hda4 is Linux and hda5 is Linux Swap.

Thanks!

Exactly the same commands after boot to a Live CD, log in as root, drop into terminal mode and type

mkdir /mnt/hda1
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1

It pays to understand these commands because you are going to need them in future.

Then go to the desktop to find out the files. The files are actually visible in the terminal mode and you can see them by typing

ls /mnt/hda1

jsbmw,

Think you have mixed up a few things here.

First Linux read but doesn't write on a NTFS partition. Whatever NTFS partition you have created for Linux it just can't use it.

A Linux need a boot loader to boot into memory and the standard one used by Slackware is Lilo. You can get Grub to boot Slackware but you have to get a copy of Grub somewhere. Over 50% of the distros use Grub.

You can use cfdisk to switch on the booting flag of a partition. All this does is to point to the BIOS "This is the one for booting, come and grab it". It will work if the partition itself is bootable. In your case you have done only 50% of the work.

A booting procedure is as follow:-

(1) Computer does a Powe Oo Self Test (POST)

(2) BIOS go to fetch the MBR or first 512 bytes of the first bootable hard disk (when there is no other booting medium in front of the booting queue). The rear end of the MBR has the partition table.

(3) The booting code of fetched MBR pulls the bootable partition into the memory.

Your problem is the booting code belongs to the Windows family. It will work for any DOS, Win3x, Win9x, Win2k/XP but not one foreign to Windows. Your technique (or your belief) is good but not applicable to Linux.

To overcome the problem you need Slackware's Lilo in the MBR. It can multi-boot a maximum of 15 entries and takes almost nothing to boot a Windows.

Do not be afraid of losing the Windows MBR. I have installed over 50+ systems in my box and have the MBR overwritten countless number of time. The important thing is to know how to get it back whever you want you. In your case if you have Lilo in the MBR and want to restore Windows MBR then just boot up your Windows installation CD (any one, not necessary the original copy), drop into the recovery console (type R to repair windows) and just type "fixmbr" at command prompt. If you have a floppy drive (I know you haven't) a bootable DOS floppy can do the same trick by typing fdisk /mbr.

Now the cure to your problem--------------------------------------------

Boot up Slackware installation CD and don't type "setup". You should be communicating with CD's version of the Slackware's kernel at terminal mode.
You then create a mounting point in the /mnt directory of Slackware(CD version) , mount the installed version of the device hda4 on the /mnt dircetory just created, change root to it and replicate Lilo in the MBR. Try to understand each of the following commands. After you change root you will be in fact "inside" the installed Slackware that you haven't been able to boot!

mkdir /mnt/hda4
mount /dev/hda4 /mnt/hda4
chroot /mnt/hda4
lilo -b /dev/hda
exit
reboot

Your Lilo should boot Slackware after a reboot.

I can't be sure if you have instructed Lilo to dual boot Windows but if you haven't all you need to do to make it happen is to add these lines in the /etc/lilo.conf
of the booted up Slackware. Lilo always stores its configuration file (just a text file).


other=/dev/hda1
label=My_Windows

Any time you dislike Linux and want to revert back to the your present situation just restore the Windows MBR as described above.

Good luck

Thanks Saikee for your in-depth response, it has made me understand things a little bit more than before.

I was hoping to use both WinXP and Slackware almost alternately, again hoping to do this without repairing MBR each time I want to boot XP.
I can boot XP at the moment fine, so I can change the boot partition to ext2 from NTFS is that's a good idea, and then somehow install GRUB to that partition?

I can install a FDD if needed!

Grub can work on its own partition without being attached to an operating system. A Fat32 partition will be better because you can access it from both Linux and Windows. Basically you amend Grub's configuration file (just a text file) to control multi-boot.

I do put Grub in its own partitions. In fact I have 5 to 6 small partitions to do just that since scrolling down +50 systems in my box takes a long time to pick the one I want. I therefore split the entries in different submenus distributed between several Grub partitions.

Read this thread if you want Grub to do work for you

How to make a Grub floppy/CD that boots all systems in a PC http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142409

Hiya, I'm now on Slackware

I reinstalled Slackware completely and with your help I had more confidence when installing Lilo, it didn't boot - however mounting hda4 got me to the boot menu I configured, I didn't even need to edit lilo.conf

All I need now is to sort out my onboard sound

Thanks again!

P.S. Looking back, it is actually quite straight forward to dual boot!

jsbmw: I'm very glad you were able to get your system working just the way you wanted. We'll always be here to help you out.

Thank you for letting us know, so that you can use the same advice for the same problem for others.

When i put in the commands, It doesnt do anything? Is it meant to switch to xp?

Where are you now? at what stage

An other user came in, got his/her problem sorted and left while you are not reporting.

Yah i noticed! Ok

I put mandrake move in, it loaded, rah rah..

I opened the terminal and su to 'root'

then put in 'mkdir /mnt/hda1' and
'mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1'

then i dont know what to do.

I wrote

"Then go to the desktop to find out the files. "

If you click home, and locate /mnt/hda1 you can see the full XP partition and work on any of the files using Linux programs, like word processing, spreadsheet, play MP3, view photos....

I got the feeling that you may not know in Linux you can work on your files as as eays as in Windows. There are compatibility issues to watch out sure but if it is work you should be able to survive just with a Linux when your Windows goes down.