Dual boot??
 

Hi, I'm currently running Win2k and have just installed mandrake 9.0 on a different HDD. The problem is I have no idea how I get the option to select the OS system that I want to boot into. I've read on the web that I should use Lilo, but the instructions I've found are really vague!!

Mandrake 9.0 has a choice of using expert or recommended install. When you install man9.0, if you choose recommended, it will set up your boot loader automatically. Then when you boot up, a bootsplash will appear saying Mandrake 9.0 and it will give you a list of all the options you have. It should give you the option of NT for your Win2K partition.

If you chose expert, you would have gotten a few more options, but it is still quite easy to set up.

When you are booting, what screens are you getting, if any? or are you simply booting straight into windows without any options?

Hi, my computer is booting straight into Win2k?!!

Hello!

I am a new user as well however I do run a dual boot.
Let me ask - during install did select to have LiLo overwrite the MBR?

The correct pattern is:

Install Windows. Do not let it take over/format all your space.

Setup a FAT32 partition (but not all the remaining space) for those data files (MP3, etc.) that you intend to manipulate in both OSes.

Install Linux on the remainder of your unpartitioned space. If your distro has an "Expert" install mode - use it. That gives you more control over your install while also presenting decent defaults. During the Install, select either Lilo or Grub as your boot manager and set the boot code on the MBR of your prime hard drive. Make sure you give each OS a reasonable name (i.e., Linux, Windoze, Fred, DOS, etc.) and identify the partition where each OS boots from.

That's it. No magic. Just straightforward step-by-step.

Yes, now if you are using Win2K you can be running either NTFS or FAT32. NTFS is preffered nowadays because of its many advantages so hopefully you are running it. If not, don't fret. Keep in mind though, that you may not want to install LILO on the MBR when running the NTFS filesystem for windows. I'm working on getting myself Linux+ Certified and they down right are against you installing LILO on the MBR if you are running NTFS.

So that being said, I use Windows XP which runs NTFS and I've installed LILO on the MBR and it worked fine, so maybe it just affects Win2K and NT. So, jglen490 was right. You must have windows installed first, then install linux and use the LILO config tool used in the install to install LILO. I didn't create a FAT32 partition for my computer because Mandrake 9.0 has the capability to share files with the NTFS partition.

Since you have already installed Mandrake, it sounds like you just need to boot to it using the boot disk, then just reconfigure LILO.

haha, just read your other post jglen. about the FUD with LILO on the MBR. I got that info from the Linux+ certification Bible. They were very strict in saying not to install LILO on the MBR. They said it can cause conflicts, but only with NTFS file system.

Have you ever gotten the chance to boot linux yet? mabe you can download a linux boot file for your floppy from your disturbution website. good luck.


lol Culbert, your sig, i found myself using windows more now. i can't take it lol. Linux is now giving me alot of problems. with booting and nothing happening, screen freezing up. can't install gnome 2.2 and kde 3.1, lol ur switch back to windows after this month lol. all the stuff on linux i can do on windows. im downloading redhat 8.0 and trying that, sick of Mandrake 9.0
I may try to install linux in a windows folder instead. linx4win command.

I guess it's preferable to install lilo or grub on the linux partition and then make that partition bootable or 'active'.

Lava. I feel your frustration. I almost gave up on Linux totally. I was constantly asking myself why use Linux. But, it actually isn't that hard. It's very intimitdating at first, but I got a book on linux and just started reading it, and it makes a lot of sense. Don't give up on it. Oh, and don't use Red Hat or Mandrake. I've found bugs in the mandrake distro and red hat is so customized that a lot of really nice tools don't work on it. You really have to be a guru if you want to use red hat and all the neat stuff too. Personally I use Vector Linux right now, and that's based off of Slackware. I'm downloading the new Slack and I'm going to give that a shot. I like Vector way way more than either Red Hat or Mandrake. It does take some more customization to install printers and such, but just read the docs and you will get it.

The first hard drive on my computer (hda to linux) has a Win2k NTFS partition (C: to Win2k) and a fat32 partition (D: to Win2k). I put another hard drive into the computer (hdb to linux) and set the bios so that the system booted from this second hard drive. Then I installed linux (RH8 in my case) on hdb and selected the grub bootloader during the installation. I modified grub.conf as follows, adding the option to boot Win2k:

default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Windows 2000
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img

I also set up fstab so that I could mount D, a fat32 drive, which is used to communicate between the NFTS and ext3 partitions (both Win2k and Linux can read/write to fat32). So, when the system boots, I have the choice of Win2k (the default in this case) or Linux. All of my work in on the fat32 partition, and is available to me from both Linux and Win2k. This arrangement is most excellent because I never had to touch the Win2k drive, and if needed (e.g., there is a problem with my linux install) I can just set the bios to boot from the first drive, and Win2k would never know the difference. Try it, you will like it. :D

I hope your not talking about Win2k. :D

Help with dual boot
 

Hi. I´m having problems installing RedHat 8.0 on my PC, I have a two hard drives (the little one is only for backups). I describe them:
C:/ DOS
D:/ Backup disk (FAT32)
E:/ NTFS (XP)
F:/ FAT32

How could I install RedHat making a dual boot system with Windows XP? I know if I format partition C:/ with a Linux format I won´t be able to boot XP because C:/ contains boot.ini file.
Joe

I've installed Red Hat on a WinXP box. I had one drive at the time, and I had XP installed first. Then I popped in the Red Hat disk and chose to install LILO on the first sector of the linux. That worked.

I also had reinstalled it once, and chose the GRUB boot loader and chose to put it on the first sector, and it worked also.

I have successfully installed LILO on the MBR however and although there were some bugs that I needed to work out, it wasn't anything too bad. So keep in mind that if LILO or GRUB don't work on the first sector, that you can install the boot loader on the MBR (master boot record) if you are using XP (at least it worked for me).

Oh, and personally when I was using RH8.0, I did like the look of GRUB rather than LILO, but they worked both pretty much the same.

RE: Culbert
 

Hi Culbert, I tried to install RedHad 8.0 on a Linux Ext2 partition with its Linux Swap included but after the hardware recognition I only can see a blue frustrating screen. What could be happening?
Thanks,
Joe