Triple Boot with WinXP, SUSE 10x, and WinME
 

I'm definitely a "newbie" when it comes to Linux (all varieties), and am looking for assistance. For research purposes only, I want to setup a dual boot/dual drive system with WinXP and SUSE 10x on HDA1 and WinME on HDC1. I've run a dual boot test on HDA1, and I can access either the XP or Linux partitions without any problems. However, although I can "see" the second drive as HDC1, and it appears as "ME" in the LILO boot options, when I select the second drive it won't boot. I've attached the LILO.conf file as it stands now, and would appreciate any advice. A location for a step-by-step guide would be good too, if one is available. I tried searching through the numerous posts on the forum but couldn't find an FAQ that covered triple boot across two drives. Thank you.

prompt
default = Linux
message = /boot/message
boot = /dev/hda
image = /boot/vmlinuz

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
label = Linux
append = "selinux=0 resume=/dev/hda3 splash=silent showopts"
vga = 0x31a
initrd = /boot/initrd
root = /dev/hda2

other = /dev/hda1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###
label = XP

other = /dev/hdc1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
label = ME

I think there is suppose to be a program you can run to help you configure it but I don't know the name of it... Did you check the lilo docs?

Also, you can add it to the XP boot loader but there is no program for that, you have to edit the hidden boot.ini file and add a line like:

Old Windows=D:\bootsect.dos

So you need the 512 byte file that is a copy of the mbr.

Maybe to late to ask this question now but why Lilo instead of Grub? I thought lilo was only included for legacy campatibility.

Welcome to LQ!
The problem here is Windows won't boot from any other drive than first. Lilo can trick Windows into thinking it's on first drive and Windows will boot. This is called drive mapping. See Lilo documentation for details and use Google to find tutorials and howto's.

LzW-x and Emerson,
Thanks for the quick responses. The why LILO question was a good one. The SUSE grub doesn't want to play nice with my hardware. A co-worker is testing RH's grub on the same hardware platform and it seems to be working fine, so I will probably switch to RH and its grub soon. I'll look for the LILO docs and some tutorials for further info. Thanks again,