Dual Boot - without destroying current config
 

Hello all!

I currently have WinXP and Mandrake 9.2 installed on my machine (single physicaly hard drive).

I want to re-install windows but I do not want windows to mess with the MBR. Is this possible?

If not... Does Mandrake provide a way to "recover" the MBR so I can put LILO back on it? I dont want to destroy the linux side because I have it setup the way I like it (plus Im a newbie... so reconfiguring isnt that easy :) )

Any input or suggested apps would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

Will

This command, as root:

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1

will put the lilo menu on a floppy. Install Windows. Boot with the floppy. Run 'lilo' to restore the bootloader to hd.

You could try installing the mbr on a boot partition, that way Windows will not overwrite the Linux MBR.

I currently have windows 98, Windows xp, and Mandrake 9.2. I installed LILO (boot loader) to the root superblock, the first sector of the boot partition.

I also have system commander 7.05 installled, so when I boot the computer, system commander boots the Linux mbr installed on the boot partition, and not the MBR. Microsoft wants to make sure no other operating system 'interferes' with its Windows, so it will automatically overwrite the mbr. Your best bet is to create a boot partition and install the LILO or GRUB mbr on this partition, and let Windows install its own mbr on the mbr. And then get a third-party boot manager.

Thank you both for the suggestions... I think I will try the LILO way first. Sounds a bit easier... but if that doesnt work I guess I will have to repartition the hard drive (yet again).

Approximately how big should the boot partition be? Im not sure how much space LILO takes up.

Thanks again for the help!

30 mb is good for boot partitions. LILO very small, most of the space would be taken up by the 1-2mb kernel images.
However, IMO repartitioning is a long jump for such a simple problem. All you need to do is have a way to boot Mandrake after Windows erases the bootmenu, then boot it and run 'lilo'.