[SOLVED] dual boot two disks with separate /boot partitions

I have a machine with 2 disks, one has slackware 12.2 (/dev/sda) and the other has slackware 13 (/dev/sdb). Both disks have a separate /boot as the first primary partition. I installed lilo into MBR (boot=/dev/sda) and would like to be able to dual boot. How do I set this up?

I tried this lilo.conf:

image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda2
  label = Slackware-12.2
  read-only
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = Slackware-13.0
  read-only

This obviously doesn't work; when I try to boot Slackware 13, it loads the kernel image from /dev/sda.. how can I tell it where to look for the kernel image?

maybe just put the 13.0 kernel in a different named folder

image = /boot/slack/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = Slackware-13.0
  read-only

so, just put it in a diff folder named whatever and try that

Originally Posted by linus72 maybe just put the 13.0 kernel in a different named folder image = /boot/slack/vmlinuz root = /dev/sdb2 label = Slackware-13.0 read-only so, just put it in a diff folder named whatever and try that

Hmm but, unless I put the 13.0 kernel in /boot on sda, lilo still wouldn't know where to find it?

Would it be possible to set up chain loading like one would do with Vista? I guess I'd have to boot 13.0 from DVD and run liloconfig to write a loader to the second disk's superblock and then use an other=/dev/sdb stanza to chain load from the MBR on sda.. would that work?

Hello,

Let say that you are using lilo from 12.2.

You need to mount the /boot partition of the other Slackware version (13.0) on Slackware 12.2. For example using /mnt/13.0 as the mount point, the /etc/lilo.conf file in 12.2 should look like this:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda2
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
label = Slackware-12.2
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /mnt/13.0/boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sdb2
initrd = /mnt/13.0/boot/initrd.gz
label = Slackware-13.0
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

If you do not use any initrd image, remove the lines "initrd" in my example.

Do not forget to mount the 13.0 /boot partition before running lilo.

Of course, if you use lilo from 13.0, you need to mount the /boot directory from 12.2 in 13.0

Thanks, that works like a charm!

Hello,

I'm glad to hear that it worked as prescribed

You can indicate that this thread is SOLVED but selecting the correct option in the "Thread Tools" menu on top of your first post.