Dual boot not presenting LILO
 

I've just installed Slackware 10.0 on my laptop, configured LILO and everything just like I have already done with a desktop, as a dual-boot with WinXP. For some reason, though, instead of presenting me with the LILO loader screen, it just automatically loads WinXP. I'm new to Linux in general, so I don't really know what to do here.

Did you set your linux partition bootable? Where did you install LILO? Should be installed in bootsector of linux partition. Do not install the LILO to MBR, you'll corrupt your M$ installation! If you want to boot your linux instalation you have to boot from Slackware CD or bootdisk (if you've made one). To do it:

1. Boot from the Slackware CD
2. In "boot: " prompt type: where xxxx is the partition identifier where you've installed your linux, for example hda2, sdb1,.... If you had used another kernel for instalation, like sata.s or scsi3.s or whatever else then use it in the above command instead of bare.i
3. If you complete above you will be able to login to your Slackware, so login as root.
4. Run cfdisk : where xxx is the identifier of the disk where you have linux partition
5. Check if the linux partition is bootable (don't change it yet)
7. Go to the /etc directory and check lilo.conf file and show me the last part that begins with "# Linux bootable partition config begin"

if you don't know how to browse the directories and files use midnight commander (type mc and press enter) :D :D :D

well....i think , if you want a lilo boot-menu ( loader-screen ),
you need to install it in the mbr.

boot your system with the cd, follow onscreen instructions ( like " bare.i mount root=/dev/hd .....etc )
just run " liloconfig "; choose expert mode; add linux and win. ;install in the mbr.

that should do...

egag

Yes, my Linux partition is bootable (I set that when I originally ran cfdisk to partition for Linux), and yes LILO is installed to the bootsector. This is the exact same setup as my desktop (except for the version of Windows), and it does display the loader screen. I will do that boot thing with the Slackware CD, and make sure the Linux partition is bootable, and get that info from lilo.config, then post back here my findings.

If you installed Slackware first then WinXP, XP automatically overwrites the boot loader on the MBR. To fix it boot your Slack 10 Disc 1 and load your linux partition. Become root and run the lilo command to rewrite lilo to the mbr. If you didn't install it to the mbr you can make it write to the mbr instead look at lilo -help to see how to do so

WinXP was installed first, and LILO is not installed to the MBR, as I have said. Are you all saying that it needs to be in order for it to work? Why not just have it installed on the Linux bootsector, this works fine for my Win98-Slack10 dual boot, is WinXP different?

That'll definitely make it work, but it does mean that you'll need to fdisk /mbr or lilo -m if you ever get rid of Linux. Also, you'll need to install to the MBR if you ever reinstall Linux or switch distros.

I would suggest that installing it to the root block is better, and that you should look at your partition tables in cfdisk to make absolutely sure that the Linux partition is the *only* partition flagged as bootable. If the Windows partition is bootable, and appears before the Linux partition, then the BIOS will boot that first. It does not need to be flagged bootable for LILO to boot Windows from it.

no....unless you install lilo in the mbr, you won't be presented with a dual boot menu.
lilo is capable of booting xp just as well as linux.
and for the old mbr........lilo will create a file called /boot/boot.0300, which is a copy of the old mbr.

also in xp, to rebuild the bootsector you must use " fixmbr " ( just incase of prob's )

EDIT: nice joke killerbob :D

egag

Is this something specific to a WinXP dual-boot? Because I know for a fact that it will present a menu when it's installed to the root block, with Win98.

well...to be honest, i never used win98 dual boot.
with winxp i once used the xp-bootloader to start lin/win, but since i learned
lilo can boot xp, i simply use lilo for both.
and i don't think setting the bootable flag for the lilo-bootblock will work with xp. ( ??? )

and these days i really trust lilo... :)

egag

Well, I just checked and the Linux partition is the only one bootable...

It will, egag. That's how both my laptop and my desktop are configured... LILO will boot XP no problem. XP takes a civilized approach to it, and stays where it's put.


... And in response to the above... in that case, you've got something weird going on. Try lilo -m to rebuild the mbr, and that may work. Otherwise, just install lilo to the mbr and be done with it. :(

I have lilo installed to the MBR and partitioned as follows

/dev/hda1 Linux Swap
/dev/hda2 Slack10
/dev/hda3 WinXP

writing lilo to the mbr won't ruin your windows partition at all, I always install Linux first when redoing everything and afterwards I go back and run lilo again to overwrite the Windows Boot Loader

yip, lilo works ok.

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Otherwise, just install lilo to the mbr and be done with it
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my idea :)

and that bootable flag.....i didn't know that, but there's allways more than just one solution.

egag

In my opinion you don't have lilo there. How did you checked it?
Try this:

dd if=/dev/xxxx of=/tmp/boosector.txt bs=512 count=1

cat /tmp/bootsector.txt

You will get some strange output but the string "LILO" should appear there at least once.
If you don't see any "LILO" there that definitely means the LILO is not installed on /dev/xxxx.

Be carefull, if you swap the /dev/xxxx and /tmp/bootsector.txt you may overwrite the boot sector!
xxxx is your Linux partition of course.