I have installed Linux from a DVD boot to an Unused Free Space (~200GB) on an External USB Hard Drive. I am taking a Linux/UNIX course, hence I am a newbie. I want to do something with either Windows or Linux that will allow me to select which OS gets booted. Is there a boot manager to do that? Can you direct me to a how-to or tutorial?
I found a step-by-step tutorial for Vista and Ubuntu 9.04. It had a Migrate Documents and Settings screen that if Ubuntu finds any user accounts to migrate would allow one to import them from Vista to Ubuntu. The screenshot of the install showed that Ubuntu found the "Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)" on another partition. My Windows Vista is installed on a different hard drive, so maybe Fedora didn't find it. Anyway, the tutorial continues.... And after Ubuntu is installed and the reboot is done, the GRUB boot menu is displayed and the last entry in the list shows an entry "Other operating systems" and beneath that "Windows Vista/Longhorn loader". By default Ubuntu will load itself after 10 seconds, but you can select the Vista option and Vista will boot normally... So I assume that since I did not have such an experience with the Fedora Installation, there was no discovery of Vista and thus no bootloader manager such as GRUB to make it easy.
I have not used the DVD to boot into Fedora yet, so I don't know if there is something available there to "Git 'er done". I just thought I had better get some help before I really mess things up.
Thanks, Jeff

FC6 is outdated. you should get a new version.

Ofcourse Grub and LILO(boot loaders) can dual-boot with windows.

just get a new fedora, during install make sure your windows is added on the MBR(in the boot loader installation window)

You make it sound so easy, j jerry. Any recommendation on which version I should get? I have an HP Compaq d530 Convertible Minitower Desktop PC (P4, 3.0 Ghz, 2Gb RAM, Intel 82865G Graphic Controller, 1.5 Tb on 3 HD's) running Win Vista Ult SP2 OS. Will the Upgrade be OK from FC6 to 11?

Thanks again, Jeff

get the latest; current stable is 11.

You could upgrade 6 to 11

I haven't used vista with fedora(11) I'm pretty sure that it'll auto-add vista to grub.

Ok, following j_jerry's advice, I chose to install fedora 11. During the install I was given a choice of where to locate the bootloader file. I chose to put it on the USB HD (sda3) where I installed the Linux OS. However that was not my first instinctual choice. When I tried choosing to install the bootloader on the same drive as the MS Vista Ultimate installation, I was warned, (not an exact quote) Do you really want to install the bootloader on a different drive than where the fedora is installed?. So I assumed that was a bad choice and elected to install it on the USB HD (sda3). So when I rebooted, the Windows bootloader was launched and not the Linux one. I am seeking help for the dual bootloader problem, please.
R, Jeff

see the fedora install docs
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/
--- English ---
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/instal...11/en-US/html/

If you choose to put the Grub bootloader from Fedora on the second drive you should put it in the master boot record of that drive. If you then set the second drive (Fedora drive) to first boot priority in the BIOS you will be able to boot Fedora and vista from it. The caveat here is that Fedora does not usually create entries in menu.lst (or grub.conf) file and it needs to be done manually. This is pretty simple to do. The warning you got when you selected to install bootloader to the vista drive would have overwritten the vista bootloader file in the master boot record of its drive. Should not be a problem, should still be able to boot both but will still likely need to make a manual entry for vista.

You don't indicate whether you installed Fedora bootloader to the root partition on its drive or to the master boot record. Also, Fedora usually creates a separate boot partition. You could check if the Fedora bootloader is on the mbr (if you don't know) by setting its drive to first boot priority and then rebooting. If it doesn't work, that means Fedora bootloader file is not in the mbr of its drive.

I'm not sure which option you want. If you want to boot from vista, there is a program called EasyBCD from neosmart technologies (just google it) which can do this. If you want to use Fedora to boot, use your install disk to get to a terminal (or any Linux Live CD) and as root user, run the command: fdisk -l (lower case Letter L) and post the output. Someone here will be able to instruct you on what you need to change.

AFAIK, there is no option to select an external USB HDD in my BIOS (HP 786B2 v1.11) bootorder menu. It lists these 4 Options:

1. HDD (Windows)
2. CD/DVD
3. USB (not HDD)
4. Network

I installed TweakVI (including EasyBCD). I added an entry to the Vista Bootloader.

EasyBCD displays these views:

Radio BTN selected: Overview
There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry #1

Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry #2

Name: Fedora Linux
BCD ID: {edbb2d5f-b52f-11de-8fcf-00173fce3f06}
Drive: H:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\nst_grub.mbr

Radio BTN selected: Detailed (Debug mode)
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {9a291394-cd2f-11dc-9f9a-bb6e8937612e}
resumeobject {9a291395-cd2f-11dc-9f9a-bb6e8937612e}
displayorder {9a291394-cd2f-11dc-9f9a-bb6e8937612e}
{edbb2d5f-b52f-11de-8fcf-00173fce3f06}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30
resume No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {9a291394-cd2f-11dc-9f9a-bb6e8937612e}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {9a291395-cd2f-11dc-9f9a-bb6e8937612e}
nx OptIn

Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier {edbb2d5f-b52f-11de-8fcf-00173fce3f06}
device partition=H:
path \NST\nst_grub.mbr
description Fedora Linux

My questions are:

1. Can I use a CD to boot into Fedora installed on my external USB HDD?
2. Is there a modification I can make to the Vista Bootloader file to get to the Fedora Bootloader file?
3. What other options are there?
4. Do you need more information?

I remembered why I thought it unusual to use fdisk to get information about the hard drives in a Linux environment. It's a MS-DOS command. I thought it looked familiar. Yancek, do you know the equivalent command for Linux? How do I get a command window in Linux? KDE running in Fedora Live CD.

You can get partition information in Linux with the fdisk command, it's not the same as the windows fdisk but similar. You can also use "df -h" to get info (without quotes).

I don't use Fedora but you should have an icon either on your Desktop or in the Taskbar with an image of a computer monitor, often with what looks like a seashell in front of it. In Suse I can hit the Alt +F2 key and just type in "konsole" but I don't think that works in Fedora.

If your BIOS options do not allow you to boot from an external hard drive you will need to boot from the vista drive.

You can download SuperGrubDisk to do this and you can also create a bootable disk, CDRom or floppy for Grub. Instructions on their site.

That's what EasyBCD is for. Never used vista and don't know anything about its bootloader.

Install Grub to the master boot record of the first (vista) disk and have it pointing to the Fedora boot files on the external. The problem with this solution is that if you do NOT intend to keep the external attached at all times, this will prevent booting vista without making additional modifications. If you are unable to boot from an external your best solution would be to do some reading on EasyBCD so you don't have to modify the mbr on the vista drive.

I guess the only additional information would be your intentions; do you plan to keep the external always attached, do you mind modifying mbr on the vista drive?