Dual Boot: Linux and Win ME, Please help

uma · 07-31-2002, 04:21 AM

Hello,
I am very new to Linux world. I have fought with my PC for 3 days to install Red Hat Linux. My default OS is Windows Me. So I made two partitions like C:\ and D:\.

C:\ consists of Windows Me and D:\ consists of Red Hat Linux 7.0
My D:\ consists of only 2 files, they are
REDHAT.IMG (1.82 GB)
RH-SWAP.IMG (127 MB)

The installation is complete. But during the installation, Linux has asked me to place a new formatted floppy into the floppy drive for making it a bootable floppy. I have followed the instructions.

Now when I start my PC, the default OS Windows Me comes, I am not given options like

Microsoft Windows Me
Red Hat Linux 7.0

So that I can choose one OS to boot.

If I need to start working with Linux, I need to place the bootable floppy created during the installation time and restart my PC. This is not my option, as I cannot place the floppy every time I start working with Linux.

MY REQUIREMENT

When I start my PC, I wanted to see both the options like

Windows Me
Redhat Linux
Time : 30 sec

So, that I can choose the required OS to boot.

Please help me.

Thanks
Uma
Java Developer
http://www.javagalaxy.com

herambshembekar · 07-31-2002, 05:53 AM

linux doen't calls partitions as c:\ or d:\
(if it is not winlinux as i don't know about winlinux)
i think this woud be helpful
if it is not winlinux u have to make linux partition active if u have installed mbr on linux partition
ie use
in windows dos prompt
fdisk
then choose option to change active partition,
& now select partition on which u have installed linux(ie non-dos partition)

dai · 07-31-2002, 05:58 AM

What I did when I was dual booting Redhat 7.2 with Win 98 Se was to only create one Fat32 Partition of the requred size for windows to be installed on and leave the remainder of the hard drive unpartitioned. I then booted from the Red hat install disk (I suggest you choose gui mode from the boot menu).
You will then be taken through the installation process, you will eventually arrive at a screen where your given the option to partition your drive automatically or to use Fdisk or Disk Druid.

Select Automatically.......

Also when prompted to choose your boot loader choose Grub (or Lilo if you want), at this point you will also need to select the option to install the boot loader you choose to the MBR (Master Boot Record) and not the start of the /boot partition.

This should allow you to choose which O/S to boot from

uma · 07-31-2002, 06:31 AM

Hello Dai,
I was unable to make partition using fdisk for some reason. So, I used "fips.exe" to make the partiton. I do not know how, but I was able to make c:\ with 4.75 GB and Win Me in it and D:\ with 22 GB empty.

So during the installation, the Linux was not able to make the partition by itself and asked me for partition using fdisk or Disk Druid. As, I have 2 partitions i.e C:\ and D:\ already, I selected "hda2" i.e D:\ with 22 GB and clicked the EDIT Button and asked to load the installation to the " / " root directory. Of Couse it gave me some un known warning but said it is ok to continue.

I continued with installation, at the end of install, It asked for a floppy to create the boot disk.

Thats all I did. And now when I switch on the PC, I am able to boot with Win Me only and If I need to boot with Red Hat Linux 7.0, I need to boot the PC with the bootable floppy.

Please help me, how can I solve my problem, If any thing has gone wrong.

Thanks
Uma

dai · 07-31-2002, 06:40 AM

When you installed into "D:\" was it allready partitoned as Fat32 or was it actually unused Freespace????

Also when you ran the installation did you create the following partitions manually: -

/ (Ext 2/3)
/boot (Ext 2/3)
Swap (Type Swap)

If you did you should have also been able to instal Grub or Lilo to the MBR which would have solved your problem.

If you can still boot Windows Me without being prompted for a boot selection i.e. Linux or Windows then I dont think the boot loader has been installed in the MBR.

uma · 07-31-2002, 06:54 AM

Hi,
After creating the D:\, I formatted it, thats it. I straight away installed the Linux into it. I didn't know of these

/ (Ext 2/3)
/boot (Ext 2/3)
Swap (Type Swap)
I do not know where to create them also.
I am not being prompted for OS selection, I straight away boot to Win Me only.

But, If I need to boot with Linux, I need to boot the PC with the bootable floppy inside the floppy drive. So that I can work with Linux too.

As placing the floppy for every time is difficult, I am looking for OS Selection option.

I dont think that the boot loader has been installed in the MBR. What should I do now? Is there no hope for me working with Linux?

Thanks
Uma

fromzj · 07-31-2002, 08:26 AM

Quite easy!

Go to www.masterbooter.com for a free little utility--

=======================
masterbooter v3.1
=======================

It can be run under Winme's cmd line.

It detects all those OS on your computer and creates a boot option just what you'd like.

jglen490 · 07-31-2002, 08:49 AM

Quote:

C:\ consists of Windows Me and D:\ consists of Red Hat Linux 7.0
My D:\ consists of only 2 files, they are
REDHAT.IMG (1.82 GB)
RH-SWAP.IMG (127 MB)

There's something seriously wrong with this picture. Windows doesn't natively "see" Linux filesystems, so this can't be a Windows view of the Linux partitions.

There should be no less than two Linux partitions -- a / (or "root") and a swap partition, but you should not be seeing them as single ".IMG" files. In Windows, there should not be a "D" drive, only a "C" drive. The size of the "C" drive should be about 2GB short of the total size of the physical hard drive.

I don't know what you are looking at, but it's not an installed RedHat Linux

.

Bert · 07-31-2002, 08:59 AM

Use your bootable floppy to go into Linux. You can administrate from there. Linux and Windows are like two kids in a playground. The linux kid wants to share the MBR and the Windows kid wants it all to himself.

Usually the mighty grub has to step in. Install grub on your linux partition (from the RPM is fine) and:

grub-install /dev/fd0

which will install it using an automated script onto a floppy. Next, read the README files.

Eventually, you'll need to do a

grub-install /dev/hda

to put it onto the master boot record. Grub invokes a chainloading script to boot WinMe, which like I say does not like sharing the MBR. If it sees another OS written to the MBR it won't boot (in fact it won't even see an OS there.

Last note: make sure you installed Windows Me first, then fips your partition into two, delete the empty partition and boot from the Linux distro CD into the Linux installer.

Bert

uma · 08-01-2002, 09:03 AM

Hello,
Thanks for your reply. I thought of removing the linux from my PC and did the same for a new install.

I now have Win Me in my C:\ . Please tell me what should I need to do to make my Linux work as a dual boot.

I have followe these steps, in the beginning

1. Place the CD labelled Linux 1 in the CD-ROM and restart the PC.

2. I get some options, I pressed Enter

3. A few steps later, I get the GUI installer

4. Asking for time,monitor,processor,etc...

5. Making the partitions, with Automatic, Dual Druid and fdisk.

6. I selected Dual Druid, I get the following structure,

PARTITIONS

Mount Point Device Requested Actual Type
<not set> hda1 28000M 28000M Win95 FAT 32

ADD EDIT DELETE RESET MAKE RAID DEVICE (BUTTONS)

DRIVE SUMMARY

DRIVE GEOM TOTAL FREE USED USED %
hda blah 28000M 0M 28000M 100 %

I have a problem with this step.

7. I got errors from here on words, but proceded to the installation.

Please tell me what do I need to do after this point. Shall I click the add button and create Linux Native and Swap partitions?

If so what about the Win95 Fat 32 partition, Shall I leave it as it is?

Will "hda" allow me to do the partitioning, as it is occupying all of the space in the hard disk?

Please help,

LATEST WORK

1. I used the Win Me bootable floppy along with "fips.exe" to partition my hard disk.
A:>fips

2. I was able to split my c: ( 28 GB ) into C:\ 10 GB for Win Me and 18 GB for D:\ (Red hat Linux)

3. I removed the floppy and restarted the PC with my bootable Linux first CD

4. I proceded with the instructions and moved to the partition step

5. I selected Manual partition using Disk Druid

6. I have seen these changes in the Disk Druid window

PARTITIONS

Mount Point Device Requested Actual Type
<not set> hda1 10033M 10033M Win95 FAT 32
<not set> hda2 18589M 18589M Win 95 FAT 32

ADD EDIT DELETE RESET MAKE RAID DEVICE (BUTTONS)

DRIVE SUMMARY

DRIVE GEOM TOTAL FREE USED USED %
hda 3877/240/63 28000M 0M 28000M 100 %

7. I deleted the hda2 partition, so that I have got hda to 60 % (Approx.) used.

8. I now made the following changes to the partition

PARTITIONS

Mount Point Device Requested Actual Type
<not set> hda1 10033M 10033M Win95 FAT 32
/boot hda2 16M 22M Linux Native
<swap> hda5 125M 125M Linux Swap
/ hda6 1M 18442M Linux Native

ADD EDIT DELETE RESET MAKE RAID DEVICE (BUTTONS)

DRIVE SUMMARY

DRIVE GEOM TOTAL FREE USED USED %
hda 3877/240/63 28623M 0M 28623M 100 %

9. I clicked the next button which was enabled after the changes and proceded to the installation.

10. Completed the installation successfully.

11. Rebotted the PC to see if there are any changes that I was expecting, OH NO, The Win Me boots again. I cant see the options for Linux, even the bootable floppy drive does not solve my problem? Where have I gone wrong? Please help me.

12. When I move to the Win Me to see the directory structure, I dont find D:\ I see only C:\ with 10 GB. So the Linux is installed, but where is it and How do I get it working as of my needs.

Thanks for any great help.
Uma

dai · 08-01-2002, 02:18 PM

Hi Uma

Having read your last post I would just like to ask why you dont use auto partitioning in the free space on your hard drive???(Not that its important now as you have partitioned the drive into /, /swap, and /boot in the free space)

Also after partitioning but before package installation you should as I mentioned beefore be asked which bootloader to load (Grub or Lilo) also at the same time your asked where to install the boot loader and, your able to select your default O/S to boot. Have you seen this screen??

If you have what did you choose to do????

Bert · 08-02-2002, 01:17 PM

Did you use the boot disk to boot into Linux first? It sounds like you didn't install an automatic bootloader, so first you have to get into linux with the boot disk.

jetblackz · 08-05-2002, 04:34 PM

Good points.

Leaving the rest unpartitioned IS the best way to deal with non-Windows OSes.

My guess would be, like Bert, that you didn't install lilo on /dev/hda1 (Win ME). The first time your floppy got you back to Linux. Your install of Linux was fine. You'd just have to add lilo to MBR.

ME is fat32. It can coexist with Linux lilo. lilo is a bootloader that boots and shows you list of exactly what you're after.

Reinstall. Delete the not-working partition(s). Reboot. Reinstall. This time use auto. Then at lilo, point it to /dev/hda1. Rename the menu if you want. Make Me default. 30 seconds would do. Remember to make a bootdisk EVERY TIME you install Linux.

Bert · 08-05-2002, 06:08 PM

Uma, my other OS is, ahem, Windows Me (Linux was easy to switch to after getting that preinstalled). I also used to run RH7.0 until very recently.

My advice is don't use lilo as the one bundled with 7.0 has a couple of technical hitches. Needless to say it can't deal with certain larger disks well.

Anyway. What I did was to download grub from redhats rpmfind site and install that onto a floppy. Until very recently I used a floppy to boot my system! But grub on a floppy is very quick and very easy to install.

If you find yourself in Windows and can't find Linux, use the boot floppy. If you find yourself in Linux and can't boot Windows Me, there's something important you have to do. Run the following program in linux:

fdisk /dev/hda

(this will be /dev/sda if you have a scsi disk)

type 'p' to look at your partitions. Mine look like this.

Code:

Command (m for help): Command (m for help): 
Disk /dev/hda: 240 heads, 63 sectors, 2584 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1      1229   9291208+   c  Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2          1230      1232     22680   83  Linux
/dev/hda3          1233      2584  10221120   40  Extended
/dev/hda5          1233      2549   9956488+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6          2550      2584    264568+  82  Linux swap

Command (m for help):

See the one "encasing" the Linux partition? That's to fool Windows Me into thinking that there's a normal Windows partition, as it doesn't like sharing the hard disk with stuff that wasn't made by Microsoft. BUT Redhat 7.0 doesn't label the partition correctly. You have to change the partitions ID by pressing 't'. This will ask you which partition you want to change. Change the one 'encasing' your linux installation as follows:

Code:

Command (m for help): Command (m for help): 
Disk /dev/hda: 240 heads, 63 sectors, 2584 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1      1229   9291208+   c  Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2          1230      1232     22680   83  Linux
/dev/hda3          1233      2584  10221120    f  Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5          1233      2549   9956488+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6          2550      2584    264568+  82  Linux swap

Command (m for help):

Can you see it? I changed it to Win 95 extended. As intelligent as Windows is, it certainly thinks your other partition is a harmless Windows 95 installation. Ignorance is bliss! When you do that your linux disk which may have appeared on your Windows Me desktop will certainly have disappeared now (it's still there though but windows can't see it) The first partition (on /dev/hda) is WIndows Me (on FAT32 - eughh!)

The one at /dev/hda2 is actually the boot sector for linux. If you look at the numbers, the rest is Linux, but it is labelled as WIn95 Ext'd (LBA). LBA is a way of counting disk tracks so that the BIOS can use the whole disk (the BIOS is not an intelligent program either!)

Another reason I use grub is this:

When you are looking for a bootable filesystem, you can <TAB> through directories to find that elusive bzImage or your windows partition. You always knwo what grub is pointing to as you can diagnose it [u] at boot time[/b]. Please look at the instructions that go with grub if you decide to use it. It's a very powerful program and is the default bootloader for Redhat installations since Redhat 7.2 (I think). Let us know how you get on.

Bert

dstreefkerk · 08-08-2002, 11:38 AM

Get rid of Windows Me while you're at it. Its almost as bad as MSs worst OS, Windows 98.....