My [Me/2K/RH9] and my [XP/M9.2] boxes work fine using lilo and grub (i havent tried using windows bootloader for fear it would make a mess) But if you have related problems here's more info:
http://forums.devshed.com/t86436/s.html
http://tweakhomepc.virtualave.net/du...dualboot.shtml
http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-m...-Nov/0021.html

I think there is a "BOOTDISK HOW-TO" on www.tldp.org that hopefully isn't too far out of date.

What distro are you running? You should be able to boot on your install disk and issue a boot parameter like "root=/dev/hda2" and have it go right into your hard drive's root file system. You might read instructions related to "rescue disk" procedures.

I found the easiest way to dual boot is to use two drives. I have 2 20 GB hd's, one for windowsXP and one for RedHat9. I have the linux drive as Primary Master IDE and booting to GRUB, was a breeze to get grub to boot Windows.

i think just installing windows (98, XP or both) before installing linux will do the right job. Just follow the order: win98, winXP, linux. 98 will first write the MBR, then XP will modify it to accomodate both 98 and itself.

Finally, when u install linux, select grub as the boot loader (default in RH 8, 9) and install it on the MBR itself - works perfectly for me (i'v installed it many times using this approach on my pc as well as on several of my friends - and never find any probs). I tried not installing grub on the MBR once, and it gave some errors (don't even remember them now).

grub gives u two options at boot time - to load linux or the win boot loader. it 's a breeze then to boot into whatever OS.

hope that helps

my dual boot works using lilo. i know theres grub which is recommended, but my screen was covered in ascii art whenever i tried it. look at this thread. I have used lilo instead of grub, but a 1337 linuxer will be able to assist you to do the same. basically, windwoes needs to think its the primary master. one of those winblowze things.