Got a desktop with two disks. Dsk0: has C: as sole partition where Win2K has resided contentedly for years. Added Dsk1: and used PartitionMagic8 to create partition D: in NTFS which occupies HALF of Dsk1:. Left the other half unused. Then installed Mandrake 9.2; DrakX easily handled the partitioning of the remaining unused space when I selected "Use existing partitions."

I got the impression from the manual that the install would also set up a bootloader automatically to recognize both OS's, so I did nothing about GRUB/LILO. Oops. On reboot I got the dread "L 99 99 99 . . ." Used the Mandrake install CD in "rescue" mode to reinstall "Windows bootloader" and thus revived Win2K. Whew! But what should I have done?

Linux installs so easily, I wouldn't mind doing it again, but I really need sound ADVICE on what to do to make the system dual boot. I'm oblivious whether it's a Win bootloader or the Linus bootloader (LILO/GRUB?). I just want the simplest thing to do.

Cahfoof

Grub is pretty easy to use. I like it because if you screw up the configuration files you can still use the grub command line to boot your OS. Make sure you have it install the boot loader in the MBR, not installing on the MBR is the most likely reason for getting the L 99 99 99.... from lilo.

Cool. But is the best procedure to PartitionMagic the current Linux partitions back to a single unused partition and reinstall from scratch, or is there some way of using the 9.2 CD to go into Linux and add the GRUB right now?

I wouldn't undo your partitions. I haven't used the mandrake rescue disk since 7.1, but there is a way to do it using a Knoppix cd, so it might work with the disk you have. Basically, you use the cd to boot, mount the partition(s) you need to work on, then use the 'chroot' command, which allows you to pretend you booted your dead system. Once that's ready, it's just a matter of fixing /etc/lilo and running /sbin/lilo. It's not hard, but it's hard to tell you details without exact information on your partitions. You can find most of this stuff by googling or searching LQ a little, though.

You can also install grub in a similar fashion, but I'd probably prefer to get lilo working again, and then deal with another bootloader. There's not usually ever a reason to reinstall Linux, but without some experience, sometimes it's the easiest option. But I most definitely wouldn't undo your partition setup, because there's no reason to. If you decide to reinstall, your next distro will happily find that partition, and it will save you some time and hassle.