Hi everyone. I am sort of ok with Linux and also with Windows.
I need help regarding booting options for my system which has Windows XP and RedHat Linux.

I had searched enough about this on the Net but couldn't get exact information. Please help me.

I have a WindowsXP OS running on my system which has two hard drives.
Then I installed RedHat Linux on the other Harddrive.
The problem is that I am not able to see the booting options for my Linux. I need to access it using my Boot Floppy. Is there anything that I need to configure which would give me option to boot to linux without having to use my Boot Floppy.
Do I need to modify anything in the Boot.ini file in Windows which would make me access the Linux side.

I used LILO while installing RedHat but didn't choose the booting options to boot it from Linux as the first 1024 part of the system is occupied by Windows. I donno much about it.

Please help me. I had been facing this problem no matter how many times I installed the Linux machine.

Thankyou very much
Best Regards
Chan

you have to replace the Windows "bootloader" with LILO,which can boot Linux,Windows, etc.

You have to write it to the MBR (master boot record).

In lilo, look for:

"boot="

and make it: boot=/dev/hda

this will install it to the MBR of the first harddrive.

Then once you save, run "/sbin/lilo" as root.

Most recent BIOS's allow LBA so there's no need to worry about the old 1024 cyliner limit -

Follow Contrasutras advice.

To get to Lilo.conf in Red Hat

Open a command line Terminal

Then type:

su

<Press enter>

Then type your Root password

<Press enter>

then type

kedit /etc/lilo.conf

Then follow Contrasutras advice and change the boot= directive to /dev/hda - reember to type /sbin/lilo at the command line as Contrasutra said after youve done the boot= part and saved lilo.conf

oh wait, If I remember, Redhat uses an old version of LILO that cant be run on 40+GB drives.

You may want to try GRUB. You change it a very similar way, you just dont have to run "grub" afterwards.

The LILO version in Red Hat 9 is fine with 40 gig drives - I'm using a Western Digital Caviar 40 gig with Red Hat 9 and LILO.

Hello Guys,
I have RedHat Linux 8 installed and not RedHat Linux 9. I didn't get what you all were saying about the 40 Gig Harddrives.

Regarding the instructions that you all have given for chaning the Lilo.conf and running it, Is that all that I need to do. Will that fix my MBR and make me able to boot to Linux and Windows.
What will take care of the booting. Is it Windows or Linux. I am just trying to be cautious and know more before I make any changes. Please help me.

I am amazed at the speed that you guys have replied with exact information. Thankyou so much. I will wait for your reply and then make the changes that you guys suggested.

thankyou very much
Best Regards
Chan

see if u can run liloconfig, it gives u a graphikish interface for configuring lilo (i don't know where liloconfig is located, so do a "su -" first and then do liloconfig)

if u get that running, select to make a new boot file and go through the options and make sure /dev/hda is the boot drive and select the partitions u want to boot

if u want me to be more specific or i could probaby write a lilo.conf for u, do an fdisk -l /dev/hda and fdisk -l /dev/hdb and post what u get

after u get through the liloconfig, say install the boot loader, or just exit, save, and type lilo

when u get through with just doing the liloconfig, do a gedit (or kedit) /etc/lilo.conf and post it here

Hello guys,
I don't find the lilo.conf file in /etc directory. How can I lookit up where it is located.

I typed whereis lilo.conf and it came up with results
/sbin/lilo and /usr/share/man/man8/lilo.8.gz

Do I need to unzip the file and do anything to be able to modify
my lilo.conf file. Please let me know

Thanking you
Best Regards
Chan

run the command liloconfig as root and see if u can make a lilo.conf file

I tried liloconfig it is not doing anything. It is not finding that command itself.

thankyou
Best Regards
Chan

Hi Chan

To get lilo.conf on your screen to make the neccesary changes

Open a command line Terminal

Then type:

su

<Press enter>

Then type your Root password

<Press enter>

then type

kedit /etc/lilo.conf

if kedit is not on RH8 then try

kwrite /etc/lilo.conf

then make the changes we mentioned before

type

su -

(don't forget the dash), then your root password. after that you should be able to run liloconfig.

Hi all,
Thankyou for all the help. I could see that I have
lilo.conf.anaconda on my system. Now what should I do exactly

I had
boot = boot=/dev/hda3 on that file.

Do I have to rename it to lilo.conf file and then make
boot=/dev/hda in there.

I logged in as root so will that be any different as typing
su - and giving the password. As far as I know I should have full privileges for using liloconfig command if I am logged in as root. Suppose I logged in as a user and then given su -
will I be able to do the liloconfig.
I am not able to run the changed file. What should I use.

the things that I did are

I made a backup of my lilo.conf.anaconda file and
renamed the lilo.conf.anaconda file as lilo.conf in the /etc directory. After that if I am trying to do sbin/lilo it is not running.

What option should I use.

I am really glad that people here are replying to their best of knowledge. I am sure that I will be able to fix this problem now and will be able to help others too.

Thanks everyone and will look for your expert advise in this current situation of mine.

Best Regards
Chan

Why would you want to use liloconfig for this? - Its simple just to use a text editor from the command line.

The line you want to change to have LILO installed to the MBR is the

boot= directive

change it to

boot=/dev/hda

once youve done that remeber to run the map installer /sbin/lilo as root.

i agree that's the easiest and best way, i just thought if someone were having problems even finding lilo.conf it might help to have the liloconfig gui.