Hey guys, I just downloaded the Mandrake 10.1 cd iso's and am planning to intsall it next to XP in a few hours. I want to get a few things cleared before I porceed so I don't make the same mistakes again.

1.) I do NOT want linux to install a bootloader or MBR on my hard drive. Why? Everytime I tried, I could NEVER get back into windows no matter what I did. So, is it possible that I make a Mandrake Linux 10.1 "boot cd" or a boot floppy so that my WinXP will boot up by default unless I pop in the linux boot disk? (Preferably, a boot cd since they are more reliable than floppys) If it is in fact possible, where can I download the boot info from so I can put it on the floppy or cd from windows before I install Linux. (Must I do it before I install Linux, or can I wait till I get to that screen where it gives me the option of where to install the bootloader and choose floppy)


2.) Also, when I am partitioning the drive and it asks me for a "root" mount point, what should I do then? Is setting it to "/mnt/root" correct? Also I assume that I am supposed to make the root partition the size of the empty space on the Hard drive. Is that assumption correct?

First answer, can't give you specific answer. I've always installed boot loader on MBR.

Second answer, the mount point would be "/" and you can install mandrake on the partition you intend to. You can have swap as a partition or as a file on root but seperate partition is generally recommended.

I've also had trouble with default boot installs so here goes.

In answer to your first question, I made a boot floppy at the prompt screen during installation. It should be possible to write the contents of this floppy to a CD-R. I have to tell you though that it is possible to do a really nice install of Grub after installation in your own sweet time. Take a look at the following link;
http://www.wbglinks.net/pages/reads/linux/grub.html
I've done my own Grub install on several distros as described here and it has always worked on a dual boot system.

I believe your second question has already been answered

Thanx ^^^^^^ , I will check it out and get back to you about it.