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I already have slackware installed and would like to dual-boot with windows xp or something similar. I have a free partition for windows, but I'm afraid it might try to overwrite my existing boot sector or otherwise misbehave. Can anyone tell me if this is likely to be a problem? Thanks!
Yes, it most definitely is. Your best bet: make a boot disk with lilo on it, install XP on the free partition, then, using the boot disk, boot back into linux and reinstall lilo because it will have been overwritten.
but I'm afraid it might try to overwrite my existing boot sector
No might about it. A new Windows install is going to rewrite your MBR.
Check your Slackware install CD for the option to boot an already installed system. Confirm it works before installing Windows.
You can rewrite your bootloader after the restart.
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