Hello everybody,

my question is this.
I already have a dual boot system , with XP professional on one
hard drive and Red Hat Linux on the other. So I choose an operating system at boot time.

Now I want to install Windows Server 2003 as a third operating system.
Is this possible? I have a free 20 gig partition (NTSF) on the second hard drive and about 40 gig
unused memory on this same drive.
Should I just procede and install it somewhere there, because I read somewhere that if I install a Windows OS after the Linux, I might not be able to see the Linux any more because the Windows could override some boot files.

What is the best way to do this?
I am a student and I mostly need this for educational purposes. I am going to do a project with Server 2003 and thats why I want to have it.

I appreciate any help. Thank you very much for your help and time.

Martin

hi there,

you should be able to install Windows Server 2003 on that free space. Before you do so, make sure you have created the linux bootdisks because Windows Server 2003 will definetely overwrite the MBR which means that you will have to reconfigure grub or lilo (whichever bootloader you have originally installed).

Since you really need it for a project, I'd say make sure you have created the bootdisks, and you should give it a try. Just make sure you don't select the wrong partition when you install it or remove any unneccessarily

Have you ever thought of using VMWare? You could use it and probably use Windows Server 2003 that way as well - sort of like a virtual O/S through linux. But that's totally up to you.

Hope this helps!

......... and for creating a bootdisk in Red Hat

Put a floppy disk in your floppy drive

open a shell - su to root user

mkbootdisk <kernel_version>

ie for Red Hat 9

mkbootdisk 2.4.20-8

Hi ,

thanks for your help. I will definetely try that.
I just want to make sure of one more thing before I do
something bad.

When I Install Windows Server 2003 it will overwrite the MBR
and then it will boot only to the Windows Server , and I will not
be able to boot to Windows XP and Linux (my to operating systems that I have now) until I reconfigure my GRUB.

However if I insert my Linux boot diskette it will boot my Linux?
Is that correct? How can I reconfigure my Grub from there?

Or can I insest my Linux Installation CD and do something like an upgrade and reconfigure the GRUB loader this way.

I just want to make sure that it is a good idea , before I do
something bad and loose my stuff.

Do you think that Grub can be configured to load 3 systems (Server, XP and Linux)

Thanks for your time and help.
Martin