First install windows in c drive
then install linux and when it ask to write mbr it will warn u of existing os and will give option to write the linux boot in some other location. Confirm and install the linux

when u start subsequently u will c only linux
go to /root/boot/grub/grub.conf

add following lines and reboot

titile windows2000


rootnoverify(hd0,0)
chainloader +1

this config is w0rking fine for me

hope this helps

I use GRUB both in the MBR and is as many partitions as I can stuff it in... for maximum flexibility. Here is one version of /boot/grub/menu.lst that I often use:

#
# /boot/grub/menu.lst - generated by Lizard
#
# options
timeout = 5
splashscreen = (hd0,8)/boot/message.rl

default = 0

title = Lycoris Desktop/LX
root = (hd0,8)
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz-pc97-2.4.18-modular vga=274 quiet console=ttyS3,9600 apm=off acpi=no-idle root=/dev/hda9

title = Windows 2000 Professional
chainloader = (hd0,0)+1

title = CalderaOpenLinux (hda4)
root = (hd0,3)
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz vga=274 quiet root=/dev/hda4

title = Mandrake Linux (hda5) Graphical Login
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi hdb=ide-scsi quiet vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title = Mandrake Linux-nonfb (hda5)
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi hdb=ide-scsi

title = Mandrake failsafe (hda5)
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 devfs=nomount hdd=ide-scsi hdb=ide-scsi failsafe

title = Libranet GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.18 (hda6)
root = (hd0,5)
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18 root=/dev/hda6 ro hdd=scsi

title = Red Hat Linux (hda7)
chainloader = (hd0,6)+1

title = SuSE Linux (hda8)
chainloader = (hd0,7)+1

title = SuSE Linux (2.4.18) (hda8)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.suse ro root=/dev/hda8 hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /boot/initrd.suse

title = Lycoris Desktop/LX
chainloader = (hd0,8)+1

title = Gentoo Linux (hda11)
root = (hd0,10)
kernel = /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda11 vga=791

title = Sourceror Linux (hda12)
root = (hd0,11)
kernel = /boot/vmlinubz-2.4.17 root=/dev/hda12 vga=791

title = Lycoris Desktop/LX (hda9) old kernel
root = (hd0,8)
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz-pc97-2.4.12-modular vga=274 quiet console=ttyS3,9600 apm=off acpi=no-idle root=/dev/hda9

title Libranet GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.19 (hda12)
root (hd0,11)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.19 root=/dev/hda12 ro hdd=scsi
savedefault

title Libranet GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.19 (single user mode) (hda12)
root (hd0,11)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.19 root=/dev/hda12 ro hdd=scsi single
savedefault

I guess we're -all- something of a minority ;-), we use both M$ and RH! (Most "Unix" guys I know pretend that M$ does not exist...) I need M$ for the work I do, and I like RH, so why fuss?

What I tried:

I have a Dell (Inspiron 5000) laptop that (had) Win98 and RH 8.0 installed with the ext3 filesystem.

I was getting more and more annoyed with W98, and decided to upgrade to W2k. (by saving everything, nuking the partition, and re-installing W2k from scratch - IMHO, M$ "upgrades" stink)

With this, I had a nicely booting W2k, and had clobbered the Grub bootloader in the MBR. No problem! Out comes the CD, I boot into Rescue Mode, chroot to /mnt/sysimage, and run grub-install /dev/hda

No dice. The best I was able to get was a "format not supported" message from Grub.

What I ultimately did was to save anything of importance from the RH install, and re-install -THAT-... Errrr....

Now I have the grub loader that has entries for both W2k -AND- my RH install.

(p.s. there is a nice R/O NTFS driver at http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/info/redhat.html )

Anybody try this w/ RH 8.0 using ext3?

Any idea what I screwed up (other than a good nights sleep? ;-) )

Jim

Whenever you change an OS, Jim, the best things to do are to:

1) Write the boot block to the partition containing the OS, then update your boot loader that runs on the MBR to point to the new or changed disk partitions containing your OS.

2) Write a floppy boot disk for every OS that you riun so that you can recover easily from any failures or misunderstandings that might occur.

In your case, while it's hard to know for sure, it sounds like you may have had one, but possibly two problems that you were dealing with:

1) The MBR got overwritten and
2) The boot block was not correctly set for each disk partition that you were using.

Errant partition resizing can also sometimes damage boot blocks and even the contents of information within a particular disk partition, though that's not what your problem sounds like.

What's interesting here is that what I did is -supposed- to work....

I know I clobbered the MBR when I installed W2k, that's a given. I've done that before & been able to recover. LILO was very good for that... I could boot back into my RH install, re-run LILO, and I was back in the saddle again!

Grub-install is -supposed- to be able to recover from this kind of thing too, and my brother (a RHCE who I pester!) tells me that this is so (and he is confused as to why it is not working for -me- - maybe a bug?)

What I plan to do (along with collecting comments here that might help!) is to take another Dell laptop, set it up simularly, and try to reproduce this particular problem.

God willin' & the creek don't rise ;-) I will try to reproduce this, and report results. (i.e. what I did wrong originally - and how to recover, or if this is a REAL bug, the fact that I put it up on Bugzilla, and what the comments are.

However, any observations that might help me get to the bottom of this much more quickly would be appreciated.

Jim

You are right to be concerned with security practices, but that has nothing to do with either Lilo or Grub, nor does it have anything to do with the placment of Lilo or Grub on the MBR. Your principal boot manager is always loaded on the MBR -- whether its the formatted, default Windoze code that chainloads a boot sector, or something more sophisticated and configurable such as Lilo or Grub. Both these boot managers provide technology solutions to security, but both are only as secure as you choose to use the available tools.

Find the manuals for these boot managers, read up on the security features available in each, and then apply those tools as a part of a total attitude of security.

First install win2k
then install linux 7.2
write the boot sector of linux in linux partition as it will tell you that some other ( win2k) boot is in the c drive. Just say yes and continue.
Now only redhat will work.
goto /boot/grub/grub.conf
add the following lines which will enable the win2k to appear in the grub menu and you can use both win2k and linux
title windows 2k
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Hope this helps