I have a brand new computer, onto which I will eventually be installing Arch and maybe an LFS system. It came preinstalled with Windows Vista, which I need for work purposes. I want to use GRUB as my bootloader, because I know how it works, more or less, and it's easy to add new systems as needed. What I want to know is, is it possible to install the grub files to an NTFS partition, or do I have to make a small FAT partition so that both Windows and GRUB will be able to read the files? I can do that if I must, but I'd rather not... it seems sloppy. And I'd rather not use the Vista bootloader until I get a Linux distro installed, because then inertia would have me never install GRUB.

Can you help, please?

Have a look at grub4dos - I haven't used it since reasonably early in it's development, but it does the job. Haven't tested it on Vista.

But, I don't see the point in your case. Install Arch, and choose to put grub in the MBR - I think it adds a chainloaded Windows entry for you. Been a while since I did a full Arch install too now I think about it.
I always create a boot partition - makes it easier when I am installing different distros.

Here's a link that explains creating a separate Grub partition that is OS independent, specific to Ubuntu but can easily be changed

http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...rub_Partition_