Hey everyone, I'm wanting to upgrade my XP to Vista, but I'm planning on formatting my XP partition and starting clean. My question before I do this is, what is the Vista install going to do to my boot loader? I can only assume that it isn't designed to look for a second OS on the system, so will I be able to recover grub once I do this?

Maybe I'm totally wrong and installing Vista won't change the boot in any way, but I'd like to be sure I'm not going to lose linux, as I use linux much more frequently than Windows, I'd hate to lose it.

Vista will nuke your Grub in the MBR same as a XP, so be prepared.

Before install Vista, drop a floppy into the drive and type at a terminal
to save Grub on a floppy and you can continue to boot Suse with it even after Vista has been installed.

If Vista is installed over XP and inherits its partition you will found the XP booting alternative in the Grub floppy boots directly to Vista. When you are happy with it next time in Suse restore Grub back into MBR by terminal command
If you run a Sata then hda should be replaced by sda, assuming you run only one hard disk.

For additional helps just take a peep at the last link of my signature. You should find all the answers there.

awesome, thats exactly what I was worried about. I assume I can substitute a flash drive for a floppy, as long as my bios are set to boot from usb and I have the correct path, right?

Thank you so much for the reply

Don't you mean downgrading to Vista?

Icaley,

In your case I recommend making a bootable Grub CD.

Just follow the Chapter 3.4 of the Grub Manual.

It requires only one file stage2_eltorito which is inside your Suse already. Just locate it by
Burn this file into a CD according to the step of Grub Manual. It is as good as a Grub floppy and only gives you a Grub prompt.

In a Grub prompt there is no PC system Grub cannot boot! Including your Vista of course. In my experience the Grub floppy or Grub CD is the most lethal booting weapon in the business. That is all I need to boot 100+ systems in my box.

Let me know if you are ready. Most of the command how to use it is in the link in Post #2. Just treat it as a Grub floppy.

Grub doesn't boots from a USB device. So forget it at the moment.

Thanks, I enjoy a little flame every now and then.

Ok, everything was going well until I actually had to make the grub.iso file.
I enter the command:

and it returns:

Any idea what that means?

You have to put stage2_eltorito in /boot/grub subdirectory.

The -b parameter then picks it from the specified boot/grub/stage2_eltorito

Oh, I'm sorry, I think I lost my brain somewhere earlier. When I logged into root, I forgot I wasn't in my home directory anymore...

Ok, one more dumb question, and then it seems that I'll be good to go for now... Do I have to do anything special when I burn the disc? Can I just dump the grub.iso file onto it? or do I have to burn it as an image? if so, how do I do that?

Thanks so much

Nevermind again, I got it working, tested it, and it works perfect! Thanks! Now I'm ready for my Vista install!

Icaley,

This is how to use the Grub CD.

Boot it up to a Grub prompt. Check the partition details of your hard disk by geometry command on 1st disk (hd0)
The 1st partition that has ID tpe number 0x83 should be the /boot of Suse. The one with type 0x7 is a NTFS partition.

Say the partition number is 0 with ID 0x7 then you can boot XP or Vista up manually by
To boot Suse, say it is in partition (2) then these two line in Grub prompt will fire it up

lcaley, did dual-booting work out for you? My son has a toshiba laptop with vista, and wants to install and dual boot with xp.