How I got XP and Linux working (dual boot)
 

Thought I'd share this as I know it caused me no end of grief....I can't be held responsible for your data though so you have been warned!

It seems that some Distros (mostly ones based on the 2.6 kernel) seem to have problems with dual booting of WinXP and Linux. Although I had limited success getting this working with only one hard disk, in the end it was just easier to install 2 hard disks.

I was installing fresh Windows XP Pro and a fresh Linux install. If you already have a hard disk with Windows XP on then you can skip step 1, but I would guess that you'll need to get rid of any Linux boot manager you have on the Windows HDD first . To do this, boot from the Windows CD-ROM and use the recovery console. At the console prompt type FIXMBR and Y to confirm. Then reboot.

1. Take your PC apart and plug your (Windows) Hard Disk onto the IDE Master. (Install Windows as normal if new HDD)
2. Take out your Windows HDD and set the drive's jumper to slave then put your Linux HDD in as the master and connect your Windows HDD as the slave drive.
3. Install your favourite Linux distro

When your Linux distro has finished installing, it's probably made an attempt at adding your Windows drive/partition as a boot option. This menu option invariably won't work. To get it working we need to get LILO or GRUB to swap the drives around. Depending on your bootloader you'll need to either edit /etc/grub/menu.lst or /etc/lilo.conf

For GRUB you need the following entry added to menu.lst

title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1


For LILO change lilo.conf (this definately works although you might need to change /dev/hdd to something different for your system)

# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hdd1
label = WindowsXP
map-drive = 0x80
to = 0x81
map-drive = 0x81
to = 0x80
table = /dev/hdd
# Windows bootable partition config ends

run: /sbin/lilo (as root) after changing the lilo.conf file to update LILO

Hope this helps someone

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Success Stories and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

You should post this in the "member success stories" section, or kindly ask a moderator to move it for you. That way it will get more coverage than it will sinking into the forum. Congratulations by the way.

Edit: Nevermind, the mods here operate at light speed.:D

if this works...
 

Boy oh boy, I have been trying to install SuSE 9.1 Pro along with XP on the same machine and I have tried everything. I have done it with no problems in the past on other machines but the one I am trying to work now is an old PII machine and I think the BIOS is to blame. However I ran into this method of installing both and it is my last resort, if this works it will make my day and probably my week. I shall post again to say if it worked for me later on. All I can do is hope.