I am very new to Linux/Mandrake 10, and I was gonna do an install next to my Windows partition on my harddrive, but unfortunately during Mandrake installation, it must have removed the Windows bootoption. I believe Lilo is the program that lets you select an O.S. when booting, correct? Windows isnt in the list, but it's still on my harddrive fortunately.

Is there a way I can set Lilo to include Windows as a bootable O.S.?

if you are running Win9X, you can try booting to DOS and type this at the command prompt: fdisk[space]/MBR.
As I understand, XP has a utility for fixing this problem. Do a search here, this question has ben asked over and over and over...

I used the searchfunction and came up with a solution. I would have to edit the lilo.conf file. I need to add a reference to my windows partition (on the same harddisk as Mandrake), but I don't know what the values should be. Could somebody with Mandrake and Windows XP please copy-paste his /etc/lilo.conf configuration here? Mine looks like this:

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
default="linux"
keytable=/boot/us-latin1.klt
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
vga=788
read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux-nonfb"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht"
read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk
label="263-7"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="failsafe"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="failsafe acpi=ht devfs=nomount"
read-only

My "/etc/lilo.conf" file includes several options for booting alternative operating systems, ending with:
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="failsafe"
root=/dev/hdb9
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="failsafe acpi=ht devfs=nomount"
read-only

other=/dev/hda1
label=BootMgr

other=/dev/hda2
label=PCdos/Win3
change
partition=/dev/hda2
set=DOS16_big_normal
partition=/dev/hda3
set=DOS16_big_hidden

other=/dev/hda3
label=Windows98
change
partition=/dev/hda2
set=DOS16_big_hidden
partition=/dev/hda3
set=DOS16_big_normal

#other=/dev/hda2
# label="windows"
# table=/dev/hda

The change details are to hide and unhide alternative primary partitions that will be used as "C: drives" so you won't need them. The Mandrake install created the boot menu item "windows" that I have commented out. It includes a line to describe where the partition table will be found, that doesn't seem necessary

Thanks alot, unfortunately I haven't got it to work. I know my Windows boot is on hda1. I tried adding the following lines to lilo.conf:

other=/dev/hda1
label="windows"
table=/dev/hda

Didn't work, so I tried:

other=/dev/hda1
label="windows"
table=/dev/hda1

No luck, so:

other=/dev/hda1
label="windows"

Nothing extra shows up in lilo's bootlist, so I must be doing something wrong?

After any modification in the file /etc/lilo you must run (as root) "lilo" to activate the alterations.

Did you remember that?

No I didn't actually What do you mean by 'running lilo as root'? (sorry for asking, but I'm very new to this)

After any edit of the file lilo you must type (as root):

#lilo

So the modifications are done in the boot manager, the file you edit is only a text file.

Should anything happen after I type that in a terminal? Nothing seems to happen when I type #lilo...

Sorry you have to type only lilo (without # mark (this is a sign you are root).

Thanks alot, it worked out