LinuxQuestions.org - Dual Boot LILO w/ no Floppy Drive

Hello,

Im new to linux and so I decided to try out Slackware 10.
I had a problem with installation and found a solution to it, and would like to share this with all.

This is going to be a long post:

I have an HP compaq nc6000 laptop. The laptop has no floppy drive.
I have WinXP on it and I wanted to keep it. So that means I would have to Dualboot the laptop.

I dowload the ISOs for slackware installation 10 and follow the general instructions found in this thread UP to the 'Create bootdisk' point:

[Sorry about not giving complete links, but I cant post them since im new to the forums]

bitbenderforums.com/vb22/showthread.php?postid=311808

Obviously, I cant create a boot disk (no floppy!!)

I continued on until I get to the ' LILO destination' section.

Since I want to dual boot, I choose to install to 'Root' (superblock).

However, I get an error Message. (bummer)
LILO is not configured correctly and needs to be manually done.
For now, I ignore the eror, as I will get to this later.

I continue on and complete the setup. I exit setup and it then asks me to Reboot PC.

However, I need to fix LILO before that.
to do so, I type the following:
liloconfig

The LILO install window opens up. I choose 'Expert'. THen 'Begin'.
Then I choose the frame buffer.
Next, I select 'Root' as my destination.
The following window, 'None' is chosen for timeouts

THe next step, I choose 'Linux'.
I type in
/dev/hda2 (that is where my Root Partition is located)
Next, I give it a name of 'SLACK'

Finally, I choose 'Install'. Of course, I get an error and LILO config exits.

Im back at the prompt. To fix this error, I type in the following:
lilo -P ignore
(please note the CaPital P - if you type in small p it wont work!!)

Ok now Lilo is working. Now I need to transfer this over to the NT bootloader.

I followed directions for WIN NTwith some mods from the following webpage:
slackware.com/book/index.php?source=x1776.html

First, i typed the following
dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/tmp/bootsect.lnx bs=1 count=512

I double checked that the bootsect.lnx file was in the /tmp folder
cd /tmp
ls

Ok, now I rebooted the laptop and went back to WinXP.

Once in Windows, i downloaded a program from the following webpage
uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm (ext2ifs-0.3.zip)

the program, EXT2IFS, is great for a situation like mine (no floppy boot disk!).

I installed the program, followed the instructions (step 2a may not work but continue on to step 2b) and rebooted the laptop again so the program can take effect.

Once back in WINXP, I could now see the Linux partitions!! (If you chose to start the driver manually in step 1 of the installation, your going to have to start the program again and go to step 3 to start driver)

I copied the bootsect.lnx file from /tmp folder to C:\

I continued on with the instructions from slackware.com (The link from above)
and rebooted PC.

And Now I have a DUAL BOOT Laptop!!

To summarize, get the ext2ifs program if you want to dualboot and there is no floppy drive on your pc.

Hope this helps and thanx to all others who post solutions.

Aragon H