Triple Boot (Windows & Linux)

Submit

Senior member
Jan 29, 2001
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First installed Windows Me on disk 1 (only use it for games)

Then installed Windows 2000 on disk 2

Then installed Red Hat Linux 7 on disk 1

All three os work just fine. The win2k boot loader will let me boot up
Windows Me and Windows 2k. If I want Linux I have to boot from floppy
(takes long to boot from floppy)

I believe that Red Hat did not install Lilo since the Win2k boot loader was
already installed.

I know there is a way to alter the boot.ini file under Win2k to get another
selection to boot up linux without using the floppy....



Anyone?

Adrian
 

SemperFi

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2000
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If you want to stick with w2k boot loader go here. SUOrangeman's post explains how to create the needed file to use in the W2K bootloader. It worked fine for me. Note you have to create it in linux
 

jleon

Senior member
Feb 1, 2001
215
1
81
From personal experience, I've found that a XOSL to be a much easier bootloader program to set up and use. It has a graphical interface to set up. have fun!
 

MGMorden

Diamond Member
Jul 4, 2000
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I say XOSL too. VERY nice program. If it only could boot the linux kernel directly then that would be awesome.
 

Submit

Senior member
Jan 29, 2001
793
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So I downloaded Bootpart, made a directory on drive c:\bootpart ran bootpart....

0 = C:* type=c <Win95 Fat32 LBA>, size = 14892223 kb
1 = C: type=83 <Linux native>, size = 24097 kb
2 = C: type=5 <Extended>, size = 5092605 kb
3 = C: type=83 <Linux native>, size = 5020281 kb
4 = C: type=5 <Extended>, size = 72292 kb
5 = C: type=82 <Linux swap>, size = 72261 kb
6 = D:* type=c <Win95 Fat32 LBA>, size = 45030163 kb

I tried to run

C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART 1 BOOTLINX.BIN Linux

that did not work, I got an error from windows that it can't load windows ??

then I tried

C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART 3 BOOTLINX.BIN Linux

that did not work as it said insert system disk and press any key....when i put in the linux disk it started lilo and booted linux up fine.

I am thinking that I need to install Lilo somewhere on the linux partition.

How would I do this?

Thanks

Adrian


 

ugh

Platinum Member
Feb 6, 2000
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Perhaps you can boot to Linux and then re-install Lilo on the MBR and create an entry in the lilo.conf file to point it to your Win boot partition. Don't worry, it won't delete the NT boot loader. One disadvantage of doing this is that you'll have to go through an extra menu if you would like to boot to Windows.
 

Rob G.

Senior member
Dec 15, 1999
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I'm definitely a Linux newbie-newbie, but I installed a similar configuration over the weekend.

You don't need to install Lilo to the MBR, there is a more elegant method.

You can fine all the technical details on this page:
http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_other_00011.asp

but for an overview, this is what needs to be done.

1. Install Lilo to the boot partition for Linux. This will be /root or /boot if you specified a separate /boot partition during install.

2. Copy the boot sector from Linux boot partition to a floppy (linux.bin is used in the above link)

3. Boot into Windows and copy the floppy file to C:\

4. Edit C:\boot.ini to include the pointer for Linux. This will add the Linux option to the NT bootloader and point it at the linux.bin file you just copied.

You'll end up with your existing NT booloader but with the added option of Linux. On selecting this, Lilo comes up and starts the OS.

As I said, the link contains all the tech details so give it a good reading through before you try it. It's actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
 

ugh

Platinum Member
Feb 6, 2000
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I've tried that way b4, but somehow it didn't work. Dunno whether it's something to do with the size of my hard disk. I remember there was a discussion somewhere in one of the forums....
 

Rob G.

Senior member
Dec 15, 1999
448
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The current version of Lilo isn't constrained by the 1024 cylinder issue, so you should be able to put it anywhere on the drive.

I run two 46Gb drives and the /root partition is on the last 30mb of the first.
 

Submit

Senior member
Jan 29, 2001
793
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0
I tried to install lilo and I get the 1024 cylinder limit error.

This is using Red Hat 7

??

Adrian
 

ugh

Platinum Member
Feb 6, 2000
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I dont' think that's a LILO problem. Somehow NT Loader just doesn't seem to read the boot sector file properly... I could be wrong... Anyone knows the problem here?