[lug] Problem with LILO & WIn 2k

Fri Nov 9 12:28:24 MST 2001

I haven't really followed this thread much, so excuse any stupid
assumptions on the first post. At several installfests recently I have
installed mandrake on some win2k boxes. Lilo pretty much blows w/ this
config, but grub works flawlessly. I still don't understand crap about
grub other than it works great w/ win2k & could care less about the 1024
limit.

On Fri, Nov 09, 2001 at 12:12:05PM -0700, Sexton, George wrote:
> Wow... Everyone really does this the hard way. A much easier way is:
> 
> Leave NT (or Win2K alone).
> 
> Install Linux. Have lilo write the boot loader to the first block of the
> /boot partition. Linux can also be on a different drive.
> 
> Use the BootPart (http://www.winimage.com/) program from NT to install the
> Linux boot partition block on to the NT partition and add Linux as a choice
> from the NT Boot Loader Menu.
> 
> Boot the machine and Choose Linux from the NT Boot Loader screen.
> 
> Done.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us [mailto:lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us]On
> Behalf Of DavidMorris at beldin.morris-clan.net
> Sent: 08 November, 2001 7:08 AM
> To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> Subject: Re: [lug] Problem with LILO & WIn 2k
> 
> 
> I happen to have just spent a lot of time experimenting with exactly this
> situation....only I was free to wipe my Win2k partition.  Below are notes I
> took during my experiments....removing excess bagage, and modified slightly
> to be applicable to this case.  These notes were taken installing
> Debian/Win2k, but should be fairly generic.
> 
> First, you must have a /boot partition in the first 1024 cylinders of the
> disk.  There is no getting around this as far as I could tell, and I
> experimented with just about every solution I could think of.  Most clever
> solutions destroyed the Win2k partition (not recommended! ;).  One solution
> I did have luck with but did not use (needed NTFS), was:
> 
> - Use FAT32 or FAT16 for the first partition
> - Install to the partition at the end of the disk
> - When mounting partitions in the installer, go to the second console
>   before continuing.
> - Move the existing /boot directory to /boot.old if it has anything in it,
>   and create a new /boot directory.
> - Mount your FAT16/FAT32 partition in the /boot directoryl, and modify
>   /etc/fstab
> - Copy over any files in /boot.
> - Continue with normal installation.
> 
> Partition Magic, as mentioned below, is a great way to do get your /boot
> partition at the start of the diskthis.  It will allow you to resize
> partitions (NTFS, FAT16, or FAT32) either by shrinking them down at the
> end.....or moving them over at the beginning.  There are other partitioning
> programs that will do this, but if you need NTFS support there are no free
> solutions....leastwise none that are trustworth for important data.
> Partition Magic, last I heard, is the best available, but my knowledge is a
> tad out of date..perhaps someone else can support/refute the best NTFS
> partitioner with support for creating space at the beginning of the disk?
> 
> Ok, now once you have your /boot partition (5 MB if you are going to be
> boring, 20 MB if you plan on doing a lot of playing around with custom
> kernel compilations), everything should be much easier.  Here are the steps
> I recommend based on my recent experimentation:
> 
> - Delete the second 10 GB partition (let LINUX re-create the partition
>   structure after the Win2k partition)
> - Create paritions for /boot, /, and /home.  /tmp too if you like (I always
>   do).
> - Make a note of what partition Win2k is on.
> - Install LILO to the system MBR (not to a partition MBR!)
> - Once linux is installed and setup, edit lilo.conf.  You can simply add:
>     other=/dev/hda4
>         alias=2
>         other=Win2k
> - Now, when you boot, you will get LILO, not the Win2k boot loader.  Simply
>   press the "shift" key to get the boot prompt, and "tab" to list the
>   options.  In this case, "2" will boot Win2k.  You can still change Win2k
>   boot options by pressing "F8" quickly.
> 
> There you go, a dump of my recent findings.....hope this helps!
> 
> --David
> 
> 
> On Tue, Nov 06, 2001 at 02:31:48PM -0500, John Karns wrote:
> > On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, "Saltiel, Hernán Claudio" said:
> >
> > > 	I didn't create a /boot partition on a cyl <1024, because my disc is
> > > patitioned into two 10 Gb. partitions, and I have a lot of work on the
> Win2k
> > > partition, so I cannot delete it!
> >
> > Partition magic works very well in this kind of situation, allowing one to
> > manipulate the partitions as desired to place them within desired
> > boundaries, re-size, etc.  I guess now there are one or two open source
> > pkgs which function in a similar manner.  Not sure how well any of them
> > deal with NTFS formatted partitions, if at all, although I suspect that
> > the later versions of PM would be capable.  These later versions also
> > include a boot loader which may be your advantage.  I've been user of PM
> > since version 1 when it came out for OS/2, and always had good results.
> > Although I did hear of some problems with one of the early versions which
> > included the boot loader.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > John Karns                                        jkarns at csd.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> > Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug

-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft does write "free" software.  Not free as in "free beer" or |
| "free speech", but "Free Tibet". -- Milan Svoboda in linux at linux.cz  |
+------------------------------------------------------------zoom------+
| Faster-Laster                                 jason at fasterlaster.com |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+