[lug] Windoze/Linux and no lilo

[Daniel Webb]

> Windows is notorious for installing its own bootloader.  The
> residential class OSes are also notorious for interpreting
> non-Windows partitions as "unused" partitions that should be
> formatted for use by Windows, since otherwise the space is
> going to waste.
>
> That's why I (and many others) have strict policies that Windows
> must have its own disk, and it must be the only disk in the system
> when updating the Windows OS.  The disk is temporarily the master
> on that IDE channel.
>
> But in practice that disk is made the secondary disk on the IDE
> channel, and the LILO config swaps /dev/hda and /dev/hdb before
> handing off control.  That makes Windows think that it's on
> drive C: and it seems to be unable to see the Linux disks.
>
> Some people manage to run with dual-boot systems on a single disk,
> but I've seen too many Linux installations go *poof* to be comfortable
> with that.

  I used to dual-boot multiple systems, and I have never seen Windows try
to do anything with any partitions marked ext2 or linux swap.  I did lose
the Windows partition (Linux coup?) and realized that I really could do
just fine without having Windows at all, and so I haven't used Windows for
almost two years now.

  Windows will overwrite the MBR though, so have a boot disk and know how
to use it.