Dual boot XP/RedHat7.2

[RX 7 Playboy]

OK I have 2 40 gig Maxtors one 7200rpm ata133 and the other 5400 rpm ata100. I have Windows XP Pro installed on the first HDD and Linux Redhat 7.2 installed on the other one. How can I run a dual boot? I don't know how at all. I can get into Linux by using the boot disk and then typing "linux /dev/hdb" at boot: screen which the boot disk brings up. I want to be able to turn the computer on and it ask me which OS do I want to Run. Like a multi boot on the same HDD. But I do not know how to do a Multi boot with two HDD's. Someone pleases help me out.

 

[JimmyG]

You need to install LILO. This is usually an option when you first install lynux.

Another option is to purchase boot magic and install it on the XP harddrive. Boot magic will search for other operating systems and set itself up in the boot sector. It gives you a menu to select the system to boot from.

LILO works the same way. I have never installed LILO after the fact but it probably can be done. I am only familiar with Mandrake, so I can't lead you directly to it. But, there may be as system configuration program similar to the one in Mandrake that lets you install LILO.

If you don't mind starting over, you could reinstall Redhat and use the advanced user option and you would probably find an option to install LILO there.

 

[RX 7 Playboy]

I had chose LILO to begin with and installed it on the the Linux HDD. I just don't know what to do from there

 

[Beelzebub]

I have the exact same question and was going to post it, but you beat me. Seems from what I am reading that you need to install LILO or Grub on the primary hard drive while doing the install for linux...

1.) Install WinXP
2.) Install Linux
2a.) Install LILO or Grub on primary hard drive
3.) Boot normally and chose what OS you want to run.

This is what I have read, but I haven't tried it because I cannot afford to lose anything on my WinXP disk. Can someone out there let me know if this is correct? Right now I am just unplugging my primary hard drive and booting off the second drive to run Mandrake, but this is obviously a lame way to do it.

Is there anyone who knows how to alter the WinXP Bootloader to access the second drive?

 

[RX 7 Playboy]

I got it working right but i used boot magic 7.0 to do it. Just download it somewhere and run it and it will do the rest for you. It is really easy.

 

[Beelzebub]

I can't use Bootmagic, because my primary hard drive is NTFS. Is there no way to alter the XP boot-loader to boot Linux? I have spent all day looking at forums and how-to's and nothing is working for me. I cannot afford to lose my XP Drive trying to get the other Linux drive to dual-boot. We need a sticky on this

 

[XWRed1]

There is.

Just go into Linux, and dd the boot sector of your boot floppy to a file.

dd if=/dev/fd0 of=~/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

Then copy that onto your c drive in Winxp however you can. Then edit the NT-Loader's boot.ini, make an entry for Linux, and instead of having it boot from the big, long, arc path that is used for NT, have it boot from C:\bootsect.lnx

 

[Beelzebub]

I have tried that and it doesn't work. I have read that it works for NT and 2K, but I cannot seem to get it to work for XP's Bootloader. Any ideas?

 

[XWRed1]

I don't know, I used it with Win2k and NT4 in the past... I don't see why it would be broken with Winxp, but thats the only way to boot anything else in XP's NT-Loader. I guess Microsoft broke the ability for their boot loader to boot other oses.....

Why can't you just live with Grub or Lilo, and put a Winxp entry in there again?

 

[Beelzebub]

Well, I would prefer to use XP's Bootloader. I wouldn't mind using anything that gets it to work, but I don't want to run the risk of screwing up my XP drive (too much stuff on there).

I have tried BootMagic, but it doesn't work with NTFS. I have tried System Commander 7.03, but can't seem to get it to run correctly.

What would be cool is to make a BootCD with the info I need (don't have a floppy on this drive), but I don't know linux well enough to make one (I have only used Mandrake for a few days).

- Main Drive is 30 GB Western Digital with 1 Dynamic Partition booting XP
- Second Drive is a 30 GB Western Digital with a 15 GB Mandrake Linux Partition / 15 GB unused (so far)

I can boot Linux if I disconnect my main drive and boot that way. I want to avoid reinstalling XP at all costs.

 

[XWRed1]

Putting stuff in the mbr won't screw up any of the oses. At worst, it'd make your machine unbootable until you fixed it.

 

[Beelzebub]

How do I revive my Windows MBR if I reinstalling Mandrake on the second drive and allow Grub or Lilo to overwrite the Windows Bootloader?

 

[funnyperson1]

How do I revive my Windows MBR if I reinstalling Mandrake on the second drive and allow Grub or Lilo to overwrite the Windows Bootloader?

i booted up with the XP boot disk and then went to repair console and there is a function to rewrite MBR there....

 

[Beelzebub]

I reinstalled Mandrake on the second drive and then configured Grub to boot on the main drive. Now all is well. Thanks

 

[David]

How do I revive my Windows MBR if I reinstalling Mandrake on the second drive and allow Grub or Lilo to overwrite the Windows Bootloader?

Windows/DOS bootdisk:

fdisk /mbr