Re: Linux, XP, Win2003 Server multi-boot



General Schvantzkoph wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:29:04 -0700, Christina wrote:

I am acquiring a new machine that will run XP pro. I want it to
multi-boot with RHLinux (8) and Win2003 Server for web testing. I'll be
installiing Apache, PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc. for the server
environment(s). My production environment will be XP (have too much
software and docs on that platform to lose it).

When researching online I saw that most Linux
tutorials/forums/recommendations are to install XP first, then Linux. Some instructions say to have the HD partitioned first, some say to use
'parted' to create partitions after WinXP is installed. My XP reference
book says to install Linux first so the boot loader will recognize it. Some say to use a FAT partition, some say to use NTFS.

There are so many conflicting instructions I'm not sure what to do. Can
someone guide me to a definitive answer?

Thanks,
Christina

You have to install Windows first because it will always write the MRB. Also you have to install Windows on your first disk, Windows can't boot off of other disks. Linux can be installed anywhere you want, it's not picky the way Windows is. The installer in Fedora Core 6 will recognize Windows and put it into the Grub menu, it will call it Other. You can change the Windows boot option name to anything you want by editing /etc/
grub.conf. BTW don't use RH8 unless you have a very good reason, it's obsolete and completely unsupported, use Fedora Core 6 or some other modern distro.

Windows can be installed and booted from any primary disk partition. Older systems also required the boot partition to end below cylinder 1024. It is, however, difficult to install on a drive other than C:.
I've also run into other issues if you move a C: partition away from the front of the disk and build another primary partition in front of it. This causes the sequence of partitions in the drive's partition table to be different from the physical sequencing which can cause other booting problems.

Phil Sherman
.

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