Re: Please help with XP Professional dual boot

From: Scott Alfter (salfter_at_salfter.diespammersdie.dyndns.org)
Date: 12/10/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 19:21:25 GMT

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In article <OnZZiI21EHA.2824@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl>,
Michael Stevens <mstevens@bogusmvps.org> wrote:
>You don't need the 30 gig partition. Format the drives with one or more
>partitions large enough for installing the OS.
>Install XP to the primary hard drive.
>Then install Redhat placing Grub on the second hard drive with Redhat.
>Personally, I would use the boot floppy method for booting Redhat and leave
>the XP bootloader intact. Makes it easier if you need to reinstall either
>OS.

You can boot Linux through the NT bootloader, which gets rid of the need for
a boot floppy and doesn't run the risk of leaving your Windows install
unbootable. Let's say that you have WinXP/2K/NT on /dev/hda and Linux on
/dev/hdb. Set up your Linux bootloader to install to the MBR of /dev/hdb,
then copy the first block of the MBR to a file:

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

Copy bootsect.lnx to a floppy and boot into Windows. Right-click on My
Computer and click Properties. Click the Advanced tab, then click the
Startup and Recovery Settings button. You should then get an edit button
which will open up boot.ini.

A stock boot.ini will look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Copy bootsect.lnx to c:\ and add the following line to boot.ini:

c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"

Save, exit, and reboot. When the NT bootloader comes up, you'll get a list
that'll let you choose between Windows and Linux. If you pick Linux, the
Linux bootloader (whether LILO or GRUB) should come up and present its options.

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