Re: Help!!! Problem on installing RedHat 9 and Win2k

From: P. Alejandro López-Valencia (me_at_privacy.net)
Date: 09/25/03 

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:38:20 -0500

Leo wrote:
> Ideally I would like to remove RedHat 9 first, then install W2K and
> then RedHat 9. Can anyone tell me how to remove RedHat and get a clean
> Harddisk?

Hmmm... This is the how-to, I wrote to keep me sane after a weekend of
hacking. This document is released under the terms of the FDL:

"""
Installing a Dual Windows 2000 and RedHat 9 system

Alejandro Lopez-Valencia <dradul at yahoo dot com>

2003

A RedHat 9 and Win2K HOW-TO

The following notes are the result of a weekend fighting with the nitty
gritty details of two or three confusedly written how-tos I found on the
net. Make sure you read this document throughly before attempting to use it,
this is no cooking recipe!

1. Start by installing Win2K (This applies to XP as well!!!) and when asked,
choose to use the advanced installation options, among them there is an
option to repartition the hard-drive. Make sure the first partition is at
least 7Gb and install Windows there; you should go ahead and install the
recovery console as well, it may help you survive a crash and burn someday,
sooner that you think. You may choose NTFS as the filesystem here if you
want. You can access that partition from Linux eventually by using the
kernel modules available at http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/. Don't think
about the second partition just yet.

2. Boot up with the RedHat instalation CD. When asked to partition the disk
(/dev/hda, the first IDE disk in the system), tell it to erase previous
Linux partitions *only* and check the option to review the choices made by
the installer. You'll find that the fist partition in /dev/hda1 is
recognized as a windows partition and haven't been touched. You'll find that
there are three new partitions. In hda2 will be the booting partition, hda3
will be the root partition and hda4 will be the swap partition (necessary,
accept the size chose by the installer unless you know what you are doing
and why).

3. If you want a "transfer partition" here is how: Select your root
partition and click on modify, substract as many blocks as you want added to
the new partition, create the new partition (would be hda5) and choose vfat
as its filesystem. You may want to mount it somehwere in /mnt, /mnt/windows
perhaps.

4. Now, you want to review the options for the loader or you will hose your
system for good and will have to start over!!! Make sure that loader is
*not* installed in the MBR, but rather in the first Linux partition
(remember hda2?)!!!! Don't worry about the message about not being able to
boot that will pop-up, we still have a way to go. Finish installing, create
your boot floppy and restart with it.

5. Now you are in your Linux system, right? OK, open a terminal window,
change to the the superuser:

    su -
    type the root password

Now you have a shell session with administrative privileges. The floppy is
still in right? If the automounter detected the floppy, it should be mounted
in /mnt/floppy else, you can mount it with:

    mount -t msdos /dev/floppy /mnt/floppy

Because the booting floppy uses a plain DOS filesystem.

Now, type this incantation:

    dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/mnt/floppy/linboot.bin bs=512 count=1

Don't make mistakes! dd if used improperly is more dangerous than a three
year-old with an UZI.

Now we are ready for the Windows part of the adventure...

6. Remove the floppy disk and reboot into windows. Reintroduce the floppy
and open a command window. Change directories to the root of your disk and
copy the file linboot.bin to your hard-drive. Now hide it and protect it:

    attrib +a +s +h +r linboot.bin

7. We need to add the option to boot linux to the windows boot-up menu:

    attrib -a -h -r boot.ini

    edit boot.ini

Add the following line to the file in the section "operating systems", but
don't make it the first one, yet:

    C:\LINBOOT.BIN="Red Hat Linux 9 (Shrike)"

Save the file and protect it again:

    attrib +a +s +h +r boot.ini

In order to see the "exchange partition" you created, you need to assign it
a letter in Windows. From the start menu select "Run..." and type
"diskmgmt.msc". You'll see a partition with a FAT filesystem, assign it a
letter and you are done. Do not touch the other "invisible" partitions, they
are your linux installation!

9. Reboot your system and select Linux in the menu, watch it load.

10. If you want to bypass the grub menu, go to /boot/grub and edit
grub.conf. Change the default time out from 10 seconds to 0. You must be the
superuser to edit this file.

11. If you want to boot into Linux by default, you can change the default
operating system in Windows. Open thye System Control Panel, choose
Advanced, "Start and Recovery" and select Linux as your main system.

   Copyright (C) 2003 Alejandro Lopez-Valencia.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
     document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
     Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
     Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts
     being `A RedHat 9 and Win2K HOW-TO," and no Back-Cover Texts.
"""

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