Re: 1st time linux dual-boot w/win98se install question

From: Richard Steven Hack (richardhack_at_prontomail.com)
Date: 01/16/04 

Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 09:59:46 GMT

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 18:48:59 -0800, mscir <mscir@access4less.net>
wrote:

>I have a Win98 SE 60 GB C: drive that I want to preserve, and a 3 GB D:
>drive that I want to install SUSE on. I read that Linux will install a
>lilo dual boot menu.

Correct. LILO will do that automatically during the install (assuming
LILO is the loader you will use on the particular SUSE distro you will
be using - I use Red Hat 7.3 myself - SUSE might use GRUB, I don't
know - probably works the same.)

>My question is, are ANY existing files/MBR on the C: drive changed
>except maybe the autoexec.bat or config.sys to enable the multi-boot
>menu to appear?

LILO will write itself to the MBR and take over boot duties for both
Linux and Win98. No files on the C: drive will be touched - only the
MBR.

If you should happen to have to reinstall Win98, it will overwrite
LILO in the MBR and then you would have to boot from a Linux boot disk
(created during the Linux install usually) and rerun LILO to force it
to reread its configuration file and reinstall itself in the MBR.

Should you need to uninstall Linux, after you do, you would need to
run fdisk /mbr to reload the Win98 boot loader into the MBR.

If you move the Win98 or Linux partitions around at any point in the
future with a partition editor, you will also need to rerun LILO to
enable it to find the moved partition. Otherwise, once you install,
you should be set to go.

If you want to change the default names Linux assigns to the boot menu
(I think the default for Windows is Dos, which is obviously not quite
right), you can edit LILO's config file in any text editor, then rerun
it to reread the config file.

LILO's executable is in the /sbin directory, so to rerun LILO, you do
"/sbin/lilo". LILO's configuration file is in the /etc directory.

>I don't want to take any chances on not being able to read my C: drive
>if I run into problems.

You shouldn't have any problems. HOWEVER, BACK UP your system before
you install Linux! It IS possible for a Linux installer to reach out
and trash the partition table on a disk it isn't even installing to.
Happened to me. 

-- 
Richard Steven Hack
"Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger" - 
and YOU have not killed me!

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