= ___________________________________________________________________________ Howto Multiboot Windows and Linux with a Minimum of Disruptions to your system. David Gleba V 0.2 Revised 2 June 2003 Purpose: This method results in a minimum of disruptions to the MBR and partition table on the hard drive. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. Partition the drive as per the following: Use Windows NT setup to create empty unformatted partitions these sizes or use SuSE live eval CD after c: drive has been created. You can let the OS setup program format each partition during the install for a particular partition. For example, let SuSE format hda11 as reiserFS during the SuSE installation. The following diagram shows all 'FAT' formats since this is what windows initially formated the partitions as. These formats will be overwritten during the installation of a linux OS. c: hda1 FAT16 2G Compatible format, use for booting and things that insist on being on c: drive. d: hda5 FAT32 4.1G Windows XP Main installation e: hda6 FAT32 4.4G Windows XP testing installation f: hda7 FAT32 4.9G Data hda8 FAT32 300Meg Linux Swap hda9 FAT32 200Meg Linux (EG: Gentoo Boot) hda10 FAT32 5.15G Linux (EG: Gentoo) hda11 FAT32 5.3G Linux (EG: SuSE) hda12 FAT32 5.25G Linux (EG: Debian-Libranet) etc... I keep a small spreadsheet up to date with this information as I change installations. This allows me to effectively plan and repair the system. Having this info quickly available pays off to a large degree. Use different partition sizes to help uniquely identify each partition. Once this partitioning is done, the likelyhood of needing to change this is very low. I do change format of a partition at times. Eg: from reiser to ext3. 2. Install WindowsNT/2k/XP on d: and use the NT boot loader for all initial booting. 3. Install a linux distro on one of the linux designated partitions. Have the installation put the boot loader, Grub for example, on that partition, not the MBR. I now use Grub since it can be edited without rewriting it like LILO does. The OS install can format that partition using the appropriate format. Create a custom boot floppy if possible for easier initial startup. It is possible to start existing installs like SuSE and others from the SuSE boot CD by selecting : Manual installation > Start installation / system > Boot installed system. 4. Boot the new linux system, or any existing linux system on the HD or Knoppix on CD. Knoppix will automatically create icons to access all the partitions on the disk, including c: drive. Run this command to make a bootsector file and place it in c:\ eg: dd if=/dev/hda11 of=/windows/c/su81da11.sec bs=512 count=1 In this example the output file requires /hda1 mounted at /windows/c. (this is what SuSE live eval uses) Alternately, you can use any output file path and then place the resulting file in c:\ yourself later. 6. Edit the windows NT bootloader boot.ini file to include that bootsector file. eg: [boot loader] timeout=17 default=c:\su82da10.sec [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional f:" /fastdetect c:\su81da11.sec="SuSE Linux 8.1 (hda11)" c:\su82da10.sec="SuSE Linux 8.2 (hda10)" 7. Boot from the HD and you should see the new linux entry. 8. With the NT bootloader, custom boot floppies, SuSE boot/install CD, SuSE live eval CD, and/or Knoppix for repairs, You should be able to boot/repair your system and never be unable to startup your machine. This is only a few of the tools avaiable, but a set that is working well for me. 9. Add other operating systems to the partitions as necessary. This can be done at any time later since this method has low risk in damaging the MBR or patition table. 10. Boot and enjoy your dualboot , no - scratch that - multiboot computer. 11. I often use: 2-3 windows installs including Win98 and Win2k/XP. Having a testing install of XP allows you to see if a clean install will resolve a problem you have in your Main install. 4 Linux installs. When I get to the point of needing a fifth install I generally just wipe out one I am not using much. I have found that more than 4 linux installs is not very necessary. Keywords: dual boot, dualboot, multi boot, multiboot, Microsoft Windows, Linux, boot sector file, ___________________________________________________________________________ Revision history. V 0.1 Revised 30 May 2003 ___________________________________________________________________________ =