Dual Boot, LILO and XP

[jimbo62]

I am very impressed with Knoppix! I downloaded an iso file and burned a CD. The CD booted without any problems and in less than 5 minutes I was surfing the Internet with Mozilla via my router and cable modem. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Now I would like to install Knoppix to a hard drive. I have two hard drives with plenty of room on "C" drive to install Knoppix. My current configuration is Win98 on hard drive "C" and WinXP on hard drive "D" in a dual boot setup using the WinXP boot loader. I believe the boot sector of "C" calls the WinXP boot loader and it uses files in "C" root to display a menu and then boot the selected OS.

So, the question is can I install LILO such that it gives me a choice of booting Knoppix or Windows? And if I choose Windows would I get the WinXP boot loader with the choice between Win98 and WinXP?

jimbo

[j.drake]

It can work. About a year ago, a fellow named garyng, IIRC posted a how-to for a previous version using 2 separate HDs, with Windows on one and Linux on the other. I used that idea a while back with a Mandrake dual boot. The idea was to keep the Windows drive (particularly the MBR) free of any vestiges of Linux. Unfortunately, Mandrake installed LILO to the MBR anyway. Worked fine, though. Just to let you know, the plan was that C: had a factory-installed WinXP with NTFS. I partitioned D: into a number of ext3 partitions, and intended to install LILO or GRUB into the root directory of D:, then change the boot order of the HDs in BIOS. What I wound up with worked for a few weeks, but then my motherboard died (under warranty), so when I shipped the PC back, they reimaged everything. Worked well for a while, though. Haven't tried with Knoppix.

Have you tried a poor man's install? Great for learning. If you set up a persistent home, it's darn close in function to a hd install.

jd

[shah]

I have three hard disk on my pc and mixed partition. My first hardrive has three partition one ntfs (XP) and two fat32.
My second hard drive has three partition, one Linux ext3, one linux swap and one fat32
My third hard drive has one fat 32 partition.

See I'm running knoppix now, without any problem.

I installed my Lilo on mbr and it detect every partition I have. I have no problem using lilo because I can always edit it and it comfortable with me. I will never use grub again because it screw my XP last time i use it.

When lilo screw up, you can always use dos fdisk /mbr to remove it.

[jimbo62]

Did you install Knoppix and LILO after the other OSs had been installed? Do you have any OSs other than WinXP and Knoppix? It sounds like you have WinXP on "C" which would be your normal boot disk and that you have LILO installed in the MBR of that hard drive.

jimbo

[shah]

When Lilo installed on mbr, it will create a boot loader and display all your bootpartition including non bootable one. It will look something like this:

LInux
Linux2.4.26(1)
Linux2.6.(2)
hda1(windows partition)
hda2
hdb1
hdb2
hdc1
.....

All you have to do is to edit your lilo.conf later to put a proper label.

I will suggest you try install and run lilo from mbr. If it doesn't work, run dos fdisk /mbr to remove lilo.

You will never know if you didn'd try

[Durand Hicks]

I had/have a setup quite similar to yours and it was pretty easy, AAMOF. http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...789&highlight=This should pretty much answer your question.

HTH,

Durand

[ruymbeke]

Please have a look at this, you can use grub to have a multi boot: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...r=asc&start=20
Gilles

[jimbo62]

Just an update on this subject. I had Win98se on my first hard drive, "C" and WinXP on my second hard drive, "D". I used the WinXP boot loader for a dual boot system. When the PC is booted, I get a menu that lets me choose between WinXP and Win98.

I used Partition Magic 8.0 to down size the "C" partition and to create a Linux ext3 partition and a linux swap partition in the free space. Partition Magic is very easy to use and everything went without any problems.

Then I booted the Knoppix LiveCD, opened a Konsole, entered the command, "sudo knoppix-installer" and followed the directions. I installed Lilo to the MBR of the first hard drive. Everything went without any problems.

Now when I boot the PC, I get a lilo menu that gives me a choice of Linux, failsafe, memtest or Windows. If I choose Windows, I get the WinXP boot loader menu with a choice of WinXP or Win98.

I would be glad to answer questions.

jimbo

[sakiZ]

You need a utility called Bootpart. You can get it here:

www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm

It will automagically put a comand into your XP boot.ini menu file that will allow to boot into Knoppix as a menu option.

It's what I use.

sakiZ