nt bootloader with image from dd?

[Alterscape]

Okay, so when I did the hdd install for Knoppix 3.7 (Debian-style), I told it to write the bootloader to /root instead of /mbr because I was scared of screwing up my MBR and messing up my windows bootloader. I know from previous installers that you can use the dd command to write the bootloader to an image file (dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/mnt/floppy/bootimage.img bs=512 count=1) and then copy that image to the nt drive and add the line C:\bootimage.img="Linux" to boot.ini .. I did all this for a previous redhat install and it worked fine, but things aren't going well for knoppix/debian. I know the problem isn't with the image, because I was able to use dd to write the image to the boot sector of another floppy, and it worked as a bootdisk (I booted with it just now, and am using it). Has anybody dealt with this? Thanks for any help!

[Durand Hicks]

When running

dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/mnt/floppy/bootimage.img bs=512 count=1

,
you need to make sure the if= statement points to the correct partition holding the boot image.
According to your other post, it was /dev/hda8, iirc.
Change the command to:

dd if=/dev/hda8 of=/mnt/floppy/bootimage1.img bs=512 count=1

You can copy that to your NTFS partition from the floppy once booted to windows and add it to your boot.ini.

[Alterscape]

Are you sure I typed 'hda8' in the other post? It's definitely hda1. On my system, hda1 = 13gb linux, hda2 = 2gb linux swap, hda3 = 15gb ntfs (XP system files) and hdb1 = 80gb ntfs (data).

I know that the image I extracted with DD is good, because when I use dd to write the image to the boot sector of a floppy, it then functions as a boot disk. The problem is somewhere with the ntfs bootloader and the image, I believe..

[bfree]

Forget this technique altogether, instead look at this thread on using grub with ntfs/fat and the windows boot loader. It's easier and more flexible.

[Alterscape]

Forget this technique altogether, instead look at this thread on using grub with ntfs/fat and the windows boot loader. It's easier and more flexible.

Interesting link, bfree, but it looks like that stuff's dealing with booting knoppix from an ISO image of the CD, on an NTFS filesystem. I've got a seperate ext3 filesystem for linux system files, with Knoppix installed Debian-style. Will this still work for me..?

[bfree]

Forget this technique altogether, instead look at this thread on using grub with ntfs/fat and the windows boot loader. It's easier and more flexible.

Interesting link, bfree, but it looks like that stuff's dealing with booting knoppix from an ISO image of the CD, on an NTFS filesystem. I've got a seperate ext3 filesystem for linux system files, with Knoppix installed Debian-style. Will this still work for me..?

YES!

The thread may be about booting an iso image, but the technique it describes involves installing a copy of grub in your windows boot menu, you can then config grub to boot whatever you want Just follow normal grub setup instructions!

[Alterscape]

Cool, cool.. thanks much for the link! I'll give it a shot.

[BrainDeadAngel]

hiya all,
need help here. what if i still wanna use this ntloader to boot my knoppix3.7.
can all the solution above do it?
it's just that i don't wanna get into any trouble if the bootdisk fails.

[Alterscape]

Okay, so I downloaded Giles' most recent grubd.zip, and it looks useful. I don't know how to set up menu.lst to boot my Debian-style Knoppix install. Here's what's going on..

hda1: ext3 knoppix 3.7 linux partition
hda2: linux swap
hda3: NTFS WinXP system
hdb1: NTFS data

I presume I need a line in grub's menu.lst to the tune of

title Knoppix 3.7 kernel 2.4 from ext3 hda1
        kernel (hd0,0)/something/ 
        initrd (hd0,0)/somethingelse/

but I don't know what should take the place of the 'something.'