[HOWTO]: Dual-boot Knoppix with Windows NT/2000/XP

[Blento]

i've made typing mistakes ...hda6 is just linux parttion, not Windows,
and "bood"..is "boot"

[Howard]

I just finished installing to one HDD. (160Gb Maxtor)
So I've added another "YES" vote to the poll.

I have Win XP on the first partition (NTFS), a load of media files on the 2nd (NTFS) partition, both of which are about 50Gb.
I set up a linux swap (1Gb - i.e. 2x my physical RAM of 512Mb) is that right?
And the rest (about another 50Gb) is an ext3 partiton for Linux.
The procedure works OK but I was a bit worried about the lack of explanation at step (6). I guessed at the partition setup, the new ones are both logical and NOT bootable, yes I screwed up the first time and lost my NTFS partitons along with some data which I had forgotten to backup!
Doh! (Now we have NO pictures of my Grandsons Christening party - the family will probably never forgive me! ).
The next step is to either figure out how to mount an NTFS partition or to re-size the existing 2nd part. and create a FAT32 part. in order to share data between the two OS's.
Thanks for all the help in the preceding posts, if I'd read them first I wouldn't have got into so much trouble!
"H"

[Khazad]

hi,



I just installed Knoppix, now I'd like to use Grub for dualboot.
I've followed the instrucion due to garyng.
It's on my 3rd partition so its (hd0,2)

My menue.lst :

title KNOPPIX
root(hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd

When I want to boot it I recieve following error:

root(hdo,2)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Kernel /boot/vmlinuz
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1400, size=0xe2b6d
initrd /boot/initrd
Error 15 file not found


So I booted again from cd and looked it up.In the boot-directory I only found initrd.gz! I wasn`t able to extract it to /boot as it is readonly.

What can I do???
Please help
THX Khazad

[garyng]

hi,



I just installed Knoppix, now I'd like to use Grub for dualboot.
I've followed the instrucion due to garyng.
It's on my 3rd partition so its (hd0,2)

My menue.lst :

title KNOPPIX
root(hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd

When I want to boot it I recieve following error:

root(hdo,2)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Kernel /boot/vmlinuz
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1400, size=0xe2b6d
initrd /boot/initrd
Error 15 file not found


So I booted again from cd and looked it up.In the boot-directory I only found initrd.gz! I wasn`t able to extract it to /boot as it is readonly.

What can I do???
Please help
THX Khazad

change it to :

initrd /boot/initrd.gz

[matnlaci]

I am trying to do this with NT 4 on partition 1 of hard-drive 1 and Knoppix 3.3 on partition 3 of hard-drive 1. I followed instructions to a T. I can boot to NT 4 no problem. If I put in the boot disk created in step 9, I can boot to Knoppix on the hard-drive. I have the "Knoppix" option when I boot without a floppy (ie in the boot.ini), but when I choose it, I simply get a black screen with a cursor blinking in the upper left hand corner. Can anyone give me some advice on what to check?

[Howard]

Not sure what you need to do, but you could check out "xosl" (see my earlier post in the Lounge)

I think this will resolve your problem as it allows you to "swap disks" at boot time, so Windows thinks it's booting of the MBR wherever you start the boot manager from.

"H"

[OErjan]

you could use the Win2000/NT/XP bootloader.
to do that I let the nt bootloader and lilo work together for me. works well.
quick sketch what i do, write LILO to a floppy, make a "image" of the floppy-mbr put that image in C:\ edit BOOT.INI mine looks like this.

[boot loader]
timeout=2
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
C:\linux.ipl="LINUX"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

a few more details.

1) make lilo write to floppy, have this line in lilo.conf:

boot=/dev/fd0

or give floppy as an argument to lilo

lilo -b /dev/fd0

2) make a image of the floppy-mbr: and put it in C:\

dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/mnt/C/linux.ipl bs=512 count=1

3) Modifiy c:\boot.ini -- add a line with:

C:\linux.ipl="Linux"

repeat 1) and 2) every time you run LILO.

Microsoft ntldr now believes you have yet another windows installed. happy booting
oh btw, i have several linuxes booting from that same lilo.

[yogb21]

An alternative method :

1. go to here http://www.skyjammer.com/files/knoppix

2. get the w32grub.zip and unzip it to c:\, it is already a directory tree

3. run c:\boot\grub\w32grub

4. add 'c:\boot\stage1="GRUB"' to c:\boot.ini

Now there is a GRUB boot loader in your W2K/XP system.

Install your KNOPPIX as usual but don't let it touch your boot loader.

in c:\boot\grub\menu.lst add the following(just an example)

title KNOPPIX
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd

and you can boot load your KNOPPIX. For detail about GRUB, read the manual on their main site.

If you want poorman's install(FAT only), follow the instruction in the doc on this site on how to extract the big file as well as the boot.img from the ISO and follow the followin procedure

1. get memdisk from syslinux site and put in c:\boot
2. put the boot.img(from the ISO) to c:\boot
2. add the following to c:\boot\grub\menu.lst

title Poor man's KNOPPIX
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memdisk
initrd /boot/boot.img

Now you can boot a poorman's KNOPPIX, this is the same as making the floppy image from the ISO, it just don' need a physical floppy for the purpose. Kudo to the authors of the programs mentioned.

The only caveat is that one needs an ISO extraction tool to get the big file in the download image. I am not sure if knoppix-customize(it can get the boot.img without problem) can do this, otherwise a commerical software(there is some shareware or limited ware like magiciso) is needed. So this is still a 'poorman's installation', not a broken man's installation(doing all these from completely free as lunch tools).

Hej
By the way what is root (hd0,1) parameter.
And i followed your method but when start grub at boot my PC boots and wont enter Knoppix Linux
YogB

[chouicha]

Hi All

I've followed the instrucion from garyng.
Xp is installed on my 1st partition.

I added in my boot.ini:
c:\boot\stage1="GRUB"

My menue.lst :

title KNOPPIX
root(hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd.gz

When I boot it:
I get the following menu
Window XP
GRUB

When I select "GRUB" menu. First I see "GRUB loading stag2", then the screen turn into blank. Do I need to do something else. Thanks.

Amine

[nicorelli]

In regards to jdongs dual boot protocol...

I tried the dual boot protocol. It worked... mostly.

I got past the two pats on the back, although

sudo knx-install

should be

sudo
knoppix-installer

When it was all said and done, I rebooted and got to the option of running either Windows XP -or- Knoppix... Great! So I arrowed down and hit enter, and then...

"Missing <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll"

I tried to repair Windows by booting from the CD and repairing files. Next thing you know, I can't login without activating Windows (which I have been successfully running for over a year)...???

Now all I have is a PC with Knoppix that can only run from a boot floppy. Any ideas?