Installing Win98, Win2K and Linux

[warozzo]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I search Linux HOWTO and find Linux + Windows Howto little bit outdate (I think).

I want to install W98, Win2K and Linux (RH or Mandrake), which I must install first? Which OS have to put in primary partition?

[Sxooter]

Here's how I do it. Get two hard drives, they're cheap (well, old IDE drives of <10 gigs are).

Put in ONE drive only, and install Windows 9x first, then NT/2k/XP. After you've got it all working, move it from being the primary master (if it was) and make the other drive the primary master, and install Linux on it.

Most distros should pick up on the Windows drive and make a lilo / grub boot option for it.

The advantage to doing it this way is that your Linux and Windows drives are not "married" so to speak. The windows drive keeps its boot sectors, so, should you decide to remove linux, you just pull it's drive and you're done.

At the same time WHEN you need to reinstall Windows (and you will, eventually) you just pull the linux drive while you're doing it so Mickysoft's installer doesn't eat your linux install.

Also, a linux drive can be moved to almost any other PC and will work fine. So, if you decide you want to use that linux drive in it's own box, you can just move it over and be done with it.

[nhinhinho]

Hi warozzo!

I've also installed win2k and Linux, and now, I can use both two operating systems.

To install Linux and win2k together, you need make the steps:

1_ Dos OS is primary.

2_While You install Linux, you must install LILO with "first sector of boot partition" and boot label is "DOS".

3_After, if you want run Linux , you need start with a boot disk.

nhinhinho

[warozzo]

Originally posted by Sxooter
At the same time WHEN you need to reinstall Windows (and you will, eventually) you just pull the linux drive while you're doing it so Mickysoft's installer doesn't eat your linux install.

Unfortunately I only have one piece 40gigs drive, can I reinstall Windoze without writing the boot sector?

thx

[thessoro]

i reinstalled windows when having linux, and it hanged when booting: windows had messed up all the booting stuff and i only obtained:

Li

"Lilo, but it was just where it stayed"
I only had to boot linux from floppy and reinstall lilo. The important thing is to configure lilo.conf properly.

[haze]

I just yesterday set up a dual boot win2k and Mandrake, it was really simple. Install Windoze first and then just select "install onto windows partition" in the partition section of the linux install and you're done.

[warozzo]

Originally posted by haze
I just yesterday set up a dual boot win2k and Mandrake, it was really simple. Install Windoze first and then just select "install onto windows partition" in the partition section of the linux install and you're done.

Did it mean you install Linux on fat32 instead of ext2? Or Mandrake did change from fat32 into ext2 automatically?

[goldbug]

At one point in time I had Win98, Win2000, Redhat 8, FreeBSD 4.6, and QNX installed on the same 20GB drive at the same time in a testing box.

My recommendation: figure out /write down your partition scheme first.

I'd install windows (98, then 2k) first. At this point you need to make the decision, do you want a Linux bootloader to boot the machine, or Windows. Either way works.

Install your linux distro next.

When you encounter the part of the installation where it asks details about boot loaders, this is where your decision comes into play:

Using windows boot menu:
Install boot loader to your /boot partition (IIRC). You will need to make a boot disk to use this method.
After you do that and complete the installation, reboot using the boot floppy.
on the command line, type:
dd if=/dev/hda? of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

Change the "?" to the number of your /boot partition.

This will create a file called bootsect.lnx (obviously). Copy this file to your root windows partition (copy to floppy or shared drive, then reboot into windows, and copy to proper location)
You'll then need to make entries into the Windows boot.ini file (STW for tips on this). After that, it should be ready to rock and roll--on reboot it should show the win2k boot menu (with the option you added), and then the linux boot loader (I recommend GRUB).

Using linux boot menu: (my preferred method)
Note: this applies to GRUB. I haven't used LILO in a while, an there's plenty of info out there if you STW.

Install GRUB to the MBR. Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and add the following:

title=Windows
root (hd0,?)
chainloader (hd0,?)+1

Change the "?" to the number of your windows partition, counting from zero.

Save the file and it should work.

Note: I believe since Redhat 8 or before, the installer automatically creates this if it detects a windows partition during installation.

BIG NOTE: YMMV. I make no claims that this is guaranteed to work on your box. I've gotten both of these methods to work on my systems tho. STW for better and more detailed HOWTOs.

[nded01]

Have you thought about WMware workstation? It will save you a lot of hassle and let you run your systems concurrently.