Dual-booting Linux and Win 2k 1

[TonyGroves]

I would like to install both Linux (most likely Suse 9.1) and Windows 2000 on my machine, but don't want a repeat of what happened the last time I tried, when I ended up messing up the MBR and having to low-level-format the drive.

Does anybody have any advice as to which OS I should install first, and are there any particular things I need to take care with to ensure that the dual-booting system works out OK?

With apologies to those who don't like to see cross-posting, I have posted this on both the Windows 2000 and Linux forums, as it would be good to get views from both the Linux and Windows sides.

 

[Chacalinc]

what I do is install windows firsts in a small partition (4 GB) and then install linux partitioning bellow the windowsn partition, example:

part1: windows (NTFS) 4 GB - primary
part2: /boot (128 MB) -primary
part3: swap (memory size x 2 ) - primary
part4: / - extended
part5: other - extended
part6: other - extended
part7: other - extended
...

Cheers.

 

[TonyGroves]

Thanks for that, Chacalinc.

In your setup, which bootloader takes control? Since Linux is installed last, does that mean that GRUB wrests control from Windows?

Also, I notice you have /boot in its own little partition. Is that particularly advantageous?

 

[raptor95368]

/boot is put in automatically, as linux will need this partion to load the kernel from. It is best, in my experience, to load windows and configure it the way you would like, and then either leave a portion of the hard drive unallocated, or using a tool such as PartitionMagic, format the remaining space as ext2 or ext3, then let the installer do the actual partitioning.

Once this is done, you may install SuSE or Mandrake or what ever flavor you want (I am running a dual boot system on two laptops with Windows XP Pro and Fedora Core 3). When you get to the part of the installation to configure the boot loader, select the "other" selection as the primary boot OS, and edit it to read WinXP or DOS or some name of your choosing, or you can edit this later from the linux partition, by editing the grub.conf file.

If at some time you want to remove the linux partition, you can also fix the MBR by booting from a system disk an running the utility fixmbr.

Hope this helps and happy linux-ing

 

[Chacalinc]

/boot is where vmlinuz and initrd.img lives (this is the kernel and the ram disk). It used to live in a independent partition, because if you have any disk problem (as filesystem corruption) your kernel will bee apart and will not be touched with troubles.

Now, I don't use any 3rd software as partition magic, I just install windows in the 1st partition (the 4 GB or whatever you want) and the linux, leaving the 1st partition (windows) untouchable, the boot loader will detect the OS in that partiton and will add an entry in the grub.conf or lilo.conf (I use lilo, but grub is the same).

cheers.

 

[jstreich]

Also, if booting multipule linux distros it is often helpful to have home be in it's own logical partition (not a partition "inside" and extended partition). This makes it easier for all the distros to see the same home. Conf and dot files then should have conditional rules so your attempting to load information that isn't yours.

 

[TonyGroves]

Thanks for all those replies.

I suppose the nightmare I had the first time I tried setting up dual-booting must have been a fluke, so I'm looking forward to trying it again, taking on board those tips.

I've now installed W2k on a 10-gig partition on the first hard drive, leaving up to 30 gig for Linux, and set up the second hard drive with data partitions. All that remains now is to install Linux. Fingers crossed!