[Faqt]

Hi-
I'm trying to set up a dual boot with Windows XP and Linux Mandrake 7.2, on seperate partitions of the same hard-drive.
I've installed Linux a couple times and keep encountering the same problem. As soon as Linux is installed, it does not give me the option of booting to Windows, boots directly to Linux each time.
In order to access windows I have to boot to the windows cd and delete the linux partitions. After I remove the Linux partitions windows is fine, no changes are being made to the C partition during the linux installation.
Does anybody have any suggestions for me on this?

Thank you

[XJan87]

You probably have an NTFS filesystem and therefore LILO doesn't recognize it...

[Faqt]

Is there any way around this?
If not, how would I go about putting the Linux bootloader onto a floppy disk?

[XJan87]

I think most Linux installers let you choose to put the loader on a floppy. You can of course either delete the Windows partition and install it on a FAT32 partition. Or if you can get your hands on Powerquest PartitionMagic 7 or 8, you can use it to convert the NTFS partition to FAT32.

[RIP!]

A word of the WISE: BACKUP, if u don't want to lose your XP Install I would BACKUP before I attempt to do "anything" with Partition Magic. While it is a very good pgm. and very useful, it can be very dangerous and unforgiving!

Good Luck.

[lilwip]

Amen to that brother Rip! I speak from personal experience to how dangerous PM can be in a Win XP environment! Very unpleasant experience. Gonna make another appointment with my therapist now. Page if you need me....

[Faqt]

LOL...oh, this is funny.
The only way I have the option of putting the bootloader onto floppy is if I choose the "expert" installation. Under expert it flat out says that if you choose expert then the program is going to assume you know what you're doing.
Thanks for the advice on partition magic, I've used the program before...I still have nightmares about that mess!
Think I'm going to go buy a Linux book, and maybe see if I can't wade through the expert install.
Thanks for your help.

[RIP!]

Amen to that brother Rip! I speak from personal experience to how dangerous PM can be in a Win XP environment! Very unpleasant experience. Gonna make another appointment with my therapist now. Page if you need me....

... think you could get me an appt. also?

[lilwip]

No problem... He is never overly busy, he is a Partition Magic/Windows XP conflict Therapist. Talk about specialization in a particular field.... WOW

[Dutchy]

Hi,

I'm running both Windows XP (with the boot partition being NTFS) and RedHat 9.

I did NOT use Grub, but LILO. (Bad experiences with Grub)
And I never had problems booting windoze or RH 9.
I have to admit that I let LILO write into the boot record, not in a partition. So if you ever want to get rid of your linux, you need to start XP from CD, and go to the recovery console and type FIXMBR to restore the Windows Boot record on your HDD.

I haven't found a method of mounting an NTFS partition yet, so any help with regards to that would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Dutchy

P.S. Here is my lilo.conf:
prompt
timeout=50
default=WindowsXP
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
linear

other=/dev/hda1
optional
label=WindowsXP

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-13.9
label=linux
append="root=LABEL=/"
read-only
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-13.9.img