Dual Booting Linux and Windows NT
Updated June 11, 2002
Created November 19, 2001

Autogenerated Site Map
Search this Site!:
Search this site powered by FreeFind

A DOS partition should be created first.

Then it doesn't matter wheter NT or Linux is installed next.

After both OS's are installed, you can use either boot manager to call either OS.

The only requirement for Linux has for partitioning and physical placement on the drive is that /boot must reside below the 1024 cylinder limit. Once this minimum requirement is met, the rest of the Linux partitions (including swap) can reside in an extended partition beyond the 1024 cylinder limit.

One other suggestion is to create /boot as a primary partition; however this is not a requirement.


For Linux to call NT, all you have to do is add an entry in /etc/lilo.conf for the NT system partition:


#NT on SCSI controller #NT on Array Controller 
other=/dev/sda2
        label=NT
        table=/dev/sda

other=/dev/ida/c0d0p2
        label=NT
        table=/dev/ida/c0d0

For NT to call Linux, there are two methods, the manual method and an automated method using bootpart.

Manual:
Grab a copy of the boot sector created by /sbin/lilo which should reside /boot and save it in a file. Check /etc/lilo.conf to see where the boot sector is installed to.
The following assumes that a valid boot sector is installed to the /boot partition which in this example is partition #1. This will work equally well if /boot is in the extended partition (#5 and higher) as long as /boot is below the 1024 cylinder limit.

dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/tmp/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
dd if=/dev/ida/c0d0p1 of=/tmp/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

get this file into NT:
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
cp /tmp/bootsect.lnx /mnt/floppy
umount /mnt/floppy

reboot into NT, copy the file into any directory:
copy a:\bootsect.lnx c:\

Add an entry in c:\boot.ini to call Linux:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINNT="Windows NT Version 3.51"
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"


Bootpart:
Grab the file called bootpart.exe. If you don't have a copy, you can search for it here: http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no.

boot into NT after both NT and Linux are installed.

run bootpart.exe with the correct parameters and it will copy the boot sector from your Linux partition into a file and add an entry in C:\BOOT.INI with the name you specify.


http://www.winplanet.com/features/howtos/ntdirectboot/index.html Using NT boot loader & LILO
Search this Site!:
Search this site powered by FreeFind
Homepage: http://www.cpqlinux.com
Site Map: http://www.cpqlinux.com/sitemap.html