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Hi everyone, I'm still a Linux newb, and I'm not sure how to dual boot Windows XP and SuSE 9.3.
I have /dev/hda1 with 30 gb to install windows on and /dev/hda2 as boot /dev/hda3 as swap and /dev/hda4 for the Linux root partition.
How can I dual boot Windows XP and Linux? Please help.
The first thing I would do is create a nice grub boot floppy; I outline how to do that in this thread: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/post-191536.html
After that, install Windows as you normally would, boot to SuSE from the floppy, open YaST and go to System -> Boot Loader Configuration, click on Reset, and select Propose New Configuration. It should come up with your new dual-boot.
There is, of course, also a "manual" way of doing it via the command line that is pretty simple; if you'd like to do it that way, you can edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (as root) and add this section:Code:###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
Well the way I do it is by inserting my Win XP disc first. Choose the size of the partition. Format the Windows partition & continue installing it. Then when you've done all that, insert your Suse disc, reboot & go through the setup where Suse should detect Windows installed. Once Suse is installed and you reboot you will get the option of booting into Suse or Windows. It's fairly straight forward. Good luck :)
Of course, that would also work; I still highly recommend making your boot floppy (and updating it after you finish your XP install) just as "insurance". It's good to keep one around in any case.
I managed to install Windows but when I try to boot Windows it gives me this:
I don't have a bootable disk for Windows...Quote:
root(hd0, 0)
Filesystem type is fat, partition type 0xc
chainloader +1
This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again...
Linux boots up fine btw.
Could you runand post the output, along with the contents of your /boot/grub/menu.lst file? (note that it's menu.lst, not menu.1st)Code:fdisk -l
fdisk -l output:
/boot/grub/menu.lstQuote:
Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 3917 31463271 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 3918 3921 32130 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 3922 3987 530145 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4 3988 19456 124254742+ 83 Linux
Quote:
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Aug 8 08:09:49 CDT 2005
color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/message
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4 vga=0x317 selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/hda3 showopts
initrd (hd0,1)/initrd
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume selinux=0 barrier=off nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,1)/initrd
Weird...that looks kosher. Can you see your Windows files from within SuSE? When you installed Windows, did booting to XP work before you restored your SuSE bootloader?
Yeah, I have /windows/c/ and all the Windows files in there.
I have an HP Pavilion so it didn't come with a Windows CD just 6 recovery CD's that i used to install Windows. And, no, Windows didn't boot before restoring my SuSE bootloader.
That's quite odd, because Windows (even from the restore disks) should overwrite the mbr when it's installed. The linux boot loader shouldn't even have been there after the Windows installation was done.Quote:
Windows didn't boot before restoring my SuSE bootloader.