Mandriva 2007 and XP dual boot help

[MakaveliX223]

Hi there,

I've been having some issues with dual boot for Linux and Windows. I'm having great difficulty making Windows and Linux work under dual boot. I had Windows XP installed for a while on one hard drive (SATA) and then I installed Linux on another hard drive I have (IDE). The boot loader Lilo was installed and when I would get to the dual boot screen and I selected Windows, I would get a "NTDLR is missing" error. I would go into the Recovery Console and fix the boot.ini with the "bootcfg" command and it would fail to add Windows to the boot list. Anyway, I unplugged the Linux HD and formated the Windows one and reinstalled Windows. Everything works fine now, the computer boots directly into Windows. But, my question is, if i plug the Linux hard drive back can I install a bootloader without installing Linux again so both OS's would work? And how? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[MakaveliX223]

By the way, Linux is still on the hard drive, I just don't have a way to boot to it.

[devils casper]

lilo is a bit tricky boot loader. up-plug Windows disk. boot up from Linux Harddisk and install GRUB boot loader.
now plug-in Windows Disk as Secondry. Linux Disk should be Primary Master. boot up Linux and execute this code in terminal/konsole.

su -
fdisk -l

post the output here.





casper

[maxmin]

Assume that your SATA Windows is your master disk and IDE Linux your slave disk, so the MBR (Master Boot Record) is on your SATA disk. Since you've reinsatall the Windows, the previous LILO resided on the MBR has been wiped out. You need to reinstall the LILO or GRUP whichever you prefer. It's very simple and won't take much time (assume you've plug in both hard drives). Simply put the Linux install CD or DVD in the CD or DVD drive, reboot the machine and select "Upgrade the Linux" (note that do not select to install a fresh new one), and go through the every steps as instructed till the step that let you install the boot loader, and then finish the rest of them. And you're done.

[maxmin]

And the best way to install a dual system is that first install Windows or any other OS's, then install Linux.

[harishbayyavarapu]

ok....u said u have formatted da winxp drive n installed it..freshly
right????
if u install da winxp freshy u cant get da boot loader...u must install da bootloader agin.
so u boot da sys wid keepin ya mandriva dvd n install the boot loader agin den u can switch into dual boot system...

Better u go wid grub boot loader rather than lilo...