Installing the 2nd OS on my mandriva box

I am running Mandriva exclusively on my desktop now. I have two harddrives hda (40gb) and hdb (300gb). I used up my entire hda for mandriva and am planning to install XP Home on my yet unformatted/unpartitioned hdb. Before I start, I just wanted to make sure I am doing things right, especially from the grub point of view.

1. my hdb (300gb) isnt partitioned/formatted yet. Should i format my 300GB hdb from within mandriva to be set up for ntfs before I start the windows install or should I just boot from my XP disk and start the format/install procedure on the hdb?

2. As of now, my grub menu comes up with the 3 usual options, the regular startup, the nonfb and the other last option (i forget what its called). Would grub automatically make corresponding entries for windows, after my windows install?? if not, how should i configure grub to list the 2nd OS after windows xp has been installed? please help!

Unplug the Mandriva drive, then set up WIndows and let Windows partition the drive. Once XP is set up, plug in the Mandriva drive again and edit the bootloader manually. Add to grubs /boot/grub/menu.lst file

title windows
root (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

It should work then. If it doesn't, then you need to map the drives:

title windows
map (hd 0,0) (hd1,0)
map (hd 1,0) (hd 0,0)
root (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

thanks!
quick follow-up question...
would those grub.conf file edits posted on the reply, be the equivalent of going to mandriva linux control center > boot > "set up how the system boots"..... and adding an entry for windows on the grub menu??
P.S: i will be physically removing my HDA (the one with mandriva) and attempting to install XP on the HDB. After windows has been installed, i plan to reconnect the HDA and start up and get into linux and add the windows entry into the grub menu thru the control center. will this action of mine add similar (as in the first reply) lines to the grub.conf file?

From the PM you sent me:

Quote:

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I am a bigtime linux noob and a little scared to manually edit the conf file. Just wanted to check with you if what I plan to do is ok: As you say, I'll remove the Mandriva drive (HDA) and boot up with my XP CD and install XP on my HDB. I'm guessing you suggested removing my hda with mandriva on it, because windows would now think that my HDB is the only drive on the system. Once I am done installing windows on the hdb, I guess I can reconnect my HDA and start my computer up (and at this point, grub is still only going to let me get into Mandriva because a windows entry is still not on it yet) and get into Linux, open up Mandriva Linux Control Center > Boot > "Set up How the System Boots" > and here, go to the next screen which lets you add an entry for Windows to the grub menu.
1. Is the above proecudure the same as what you suggested with the command line/manual editing thing?
2. Will grub recognize hdb after windows has been installed on my hdb? As of now, even though I have the 2nd drive physically connected, mandriva does not recognize it, probably because it is not yet formatted/partitioned for anything. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot!

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Please stick to this thread as others might have the same questions and PMs aren't accessible to everyone. ;)

You can do it by using the control-center, too. It is simply a graphical frontend to the file that I told you to change with an editor.

If you remove the Mdv drive, then your bootloader won't get overwritten by Windows. Windows will install its own bootloader on hdb if you unplug the Mdv drive, thus with a multi-boot capable BIOS, you could possibly boot directly into Windows without editing grub. But I still recommend setting up grub for dual-boot.

When hdb gets plugged in together with hda, Mdv should detect the drive through harddrake, even if it isn't partitioned/formatted yet. But the drive is not automatically mounted (for security reasons).

Grub will recognize the hdb drive, but as Windows loves to be the numero uno (=first system to boot), you will probably have to use the mapping trick explained earlier for telling the system that hdb is hda (although it isn't. It's a bit like brain washing the BIOS). Otherwise, Windows won't boot.

Hope that answers your questions.

thanks a lot! I'll jus follow your instructions
physically remove the hda with mandriva on it
install XP on hdb
reconnect hda
add the windows entry to the grub menu thru the control center
manually edit the menu.lst file as mentioned
that should do the trick i guess. will post results to this thread once I'm done!

or do this trick (if your BIOS supports it) Change your BIOS boot drive to the mandriva drive, install it, let grub / lilo do their thing, let it detect the second OS (like it should) and just let it boot that way. Once you get it set up, leave your BIOS booting /dev/hdb or whatever, and then just switch the BIOS settings back should anything go wrong and you need WIN XP should the mandriva drive get nuked. It's a great fallback, because when you default the BIOS you will get back to basics and still have your original OS...

It works either way, i have it on over 10 computers right now, so if you need help, PM me