win2k and linux
Joshua Baker-LePain
> i am going to install rh6.1 and win2k .
> Which one should i install first i have 20 gb.
Install win2K first, as it will likely blow away anything on the disk.
I like to make two primary partitions, one for C: for doze (at least
2GB -- a Win2K install is *big*), and one for / for Linux (I usually
only do about 100MB). Then make a bunch of logical parititions for
Doze's D drive (for data) and the rest of your Linux partitions
(/usr,/usr/local,/tmp,/var,/home, or however you like).
> Any tips would help thanks .
For launching Linux from 2K's boot loader menu, see the Linux+NT-Loader
HOWTO, which still applies to 2K.
--
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University
Rod Smith
In article <960q75$3i...@news.emirates.net.ae>,
"Amit kt" <kta...@emirates.net.ae> writes:
> i am going to install rh6.1 and win2k .
> Which one should i install first i have 20 gb.
I recommend you do this:
1) Partition your disk as you intend for your final configuration,
INCLUDING marking your Linux partitions with their appropriate type
codes. You can do this with Partition Magic if you've got it, or use
something like DOS FDISK to do the partitioning and then Linux's
fdisk to change partition type codes. (Linux's fdisk occasionally
creates partitions to which other OSs object, so I don't recommend
using it for creating anything but Linux partitions.)
2) Install Win2K.
3) Install Linux.
Most Microsoft OSs have a habit of overwriting the MBR or actually
damaging other OSs' installations, but I gather that Win2K is
better-behaved than most Microsoft OSs. There's a HOWTO on Linux/WinNT
coexistence, and I believe most of the information there applies to
Win2K as well. Most people seem to use WinNT/2K's OS Loader to select
which OS to boot, but personally, I prefer to use LILO or a third-party
boot loader for that. Either approach works.
--
Rod Smith, rods...@rodsbooks.com
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux & multi-OS configuration
dz...@my-deja.com
"Amit kt" <kta...@emirates.net.ae> wrote:
> i am going to install rh6.1 and win2k .
> Which one should i install first i have 20 gb.
>
> perfectly fine.
> Any tips would help thanks .
>
>
In order to boot linux, the boot image must reside within the first 1024
cylinders of the disk. If you're going to split your disk evenly 10/10,
then your linux kernel won't be reched by the bios. The trick is to
reserve a small partition (your fist partition, about 10MB, depending on
your boot image size) as /boot where the boot image reside. Then
partition the rest as you desire and it doesn't matter which OS you
install first. You must use Win2k loader to load both (see howto).
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Eric P. McCoy
> Most Microsoft OSs have a habit of overwriting the MBR or actually
> damaging other OSs' installations, but I gather that Win2K is
> better-behaved than most Microsoft OSs.
It is. Installing Win2K over Linux actually requires using a DOS boot
disk after the first reboot to fix the MBR.
Actually, WinNT required the same thing. As did Win98 and Win95.
Maybe I'm the exception? I've never had problems installing Linux
either before or after any Windows.
> There's a HOWTO on Linux/WinNT coexistence, and I believe most of
> the information there applies to Win2K as well. Most people seem to
> use WinNT/2K's OS Loader to select which OS to boot, but personally,
> I prefer to use LILO or a third-party boot loader for that. Either
> approach works.
Actually, what I eventually ended up doing to get around bizarre boot
problems was rip out LILO's boot sector, save it as c:\bootsect.lnx,
and use NT/2K's loader to start it from there. It added a step to the
LILO process (e.g., `dd if=/dev/hda5 of=/mnt/bootsect.lnx bs=512
count=1') but I only did it once I got a stable system - so I didn't
have to re-run LILO a lot.
But LILO has the nice feature of being able to pick, when the OS is
running, which OS you want to use for the next reboot. Like that good
old OS/2 command of "boot /dos" or "boot /os2". I wrote a script to
change the default to Windows and immediately reboot, and left the
default selection at Linux so that simply rebooting Windows would
switch.
--
Eric McCoy <emc...@hamilton.edu>
"Knowing that a lot of people across the world with Geocities sites
absolutely despise me is about the only thing that can add a positive
spin to this situation." - Something Awful, 1/11/2001
jos...@lascaux.ca
You'll get this around Saturday morning. If you have time during the week
about half a day, preferably the afternoon half ) then proceed. Otherwise
wait till the weekend. The switching from one os to another can get a little
confusing.
1) Leave the MBR alone from lilo's point of view , and keep it in the
linux boot partition. leave the dos mbr in place.
2) Make a separate boot partition for each of the microsoft OS'es ( that way
they will have less opportunity to muck up other installations ).
3) Make sure the boot partitions of the OSes are within the 1024 cylinder
limit.
4) When installing 98 or nt4 or win2k , make sure that the appropriate boot
partition is marked bootable AND active.
5) Win98's C: drive must not be in the same partition as win2k's C: drive ,
or you'll have hell to pay for down the road.
Best way is for the first MS reable partition to be NTFS ( win98 can't
natively read it ) , and the second MS readable to be fat32 with win98 on
it. Win2k will be able to read win98's boot partition, but it will not be
"C:" it will be something else . ( F in my case ) .
6) Have a battle plan :) .
For example :
I have Linix, Win2k and win98 on the same hdd ( 27GB maxtor ) , and they
behave ;) .
Ok, win98 may not be one's choice of "stable" os, but gaming under win2k is
pretty bad unless one plays one of the mainstream games like quake , unreal
etc. and I'd much rather fly an F-15 simulator or something.With that out of
the way, here's how I set up my disk : ( I used partition magic 5 to lay out
the partitions ) Hint : use the 2 "rescue floppies" .That's the same thing,
only, works in dos .
hda1 to hda4 are the primary partitions.
Any one of these can be an extended partition , ie, one that can contains
sub-partitions I think one can have about 64 partitions on a single ide
hard disk ( 1-63 ) . The PC architecture ( more precisely the BIOS ) is
limited to booting one of 4 partitions in the partition table ( those 4 are
the primary ( or first ) partitions. It will boot the partition that is
marked "active" .
Here's the layout.
active hda1 10 MB ext2 /boot ( contains the kernel image )
bootable hda2 2gig ntfs5 win2k partition
bootable hda3 2gig fat32 win98 partitoin
extended hda4 4010GB to 27 gig - my extended partition
Now inside the extended partition:
hda5 2GB fat32 (for windows )
hda6 200mb ext2 / (root )
hda7 128mb swap
hda8 128mb swap
hda9 100MB ext2 /var
hda10 2GB ext2 /usr
hda11 500MB ext2 /root ( root user's home )
hda12 500MB ext2 /tmp
hda13 6GB fat32 ( for the games )
hda14 4GB fat32 ( data exchange MS to linux and vice versa )
hda15 2GB ext2 /home
hda16 4gig ext2 /usr/local/datastore
Since hda1 is marked as active, the MBR code will boot it always, and guess
what sits in the first 512k of that partition...LILO.
So I see lilo first now, which allows me to boot one of several linux
kernels, or win98 or NT5 ( win2k) .
If I wanted to put ,say, WinME ( thank you, but I'd rather not ) , I would
load up fdisk or partition magic , and set the win98 or the win2k partition
as active , reboot , and proceed with the install install. As far as the OS
in question is concerned, it sees a primary active partition, and happily
parks itself there .
Once the nauseating cycle of reboots is completed, in goes the partition
magic disk, and I set the linux boot partition to active , taking care to
"unhide" the other two primaries. This will avoid those "NTOSKRNL.exe not
found" messages that sometimes prevents win2k from booting .( Why ? )
1) Use partition magic to make the partitions , but with one exception :
the win2k partition should be fat32 for installation. ( if your win2k cd is
not bootable, use the win98 floppy to boot and access the cdrom. )
2 ) mark the win2k as active, reboot and install win2k
If you don't install win98 ,skip to step 6.
3 ) hide the win2k partition ( don;t convert it yet ) .
4) mark the second 2 gig as active, reboot and install win98.
5 ) mark the win2k as active,and "unhide" the win98 partitoin.
6 ) boot into win2k, and convert to ntfs. ( you will have to reboot for it
to convert the file system.)
7) Reboot and come up with the Partiton Magic disks.
8) mark the first partition ( ext2 /boot ) as active, and make sure to
"unhide" win2k partition.
9) If you had put in win98 , unhide the win98 partition.
10) Reboot and start the linux install
11) When it asks you where to put lilo, put into the first sector or /boot .
12) Provide appropriate names for the other boot options ( the installation
will id ntfs as HPFS and win98 as dos ).
You're set.
From the above you may be thinking "that's complicated". But it is not,
when you understand the underlying processes and ideas , like the
co-relation between dos volume labels ( C: , D: etc.. ) and the partitions
and their attributes .
A warning about win2k: Make sure your bios is compatable with win2k . I had
a "minor" problem which had to do with the fact that my hdd geomertry had
more than 1024 cylinders ( hdd > 8034MB ) , even in LBA.
Symptoms :
1) NT4 will fail to completely boot the multiprocessor kernel for the
installation .
2 ) Win2k will complete the install, but will generate "STOP" errors ( among
other IRQ_LEVEL_ errors in between random reboots) after the final reboot .
3) But win98 and linux work fine.
In my case, a bios _downgrade_ fixed it.
Another warning about win2k : Once installed , the OS takes up 1 gig of
space ( well 996MB is what 's used on my win2k boot partition).
So atleast 2 gig is necessary . Also , it is best _not_ to grab a huge 5 or
10 gig partition as the win2k boot partition. In the event of an unexpected
reboot , you will have to check all the "dirty" partitions... Usually after
a boot, the only partition that is "dirty" is just the boot partition, so
the file system check should take much lesser time if it is small. Also ,
when win2k decides to go south, it will take only itself down, and keep your
data safe ( which is preferably on another partition ) .
hope I have not scared/bored you off.
Amit kt <kta...@emirates.net.ae> wrote in message
news:960q75$3i...@news.emirates.net.ae...
jos...@lascaux.ca
>You must use Win2k loader to load both (see howto).
Could you explain why ? I think one can use either NTLDR or use lilo.
Frank Sweetser
Rod Smith
dz...@my-deja.com writes:
> In order to boot linux, the boot image must reside within the first 1024
> cylinders of the disk.
This used to be true, and in some cases it still is, but this
requirement is evaporating. There are two factors that determine whether
it's true:
1) Whether the BIOS provide the extended INT13 calls. Normal INT13
calls can only handle out to 1024 cylinders, but their extended
counterparts can handle more than that. AFAIK, all BIOSes made in
the past couple of years or so provide extended INT13 calls.
2) Whether the boot loader supports extended INT13 calls. I don't
recall the exact version number, but a few months ago LILO added
support for extended INT13 calls. The LILO that ships with most
modern distributions supports these. GRUB also gets around the
1024-cylinder limit, although I think I heard it did so by including
its own mini-IDE driver, thus bypassing the BIOS. I could easily be
mis-remembering this detail, though.
Overall, as a general rule it's probably best to keep the kernel under
the 1024th cylinder, because that advice won't HURT, except by making an
installation slightly more complex in some cases. It's increasingly
unnecessary, however, as BIOSes with extended INT13 support and recent
versions of LILO both become more common.
> You must use Win2k loader to load both (see howto).
This is one way to do it, but not the only way. LILO can boot Win2K
(which will actually use its own boot loader as a secondary boot
loader), or you can use a third-party product like System Commander,
BootMagic, etc.
Mark Bratcher
>In article <960q75$3i...@news.emirates.net.ae>,
> "Amit kt" <kta...@emirates.net.ae> wrote:
>> i am going to install rh6.1 and win2k .
>> Which one should i install first i have 20 gb.
>>
>> I can mange to install win98 and linux and it works
>> perfectly fine.
>> Any tips would help thanks .
>> Amit kt
>>
>>
>In order to boot linux, the boot image must reside within the first 1024
>cylinders of the disk.
Using the latest version of LILO, it can be anywhere you want.
Mine's at cylinder 1400-something. :-)
--
Mark Bratcher
Director of Software and Electrical Engineering
Torrey Pines Research
To reply, remove both underscores (_) from my email name
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