Cyprian Troyer wrote: > Trying to make dual boot work on my TP 600. I was given a 40G hard > drive, so now I have the room to squeeze both OS's in. I'd like to > retain windoze to run some CAD software for work backup ( If anyone > knows of a double secret parametric 3D modelling package out there for > Linux, let me know. I haven't been able to find anything. BRL-CAD > rocks, but the learning curve is steep.) I can install either OS without > issues, doing a standard windoze 2000 pro install, or a Slackware12.0 > install, with LILO installed to the MBR. Either one works separately, > but when I install Slackware after windoze, LILO gives a disk read > error. (LILO posts the L followed by a screenful of 01's) I've tried > making the install to different partitions, but that doesn't seem to > help. The only thing I haven't tried yet is a 'boot' partition for LILO > to live in. I'd rather not do that, as that would only leave me with two > partitions for my Linux system. One for 'boot', one for windoze , one > for / , one for swap, and that leaves nothing for /usr/local or /home. > Or is there something about the 4 partition limit to fdisk that I'm > missing? > Thanks. > No problem. I dual boot slack & windows, and have done this setup many times without fail. The easiest way to do this is with a 3rd party bootloader (I like boot magic), but you can do it with the resourses you have as well. Install windows as normal, or repair your windows MBR if you destroyed it on accident. Then install slack, but do not put lilo in the MBR. Put lilo on the slackware root partition - "root partition's superblock" I believe they call it in the install (also do not pick simple install for the lilo, make a custom lilo, and point to your proper slack / or /boot partition ie:/dev/hda5). Very Important - Make sure to create a Slackware boot disk. Once Slack is installed, reboot into Slack using the boot floppy. Log in, and su to root. Check your /etc/lilo.conf file to make sure it is accurate. Should look something like: # Start LILO global section boot = /dev/hda5 #(make sure this is your slack root partition) message = /boot/boot_message.txt prompt timeout = 100 # Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table: change-rules reset # VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256 vga = 773 # End LILO global section # Linux bootable partition config begins image = /boot/vmlinuz root = /dev/hda5 #(make sure this is your slack root partition) label = Slackware read-only # Linux bootable partition config ends ** if you make any changes at this point, remember to run "lilo" after your done editing to install your new lilo. Now, grab a DOS formatted empty floppy (sorry should have mentioned you'll need one earlier), and mount it. You should not need to mount the floopy since you just booted from a floppy, but if it need to be mounted try: (as root) mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy The following command will copy your lilo onto the floopy: dd if=/dev/hda5 bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/floppy/linux.bin Pop out the floopy, and reboot into windows 2K. Once booted copy the contents of the floppy to the root of the windows drive, most likely C:\ Now edit the windows boot.ini file (I like vim for windows, but you can use notepad). Add the following to to the bottom of boot ini. c:linux.bin=”Slackware" Reboot without any floppies in the drive and viola you should be able to choose which OS you want to boot into! If you have gone and turned off the display of other operating systems, you will need to turn that back on. If you don’t know how or don't remember, right click on “My Computer”, click on “Properties”. This brings up the “System Properties” window, click on the “Advanced” tab and then the “Startup and Recovery” button at the bottom. You should see the first check box unchecked, simply put a check in the box and then set the number of seconds the display is up before booting into the default OS! I have done trick over 100 times without a problem. I hope you think pad has a floppy, if not... well good luck. Good Luck!!! Robert De Mars