boot.ini

[ViolentGreen 0]

Can someone explain the boot.ini file to me? I am trying to dual boot XP Pro and Mandrake 9.0 using the XP boot manager. I have a bootable floppy to get into Mandrake and copied those files to the c:\. I have tried adding the line

 

c:\bootfile="mandrake 9.0"

 

Is there something else to this?

[nebulus 0]

All you need to do is to create an image of the linux boot sector..

Type this while you're in Mandrake

Code:

dd if=/dev/hda7 bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/win_c/linux.bin

where hda7 should be your linux boot partition, might be something else.. like hda5.. so check "boot"- line in "lilo.conf"

 

..and add this to your "boot.ini" file

Code:

C:\linux.bin="Mandrake Linux 9.0"

[ViolentGreen 0]

Thanks! You all have been great! I'll try it when I get off work.

[ViolentGreen 0]

Quote:

Quote:

All you need to do is to create an image of the linux boot sector..
Type this while you're in Mandrake

Code:

dd if=/dev/hda7 bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/win_c/linux.bin

where hda7 should be your linux boot partition, might be something else.. like hda5.. so check "boot"- line in "lilo.conf"

..and add this to your "boot.ini" file

Code:

C:\linux.bin="Mandrake Linux 9.0"

Ahhh, thanks nebulus... THAT's the other way I have heard about, & in fact, I think it was from YOU here @ this site in these forums that I saw that way of doing it!

*

(Two roads to Rome, you now have BOTH techniques for this use of boot.ini as your multiple partition boot manager!)

* In the words of Microsoft: "Where do you want to go today?" (+ using BOOT.INI? Linux, DOS, Os/2, Windows95/98/ME/NT/2k/XP???)

APK

P.S.=> & nebulus? I just LOVE that signature of yours about programmers & the universe, lol... apk

Yeah, well that didn't work. I just get a black screen.

[ViolentGreen 0]

Quote:

Quote:

Yeah, well that didn't work. I just get a black screen.

Try my method I posted then!

* The first one using Giles Voillant's bootpart program version 2.50.



(OR, conversely, try consult nebulus directly on his method's details then.... nice part about forums is, you have folks to consult directly! Private Message him if he does not respond directly here...)

APK

Well the problem with your method is that I don't have a FAT partition on my system as of now. I want to try to aviod repartitioning again. The more I think about it though, I need a FAT partition to swap files between OSs because linux has issues with NTFS.

[nebulus 0]

Quote:

Yeah, well that didn't work. I just get a black screen.

Trust me, it works..

Try this:

Code:

dd if=/dev/hdaX bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/floppy/linux.bin

but before you do this..
1) check boot-line in "lilo.conf" and change hdaX in my post to whatever it is in your "lilo.conf"
2) get a blank floppy and type this:

Code:

mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

3) apply the first line, I mean "dd if=/dev .."
Now boot into Windows and copy linux.bin to c:\ and make sure you have changed "boot.ini"

Good luck!

[ViolentGreen 0]

I am going to bring this back to life. I have now tried this on two different machines with no luck. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

[nebulus 0]

Of course I'm confident . Using this method since I got my hands on Mandrake 8.0...

 

Anyway, here is a step-by-step article that explains how you can get it work:

http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_other_00011.asp

 

;; edited ;;

If you choose to use Vim then take a look at this first:

http://tnerual.eriogerg.free.fr/vimqrc.pdf