20 Aug
2009
20 Aug
'09
10:54 a.m.
Julien Claassen wrote:
Hello!
I'm having a bit of a worry over an istallation: I have a computer with a
windows on the first partition, unfortuintely it must remain there. Then on
the space behind it I want to install my Linux. How should I go about
bootloaders?
I could install grub in the MBR right up front, but then I should take care
of win's bootloader, in any case win is known to simply overwrite another
bootloader, if it feels like updating. Wouldn't really want to risk it. Is
there a way to put grub at the start of the Linux partition and make it known
to win, tat there's another bootloader sitting there, waiting to be started?
Kindest regards and THANKS!
Julien
Hello Julien,
You didn't say which version of Windows you're running. With Win95
and Windows NT, I had no trouble installing Linux with GRUB using the
Master Boot Record (MBR). As has been said before, install Windows
first and Linux second.
But when I got my laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed, this did
not work. After Linux was installed, Vista would not boot. I did a
Vista reinstall and forgot about Linux on that machine.
On my desktop I had a SCSI drive and an IDE drive. Windows was on the
IDE drive and Linux was on the SCSI drive. I was able to Dual-boot
with Win95 or Windows NT with Linux, but I settled on a much easier
solution which didn't risk the Windows installation or the Linux
installation.
By having 2 drives in the desktop, I used the BIOS to select which
hard drive to boot first. If I wanted Windows, I booted the IDE
drive. If Linux, then I booted the SCSI drive.
In Linux I could view the entire Windows drive which was formatted in
FAT or FAT32. The reverse was not true since I was using EXT3 for the
Linux drive.
If you only have 1 hard drive, then the link to the howto already
provided should get you there, unless you have a Vista installation.
If you do have Vista, then I'd do more research to see if anyone is
dual-booting Vista and Linux.
Best,
Stephen.