Fedora Core 8 and Windows XP dual boot

[zmdmw52]

I have 500 GB SATA and 250 GB Seagate HD's on my desktop PC, presently dual-booting Windows Prof SP2 with itself.

Plan to add Linux Fedora Core 8 as a 3rd OS, but want to preserve the current WinXP installs and the MBR, so that if anything goes wrong, I can revert to the old configuration (minus Fedora).

- How can I go about doing this: links to appropriate webpages would be welcome.

- More importantly, how can I backup and restore the MBR to the previous state (i.e. WinXP only).

Would appreciate detailed instructions, as I am new to this.

Thanks,

[bob]

This may work well for you: http://www.jplawrence.us/mywiki/DualBootLinux

[zmdmw52]

Is the Linux dual-boot link you mentioned earlier dated? ... in the sense will the new Fedora version (i.e. Fedora Core 8) have an updated boot loader [is it grub or is it LiLo (or an option to select either one)?], with the new version having an easier point-and-click interface?

As I am not that technically knowledgeable to be able to edit either the grub or boot.ini file (or any others); in addition this may also render the system unstable.

[stoat]

Originally Posted by zmdmw52

Is the Linux dual-boot link you mentioned earlier dated? ... in the sense will the new Fedora version (i.e. Fedora Core 8) have an updated boot loader [is it grub or is it LiLo (or an option to select either one)?], with the new version having an easier point-and-click interface?

As I am not that technically knowledgeable to be able to edit either the grub or boot.ini file (or any others); in addition this may also render the system unstable.

Hello zmdmw52,

The instructions at that link are not dated. Things are still done the same way regarding that method of dual booting. But I do think that page could stand some rewriting. The terms "primary", "secondary", "master", and "slave" are thrown around in a confusing way. And the instructions focus on IDE drives, but they work for SATA drives, too. Not only that, but I have made the same concept work with the two drives on the same IDE cable as master and slave by switching the master and slave jumpers. So, it's not dated, but could stand some revision.

Fedora 8 uses GRUB by default. It does not offer LILO. It is still possible to get and use LILO instead of GRUB to boot Fedora, but your words make that sound like an inadvisable undertaking. The version of GRUB installed with Fedora 8 remains 0.97. GRUB is still tweaked and manipulated by editing a configuration file. A new generation of GRUB is in development and reportedly will have a GUI, but that won't help you now.

If you want to try Fedora without it making any alterations to your Windows drive, and if you do not want to deal with configuring GRUB and trying the method in that link, then the simplest and safest thing that I can think of is this: Unplug the Windows drive. Install the default Fedora 8 setup on its own drive with GRUB in the master boot record of that drive. Reconnect the Windows drive. Use the BIOS boot order to select which drive boots. There would be no possible damage to the Windows drive during the installation of Fedora. There would be no configuring needed for GRUB.

[ovadyah]

Greetings, I had no problem adding F8 to a sata drive with XP and F6 in a dual boot mode. F8 left the non-linux disk space alone. I am not sure what adding a second HD to the mix will do. I have not had a lot of experience with it. I would also unplug one of the xp drives, add F8 to the other one with xp and then use the bios to switch from on HD to the other.

[bob]

And, that's the beauty of the instructions. You always have the option to switch in the BIOS to boot either OS, since each drive has it's own mbr. You can certainly add the Windows info to the Fedora grub boot and keep tweaking until Fedora boots both, but you won't risk losing anything or overwriting anything in the process.

As to the instructions, it's pretty simple really. Windows stays Windows - end of story on that drive. Fedora happily installs itself on the other drive, once Windows is pulled, and thinks it's the only OS in the computer. Even when the Windows drive is plugged back in, it doesn't concern itself with it. That's when you teach it by the 'mapping' instructions. You're essentially telling grub: "Hey, there's another drive and another OS that you should consider booting...look over HERE!"

[zmdmw52]

Originally Posted by bob

Don't forget to comment when your problem is solved - others will be searching for solutions too!

For a Windows user (w/ NT/ 2000/ XP to dual-boot with Linux), I found the methods mentioned below to be relatively easy to use and stable. Both methods are variations of the same principle, viz. to copy the MBR of the Linux / (root) partition onto the system (usually C:\) partition of Windows and chainload it from there using the NT bootloader.
PS: I am not sure if either will work with Windows Vista, though the mjmwired website mentions that Method 1 does, I haven't tried it as I do not use Vista.

NOTE that for both methods to work, you have to install the Linux bootloader (GRUB) on the / (root) partition of the Linux install, not the (usually default) MBR; a separate /boot partition is not necessary. In installers of all Linux distros that I have tried so far (openSUSE 11, Fedora 10, Ubuntu 9.04, Mint 7), there is the option of a 'custom partition layout' and further on you can choose where to install GRUB.


1) Method 1:
Can be done from within Windows and mentioned here - http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mj...0.html#install. For this you will need a small program called 'bootpart.exe' (can be found here: http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm). Detailed instructions on how to use bootpart are there in a text file in the zipped archive.


2) Method 2:
You will need a live CD (any Linux Live CD will do, does not have to be Fedora, I prefer Parted Magic, as that has ntfs-3g and auto-mounts NTFS partitions. Parted Magic also takes a lesser time to load and has a clean interface) . Ensure that the Live CD has ntfs-3g to mount NTFS partitions if that is what is on your Windows system-most recent live CD's will. This is to be done from within a live CD session after booting into the live CD, and uses the dd cmd to copy the MBR code of the Linux bootloader (i.e. GRUB Stage 1) on the / (root) partition to a Windows partition as a .bin file (you can also save it to an external USB thumb drive).

[root@localhost liveuser]# dd if=/dev/sdb4 of=/media/S5_1/Fedora_11.bin bs=512 count=1

Here replace /dev/sdb4 with your / (root) partition; and /media/S5_1 where you will be saving the output. (You can run fdisk -l or sfdisk -l from a terminal to get details of your hard drive and partition layout).

Refer to this page http://opensuse.swerdna.org/suseboot1.html for detailed instructions.

Finally, with either of the 2 methods, you will need to modify the boot.ini file with a text editor (Notepad) to add the .bin file as a Menu item. My boot.ini file looks like this:

[boot loader] 
 timeout=20 
 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS 
 [operating systems] 
 multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect 
 C:\BOOTPART\ubuntu9.04.bin="Ubuntu 9.04" 
C:\BOOTPART\fedora10.bin="Fedora 10" 

After a re-boot, if you have followed the instructions mentioned at the links above properly, you should see the Linux OS you installed added to the Windows boot menu. Of course, ensure you have backed-up your PC before doing the above.

[bob]

(good post! Copied it to Guides)

[JN4OldSchool]

Reading the date stamps on this thread was amusing!

"SOLVED! After almost 2 years of research...!"

[zmdmw52]

Originally Posted by JN4OldSchool

Reading the date stamps on this thread was amusing!

"SOLVED! After almost 2 years of research...!"

Not exactly, here's what happened:

At the time I posted this, I wanted to try out the latest Fedora (Fedora 9 at that time). However, despite a few attempts, I was unsuccessful in getting Fedora 9 to boot and display, due to a Graphics Card driver problem as mentioned here. So, I opted for openSUSE 11 (latest version available at that time), and installed on a separate hard disk, since it detected the Graphics Card (nVidia GeForce 8400GS 512 MB) and I could boot into a basic working desktop, though at a lower resolution of 1280 X 1024 (ideal/native res for the 17" LG L177WSB monitor is 1440 X 900). I was able to get the ideal resolution after installing the nVidia drivers available though a 1-click install, see here. This openSUSE 11 install was dual booting with Windows XP, using the GRUB bootloader (i.e. GRUB Stage 1 was installed in the MBR of BIOS HD 1, Windows XP Hard Drive). Later, I upgraded to openSUSE 11.1, when it came out in March this year. However, a month or so back, the Linux hard disk (I have a separate SATA HD entirely for Linux, Windows XP has it's own hard drive) developed bad sectors, and I had to get a new one. GRUB and system settings could not be restored from the old hard disk; and so I ended up with this method after doing some online reading, since this time around I wanted boot Linux using the Windows NT loader. Both (bootpart method and the dd cmd Live CD method) the above methods worked well. I have installed Ubuntu 9.04 and Fedora 10 on the new hard disk (again entirely devoted to Linux), and hope to add openSUSE 11.1 shortly.

So the actual 'research' was only a couple of weeks.

[JN4OldSchool]

Ha! Well, just happy that it worked out for you. It is amazing that you remembered this thread, I cant remember things I posted two days ago!