[Luna] Setting up a dual-boot systlem

[rian bogle]

Ahhh, I see.

Some choices exist for you here:
Do what your doing (simplest, but a little clunky)
Configure to use NTLDR (windows boot manager) to dual boot. (Takes some 
work, but always leaves the MBR intact on the windows disk)
Install Grub to the Windows disk (Less work on the windows side, 
overwrites the MBR on the win disk, but is recoverable with a FDISK /mbr 
from windows)

I've always liked grub for its configurability and stability, but 
honestly, I've never done dual boot using two completely different disks.
Typically most instructions for doing so assume you've started with 
windows and you install linux clean to another disk, in which case the 
install gives you an option to install grub to the first disk. Your case 
is slightly different, but not hugely so. Since you just did a clean 
install of XP, any mistakes done wont result in loosing a huge amount of 
data, just reinstall time, so this is a fairly safe thing to experiment 
with. It sounds pretty straight forward to do.

You will probably want to have a linux rescue/boot disk  and a dos disk 
(to recove the MBR on the win disk if necessary) Just in Case. ;)
Then lread through instructions here: Grub Install instructions 
<http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Installation.html#Installation>. 

Installing natively means booting  with a grub floppy and doing commands 
on the commandline, else boot to linux and do the grub-install from a 
terminal
Remember to keep track of which disk is which. Grub uses different 
notation. Especially if you boot to linux, carefully identify which disk 
is which ( is windows on hd0 or hd1)
Your /boot will be found on the linux disk, so this helps give you a 
clue as to which disk has the windows.

Hope that helps you some. Give it a go, you wont harm your linux, and 
you can alway reset you windows.

Rian

Carolyn Roberts wrote:
> Hi Rian,
>  
> In response to your questions:
>
>  
> On 3/28/07, *rian bogle* <rbogle at usgs.gov <mailto:rbogle at usgs.gov>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Carolyn,
>
>     (I started to compose my answer and realized I assumed I know what you
>     mean, so here are some clarification questions...)
>
>     Which will be the primary disk (windows,or linux) ?
>
>  
> Right now, I have the Windows OS disk set to the Master and the Linux 
> OS disk set to Slave.
>
>     How do you boot to linux now?
>
>  
> I either go in and reset the bios to boot to the drive I want or more 
> typically I hit F8 to choose the boot drive from the list of probed 
> devices.
>
>     Do you mean that you want to add  your windows dist to an existing
>     boot
>     config, and/or
>     do you want the boot process interrupted to give you a boot choice
>     between disks?
>     or do you want to change your boot method and install grub to control
>     the whole boot up?
>
>  
> I want grub to come up so I can either let it boot to the Linux OS as 
> a default, or choose Windows XP.  This was how I had my old system set 
> up and it worked well for me. Grub is installed because it comes up 
> sometimes to choose between two linux kernals, but I have never 
> configured it before and I don't know where to find the tools to do this.
>
>     Modifying an existing grub bootup is pretty easy ....
>     a case of editing /boot/grub/menu.1st  on your existing linux (I can
>     help you with the options for these cases)
>
>  
> I will try this.
>
>     Installing grub is more involved but there are howtos out there on the
>     process.
>     Best bet is to install, or reinstall the grub package for your linux
>     distro and follow the readmes (eg /usr/share/doc/packages/grub)
>
>     Once we get that figured out the changes are pretty straight forward
>
>     --
>     Thank-You,
>
>
>     Rian Bogle
>
>  
>  
> Thanks for all your help, Rian!
> -Carolyn
>
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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>   

-- 
Thank-You,


Rian Bogle

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* Rian Bogle                                           *
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