Author: Christopher M. Williams
Email: knight@olsusa.com
Date Submitted: Tue, Oct 27, 1998
Status: New Entry

Requester: Mike Yates
Email: myates@magmacom.com
Request Made: Tue, May 19, 1998

Releases: all
Platform: intel
Category:  Booting and LILO
Category Listing:  Booting without Lilo AFTER you have installed redhat 5.X ...

Issue

Hello; I installed redhat 5.0 on my intel based pII computer. It 
seemed to be proceeding fine, but when it got to 'were do you want 
to install the bootloader'. A problem arose. I am running a fat32 
partition running win98 as my other os (its on the same drive ). So I 
proceeded to select the 'MBR', didn't add any options and then it 
came to the 'multiple os's category'. I gave my other bootable 
partition the labe 'win98', set is as default then simply pressed 
enter. Well I got an error that simply stated lil o could not be 
installed, then gave me that all to familiar 'other options'. Well, I 
asked around and nobody could seem to help me with this problem. 
It was late so I simply skipped the lilo install (which I realize 
now was a mistake). I guess my quest ion is, what do I do now?? Any 
help would be much appreciated ... 

Response

If you run Win95/98 this is not such a mistake since LILO will 
overwrite the master boot record which Windows 95 and 98 both use. 
The following steps are the best way to boot to your Linux 
partiton from a 95/98 partiton. First, you will need the files 
loadlin.exe and vmlinuz. Loadlin.exe is in the /dosutils directory 
on the Redhat CD. Vmlinuz is in the /dosutils/autoboot directory. If 
you don't happen to have the CD handy, ftp over to a Redhat mirror 
site and download the files. Copy these files to the root 
directory of C (c:\). You will then be able to boot to the linux 
partition by rebooting in msdos mode, going to the c:\ prompt, and 
typing: loadlin vmlinuz root=/dev/hdXY where X is the drive and Y is 
the partition number where you installed the root filesystem for 
Redhat. (NOTE: hda= pri master, hdb= pri slave, hdc= sec master, hdd= sec 
slav. For example, /dev/hda2 = partiton 2 on primary master, and /dev/hdd1 = 
partiton 1 on secondary slave) For ease of use, you may want to 
write a Linux.bat file with the command line for loading linux 
from dos using loadlin. Then you can create shortcut to the batch 
file on the Windows95/98 desktop. Make sure you edit the shortcut's 
properties (right click, choose properties, program, advanced, and 
make sure msdos mode and current msdos configuration are checked.) 
Then rename your shortcut "Reboot to Linux". Now when you 
double-click this icon, your machine will exit win95/98 right to Linux. 
Power users may want to create a second shortcut using the same 
steps except on the advanced properties check specify a new 
msdos configuration. Label the new icon "Linux Mode" this icon will 
reboot the machine and restart just to your loadlin startup into 
Linux. This will keep the machine rebooting into Linux each time 
you restart until you hit  during bootup when it says 'Windows 
9X is now starting your MS-DOS based program.' Very useful if you 
use Linux more often than you use Win9X. Please note that if you 
recompile the kernel or use a different vmlinuz than the default 
one on the Redhat CD, you will want to copy that one to c:\ so that 
kernel image will be the vmlinuz file loaded by loadlin. -Chris 

References

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