Re: [SLUG] FW: Configuring LILO after installing Linux (Dual boot setup)

[andrew fries <afries@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Monday 19 July 2004 11:03 am, Steve Drinkald wrote:
> Hi group,
> I'm a very green newbie, so I apologise in advance for asking a dumb
> question.  I have a Debian Linux "Morphix" install CD which I have used to
> install onto my new laptop.  I partitioned my hard drive and installed
> windows XP pro on one primary partition  (which includes the MBR) and Linux
> onto the other primary partition.  I installed LILO as part of the Debian
> install, and put it on the boot sector of the Linux drive.
>  
> When I start my PC, it goes straight into XP (as this is where the MBR is)
> and I don't get an option to select Linux.  I don't believe LILO has been
> configured yet on Linux, but I can't seem to get to Linux on the HDD.  If I
> boot off the Linux CD, then I am operating on the CD system, if I boot the
> PC, I load up XP.  What steps do I have to perform to be able to get to a
> dual boot situation.

James' post tells you how to fix this situation, I'll just try to explain in 
small words what happened here. MBR is not the part of your primary 
partition, or any other partitions; it's the first couple of sectors on your 
HD, even *before* partitions start. So now you've still got Windows 
bootloader sitting there, while lilo is the beginning of your Linux 
partition. Trouble is, lilo will never be found there - not by Windows 
bootloader anyway, since it doesn't want to know about any other OSs. 

What you should've done, is tell lilo to install in MBR. This would mean lilo 
takes over all booting duties on your system; you'd have to then configure it 
to boot Windows as well as Morphix. 

That option of putting lilo at the beginning of root partition is really only 
useful in cases where you've already got another sensible bootloader handling 
the process and you don't want to replace it. Windows bootloader is not 
sensible.