[ltp] lilo fail to install...

linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Sat, 16 Oct 1999 16:36:16 +0000


There is a dual boot NT/Linux how-to out there.  Here's one random
location:
http://www.localnet.com.au/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Multiboot-with-LILO.html
Have a look at it.  I have used it to get dual booting NT/linux systems
going.

Some comments:
You can use either Lilo or the NT bootloader as the primary bootloader
(installed in the MBR).  Overall I think it's easier to use lilo.  If
you don't want to risk changing NT's boot process, you may want to use
NT bootloader. I think that either one will work for you though.

Setup 1 - less complex, more Linux oriented
-Lilo owns MBR.
-have "other" entry in lilo.conf pointing to NT's partition

Setup 2 - more complex, NT oriented
-NTbootloader owns MBR
-Lilo installed onto Linux partition
-copy the first 512 bytes from the linux partion to a file and put this
file on the NT partition; point to this file in NTbootloader's boot.ini
config file.  (this must be redone everytime you run lilo...)

I have a similar setup to you on a desktop - NT is on the first disk and
linux is on the second.   Setup 1 works for me on that machine, so I
think it will work on yours.  The other night I did the upgrade to
RedHat 6.1 and the upgrade left me in exactly Setup 1.   

On my systems (this desktop and a dual bootable 560x) the first
partition is FAT16 and the NTbootloader file are there.  However, I
don't think it makes any difference if the partition is NTFS even if you
are using Setup 1.  (I don't think that lilo has to be able to read the
partition that NT bootloader is on - it just points to the partition and
"says go" to boot what's there.)

Do read the How-to or ask further questions since is complex and you
don't want to leave your machine in an unbootable state.
-Tom   

Here's my desktop PC's partitions:

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1        50    401593+   6  FAT16
/dev/hda2            51       828   6249285    5  Extended
/dev/hda3           829       846    144585   82  Linux swap
/dev/hda4           847      1021   1405687+   6  FAT16
/dev/hda5            51       356   2457913+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6           357       483   1020096    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda7           484       828   2771181   83  Linux

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1             1        17    136521   82  Linux swap
/dev/hdc2   *        18        30    104422+  83  Linux
/dev/hdc3            31       260   1847475   83  Linux
/dev/hdc4           261       523   2112547+  83  Linux

Here's the /etc/lilo.conf file that the RedHat 6.1 upgrade made (note
the "other" stanza:

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
default=dos

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
        label=linux
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
        read-only
        root=/dev/hdc2

other=/dev/hda1
        label=dos

h2chen@us.ibm.com wrote:
> 
> I am installing RH6.0 on an existing NT 4.0 on Thinkpad for dual-booting.  So
> far, RH fails with this error:
> 
>           An Error occurred during step "Install bootloader" of the install"
> 
> I get this error when I install bootloader to the first boot sector on my hard
> drive in the ultra bay.  It will install fine without LILO (ie, to bootdisk
> only) or directly to MBR.  However, I don't want to boot from floppy, and I
> can't install LILO to MBR (on /dev/hdb) because of NT sitting on my first
> Harddrive.
> 
> No matter how I partition my hard drives, RH Installer fails as I select first
> boot sector for LILO.
> 
> Any suggestions?  Thanks.
> 
> My system info:
> Thinkpad 760xd/104mb RAM
> 1st hard drive 3GB
> 2nd hard drive (ultra bay) 3GB
> RH 6.0
> updated BIOS from '98
> 
> 1st hard drive partition:
> - c: NTFS 2GB
> - d: FAT remaining
> 
> 2nd hard drive partition:
> - / ext2 200mb
> - /usr ext2 1GB
> - /home ext2 512MB
> - /opt ext2 512MB
> - swap file 256MB
> - /var 82MB
> - /tmp remaining
> 
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