[K12OSN] boot from local ntfs HD

Sun Mar 28 03:51:43 UTC 2004

Thanks Jim, I'm glad to know you were successful. So I know it's possible. I
checked out the site you mentioned and it describes dual booting for DOS and NT.
I know to use the dd command in linux to create bootsect.lin and then copy that
to a DOS floppy then boot windows and copy it to the root dir and modify
boot.ini. But for our thin client setup is it as simple as just pointing NT
bootloader to the etherboot.com file as Daniel described ?? I found info on
google how to dual boot (it works with ntfs) I'll paste it below:

Robert
----snip from google--------------------------------------

From: Richard Schulman (ra.schulman-xyz@**********)
Subject: Re: XP Pro and Red Hat 8.0 dual boot
Newsgroups: linux.redhat.install
View: Complete Thread (13 articles)
Date: 2003-01-12 19:32:02 PST

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 14:27:03 +0000, Lester Burnham wrote:

> Yes Richard, I would love to have the details [of how to set up a
Windows NT/2K/XP and Linux dual boot, while leaving the NT/2K/XP boot
loader untouched in the MBR], even if they involve more work.

> BTW, can XP's boot loader recognize Linux?

Yes. I'll describe how below.

> ...Do I have to change the primary partition from the BIOS?

No.

O.K., here goes (The discussion below assumes you're clear on partitioning
issues; I'm only going to discuss dual-boot-related issues.):

I. During the Red Hat install:

A. Write down the location to which the /boot partition has been assigned.
For many, this will be hda1 (the first partition on the first physical
drive, the drive being IDE).

B. Install the Linux boot loader in the Linux /boot partition (not the RH
default, which is to install to the MBR). In order to do this, select the
"Advanced" option at the point in the install where you must choose GRUB
(recommended) or LILO as your Linux boot loader. You will then be given
an opportunity to place the boot loader you chose in the Linux /boot
partition.

C. Make a Linux boot diskette when the install gives you the option to do
so.

D. When the install is over, remove the CD but leave the boot diskette in
the diskette drive.

II. Reboot to Linux from the boot diskette.

A. Remove the Linux boot diskette and insert a blank DOS or
Windows-formatted diskette.

B. At the command line as root (or in a terminal window after entering su
and root's password), issue the following commands:

mount /mnt/floppy <enter>

dd if=/dev/XdYZ bs=512 count=1 of=/mnt/floppy/bootsec.lin <enter>

where the "if=" specification points to the Linux partition where /boot is
mounted and where "X", "Y", and "Z" are placeholders to be replaced as
follows: For "X", substitute "h" if the drive on which /boot resides is an
IDE hard drive; else substitute "s" if it is a SCSI drive. For "Y",
substitute "a" if this is the first physical drive on the PC, "b" if it is
the second, and so forth. For "Z", substitute the numeral "1" if /boot is
in the first partition, "2" if it is in the second, etc. Example,

dd if=/dev/hda1 ...
dd if=/dev/sdb3 ...

B. Temporarily remove the diskette bearing the bootsec.lin file and
reboot.

A. This will bring you back to your Windows NT/2k/XP system.

B. Open a DOS window, go to the root directory of your Windows boot drive
(usually C:\), issue an "attrib" command to locate the boot.ini file,
remove the attributes that hide the file and/or make it read-only, e.g.,

attrib -r -h boot.ini

backup this important file as a safety precaution, then edit the original
boot.ini file in notepad or any other plain vanilla editor, adding the
following line:

c:\bootsec.lin="Red Hat 8"

Restore the boot.ini attributes to whatever they formerly were, say, by
issuing an

attrib +r +h boot.ini

command.

C. Reinsert the diskette bearing the bootsec.lin file and copy it to the
directory where you just edited boot.ini. E.g.,

copy a:\bootsec.lin c:\bootsec.lin /v

III. Remove the diskette and you reboot. You should get the NT/2K/XP boot
loader, giving the option of booting to Windows or Red Hat by arrowing
down or up to your current choicce. If you select Red Hat, this should
take you immediately (via bootsec.lin) to the GRUB boot manager, which
allows you up or down arrow to select Linux or return to Windows.

The methodology described above can be extended to create a triple boot
system (one Windows, two Linuxes) or to add Linux to a PC that already has
two different windows OSes on it.

Although the procedure describe above sounds complicated, it is actually
pretty routine once one has done it once or twice. I've used the technique on
Caldera, Mandrake, and Red Hat installs, and it has worked every time.
Acknowledgement is due to Caldera, from whose help file I first read of
the technique described, and thefor which the
present adaptation is gratefully acknowledged.

Those for whom Linux is now, or definitely will be, the primary operating
system on the PCs, can save themselves the extra work of the procedure
above by simply accepting the Red Hat default installation of GRUB (or
LILO) to the PC's MBR.

--
Richard Schulman
--
For email reply, remove the antispamming "-xyz"

----snip from google-----------------------------------------------

Quoting Jim Christiansen <christiansen_j at hotmail.com>:

> Hi Andy,
> 
> I have dual booted stand-alone NT and linux clients, both from the standard
> 
> nt boot loader.
> 
> I posted how I did this to the list about a year ago.  No floppies or second
> 
> boot loaders...
> 
> I'll search around for how I did this.   I dumped NT from the nt loader last
> 
> September for all of the 30 boxes in the lab.  Kind of strange to use the nt
> 
> boot loader with a time delay of 0 to boot Linux!!
> 
> I'll get around to dumping the ntfs partitions and use a free dos boot with
> 
> the executable rom...  Sometime...
> 
> Jim
I have gone thought my notes and of course the last few pages in the pile of
a coule hundred were the ones I was looking for ;-)  I should have just
started looking from the bottom...

I doesn't loook like I ever did post how to do it, but I found the web
address at:

http://www.bcpl.net/~dbryan/ntfs-dual-boot.html

for dual booting using the nt boot loader.

This should do it for you.

Jim 