Dual boot help

[jigsaw]

I want to setup a dual boot  slack/windows 2k prof.  How do i partition/install both of these? what is the procedure? I am a bit confused. What do I install first? How do I set partition properties?

[iago]

When you first install Slack, it should ask you to install lilo, which is the bootloader.  After it's installed, i'm not sure how to turn it on.

[jigsaw]

ugh, i know lilo always loads even if its not dual boot. always have to select os... i want to know how to install - i hear windows will defualt mbr on a partition.. and create problems. iago stay out of this, you dont know what you're doing

[hismajesty]

Get Partition Magic 8.0. Set up a 'linux' partition (it's one of the options in the program) and a linux slack of about 500 or so mb. (really it should be about twice your RAM.) Then there will be some options, just put the most logical or ask for help. After that there is a choice to partition later or right after the configuration of the partition, I think it's best to do it directly after. Then just wait while it partitions and restart when it's finished. Assuming you have slack on a CD, just set your bios to vote from the CD and continue with the slack installation as normal.

[iago]

If lilo is already installed and you can get to Linux, then I think the config is stored in /etc/lilo.conf or something like that.

<Edit> hmm, to answer more of your question:
The way I did it was first, partition the drive using whatever program you want.  make a Linux partition, a Linux Swap, and a Fat32 or NTFS for windows.  Then install windows on its partition, and the install linux.  When Slack's done installing, it'll give you the option to install Lilo.  Install Lilo in the MBR, and set it up with a single linux partition and a single dos partition, and life's good.  It worked for me, anyway

[cipher]

<brag> With my experience doing insane partioning schemes, tricking Windows into believing it's on Master Hard Drive/First Partition, I believe I might be able to help you with this one ;) </brag>

If you're just using one hard drive, and plan to have only Slack and Windows 2k, then hopefully this setup will work for you.
"i hear windows will defualt mbr on a partition.. and create problems."
 -Yeah, it can cause problems, but that's why normally people install Windows first (cause of course it's gonna complain if it isn't)--although I'd like to know from the more experienced Windows users (irony) if Windows XP has to be the first partition on the primary hard drive in order to boot.
-Even though this is true, you could still boot say into a Gentoo livecd and overwrite the MBR with a correct one.

Since I know you have a Gentoo livecd now, we could use that to do some partitioning. Load the cd and boot off of it. When you get to the console, do 'cfdisk /dev/hda' and this will help you partition the hard drive. One question, does Windows 2000 _have_ to use NTFS? I know XP can use both, but I'm not sure about Win2k. FAT32 is nice because it's easily mounted and can be used safely in read/write mode on Linux. Mounting NTFS is not quite as safe for writing. If you can't use FAT32 and you end up wanting to mount an NTFS partition on slack--it's possible--I believe you will need a special module in your kernel to allow for it.
To actually format the Windows partition, you can save that for later, because win2k might allow you to pick which partition you want to install to, and will most likely do its insane formatting that for some reason takes a lot longer than any other formatting procedure <rant>(I still don't know why formatting to ext3 takes like 10 seconds on huge partitions, whereas NTFS/FAT32 formatting takes 10-20 minutes). </rant>
With the livecd, you can create Filesystems using mkfs. To create an ext3 partition you use 'mke2fs -j <partition>' If you lose track of what partition is what, once again use 'cfdisk /dev/hda' (am once again assuming primary master install) and write down your partition table (on paper if you must) so that you can remember what is what. If you want some tips on a relatively good Linux partitioning scheme, ask me.

Here is a little table of what does what:
FS       COMMAND
ext2   mke2fs   
ext3   mke2fs -j   
reiserfs   mkreiserfs   
xfs   mkfs.xfs   
jfs   mkfs.jfs

As always, if you need real-time help, hit me up on AIM.

[Kp]

One question, does Windows 2000 _have_ to use NTFS? I know XP can use both, but I'm not sure about Win2k. FAT32 is nice because it's easily mounted and can be used safely in read/write mode on Linux. Mounting NTFS is not quite as safe for writing.

No, Win2000 can use FAT32 if you're really determined.  However, I highly recommend NTFS over FAT32 -- it's an overall much better filesystem.  I've heard tales of a spinoff from the ReactOS Project that provides stable read-write NTFS drivers for Linux; however, I don't believe in trying to make Windows coexist with another OS in one computer, so I've never had occasion to try them.  The drivers were mentioned on the vL forums sometime back; unfortunately, I don't recall what subforum the thread was in.

[cipher]

Ok, I checked things out a bit. Apparently most of the new kernels have READ/(experimental) WRITE for NTFS, but I've heard that there really is no problem writing. If you plan to ever boot into Windows again, make sure you don't try to write to any of the major Windows System files (obvious, no?)
My purpose for liking the option to mount Windows partitions is not so that the two OSs coexist, more along the lines of not having to move things. For example, I still have all my mp3s stored on a FAT32 partition, a partition that I've had on my computer for a very long time now. Same goes with movies, I still store them on my Windows partitions. I figure, why not make use of the free space? Even though I never boot into Windows anymore, it's nice to have all the files that I did use at my fingertips.

[Skywing]

Ok, I checked things out a bit. Apparently most of the new kernels have READ/(experimental) WRITE for NTFS, but I've heard that there really is no problem writing. If you plan to ever boot into Windows again, make sure you don't try to write to any of the major Windows System files (obvious, no?)
My purpose for liking the option to mount Windows partitions is not so that the two OSs coexist, more along the lines of not having to move things. For example, I still have all my mp3s stored on a FAT32 partition, a partition that I've had on my computer for a very long time now. Same goes with movies, I still store them on my Windows partitions. I figure, why not make use of the free space? Even though I never boot into Windows anymore, it's nice to have all the files that I did use at my fingertips.

That's fairly wrong.  The native linux NTFS driver tends to destroy your filesystem if you write with it, unless the file size doesn't change.

If you want stable read/write NTFS support on linux, use Captive NTFS (runs NTFS.sys from Windows 2000 or Windows XP).

In any case, due to it's extreme intolerance for crashes, I wouldn't save anything on FAT32 that you wouldn't mind disappearing.