Re-installing W98 without endangering the Linux partitions?

bscott at ntisys.com bscott at ntisys.com
Mon Sep 20 19:29:01 EDT 2004


On Sat, 18 Sep 2004, at 4:36pm, f at ke1g.mv.com wrote:
> But I'm looking for tips, war stories, and warnings as to what to say to
> W98 install to minimize the likelihood of having to restore the Linux
> partitions.

  As others have noted, this is not really that big a problem.  Most
versions and flavors of Windows will be quite agreeable to installing on
part of a disk.

  Windows 9X needs to be installed on an active primary partition.  As Linux
largely ignores all that stuff, most simple dual-boot configurations just
leave the 'doze partition set active all the time, so this may not even be
an issue.  Assuming you have more then one primary partition, Windows will
use the active one.  Simple and straight-forward.

  Occasionally, one will encounter an "OEM" version of Windows that will
refuse to do anything but restore the entire disk to a factory image.  This
is usually the fault of the PC OEM (e.g., HP, Sony, etc.) and not Windows.

  One can run into problems when the Windows installer overwrites the disk's
MBR (Master Boot Record), as many Linux boot loaders install into the MBR by
default.  It really isn't fair to blame Windows for this, as the MBR was
never intended to contain an OS-specific boot loader -- it's really Linux
breaking the rules here.

  You can avoid MBR problems in a couple different ways.  One is to keep a
suitable rescue mechanism around.  If you are using GRUB as your loader,
simply create a GRUB boot floppy in advance.  If the MBR gets clobbered, you
can then boot the GRUB floppy and use it to reinstall GRUB into the MBR.  
For LILO, one generally needs to boot a Linux system and re-run the map
installer (/sbin/lilo) with the installed system.  You can either use a
self-contained rescue environment (i.e., boot from CD) for this, or prepare
a LILO boot floppy for your installed system in advance.

  The other thing you can do is to create a primary partition for Linux, and
install the boot loader in that partition.  You can also use that partition
for a /boot partition, small root (/) partition, or your entire Linux
system.  By keeping the Linux boot loader in a PBR (Partition Boot Record),
you make Linux play by the rules that other OSes expect.  You can then
switch between Linux and Windows by toggling the "Active" partition flag.  
This is especially useful for systems which contain an OEM "utility
partition" that the BIOS expects to access using a normal MBR.

  You can also optionally supplement the above by installing the first stage
of the Linux boot loader into the MBR as well, leaving the one in the PBR as
a stand-by in case the MBR gets clobbered.

  If you are unsure as to how to make a boot floppy for your particular
system, please post your distribution and release, and your boot loader
(GRUB, LILO, etc.) if you know it, and we can advise.

  Hope this helps,

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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