Working on making a dual boot again, WinXP & Ubuntu

[Timothy Daniels]

This is my boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=c:\bootsect.lnx
[operating systems]
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect


That last line may wrap. There's only two lines after [operating systems]

Must the non-ARC pathname entry (i.e. c:\bootsect.lnx="") only
reference "c:", or can it reference some other partition?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Arno Wagner]

This is my boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=c:\bootsect.lnx
[operating systems]
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect


That last line may wrap. There's only two lines after [operating systems]

Must the non-ARC pathname entry (i.e. c:\bootsect.lnx="") only
reference "c:", or can it reference some other partition?

I would expect it can, but since the bootloader uses the BIOS
to accesse the file, any BIOS limitation on drive letters
and sector numbers might be an issue.

Arno

 

[Timothy Daniels]

This is my boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=c:\bootsect.lnx
[operating systems]
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect


That last line may wrap. There's only two lines after [operating systems]

Must the non-ARC pathname entry (i.e. c:\bootsect.lnx="") only
reference "c:", or can it reference some other partition?

I would expect it can, but since the bootloader uses the BIOS
to accesse the file, any BIOS limitation on drive letters
and sector numbers might be an issue.

And therefore heavily OEM-dependent and undocumented. <groan>
Have you ever tried using "D:" to see where ntldr went looking?
I can imagine it looking in the next partition on the same drive,
the 2nd partition on the same drive, or the active partition on the
next drive in the boot sequence. Care to run an experiment?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

This is my boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=c:\bootsect.lnx
[operating systems]
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect


That last line may wrap. There's only two lines after [operating systems]

Must the non-ARC pathname entry (i.e. c:\bootsect.lnx="") only
reference "c:", or can it reference some other partition?

I would expect it can, but since the bootloader uses the BIOS
to accesse the file,

any BIOS limitation on drive letters

What "BIOS limitation on drive letters", babblemouth?

 

[Arno Wagner]

:
This is my boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=c:\bootsect.lnx
[operating systems]
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect


That last line may wrap. There's only two lines after [operating systems]

Must the non-ARC pathname entry (i.e. c:\bootsect.lnx="") only
reference "c:", or can it reference some other partition?

I would expect it can, but since the bootloader uses the BIOS
to accesse the file, any BIOS limitation on drive letters
and sector numbers might be an issue.

And therefore heavily OEM-dependent and undocumented. <groan>

Unfortunately, yes. As soon as you go over the first 4 IDE drives,
you need luck. Or if you have an SATA/SCSI controller that messes
with the BIOS disk order.

Have you ever tried using "D:" to see where ntldr went looking?

Sorry, no. I did this only once. I have been using Grub to dual-boot
XP/Linux forever and no issue so far as long as I kept Windows on the
first IDE disk. Linux can be basically anywhere, but my best experiences
are with a small, 100MB primary partition as first partition (before
the XP one) on the first disk with ext2 format. Just put Grub config
and kernels on it. XP ignores it. The rest of the Linux system(s) can be
anywhere the kernel sees, I have them on the primary disk after all
the XP partitions and the RAID1 mirrors on the first SATA disk at the
beginning. Its basically a working system with 3 partitions and a data
dump and two rescue systems, one on each disk.

I can imagine it looking in the next partition on the same drive,
the 2nd partition on the same drive, or the active partition on the
next drive in the boot sequence.

Yes, me too.

Care to run an experiment?

Not really. I am happy with Grub. And it allows you to interactively
search through what it sees, and list files on partitions during boot,
if your configuration is messed up. I found that most helpful in the
past, even though the interface is a bit primitive.

Arno