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Dual-Booting Linux and Windows with GRUB: Requirements and Setup - Prof. Robert J. Taylor, Study notes of Computer Science

The steps to dual-boot linux and windows using grub, focusing on the requirements for the /boot partition, shrinking the windows partition, and the installation process. It covers the use of tools like fips, parted, and grub, as well as creating a bootable floppy or fat32 partition.

Typology: Study notes

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 08/04/2009

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Dual-Boot Linux and Windows 2000/Windows XP with GRUB
Requirements for /boot Partition
The location of the /boot partition on the hard drive is critical so that you don't get hit by the infamous
BIOS 1024 cylinder limit of older systems can't access data beyond cylinder 1024, ~8.5 GB. A simple
way to avoid the BIOS 1024 limit is to create /boot within the first 1024 cylinders (~8.5 GB) of the hard
drive.
a) If you have multiple hard drives (disks), /boot must be on the same hard drive (probably the
first hard drive) that has the Windows boot loader (NTLDR) on the MBR. To do so shrink the
Windows partition such that there is 200 MB of unused disk space at the beginning of the drive or
after the Windows partition within the 1024-cylinder limit.
b) Use LBA (Logical Block Addressing). LBA allows you to boot beyond the 1024 cylinder. In order to
use LBA, your BIOS must support it. In addition, for LILO, you must also add a flag to enable LBA
support. GRUB supports LBA "out-of-the-box"
To non-destructively shrink the Windows partition, you can use the free software program fips or (qt)parted
or a commercial product like Partition Magic.
The tool that comes with Red Hat, Disk Druid, does not have the ability to shrink existing partitions. Once
you've shrunk the Windows partition, you can use Disk Druid during the Red Hat Installation to create all
the partitions you need for Linux
Dual-Boot Setup
Preparation:
a) install Windows (or already have existing)
b) remove the page file from the OS drive
c) defragment the Wwindows OS (C:\) partition
d) Boot a “LiveCD” containing (qt)parted
Shrink the Windows partition as described above.
pf3

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Dual-Boot Linux and Windows 2000/Windows XP with GRUB

Requirements for /boot Partition

The location of the /boot partition on the hard drive is critical so that you don't get hit by the infamous

BIOS 1024 cylinder limit of older systems can't access data beyond cylinder 1024, ~8.5 GB. A simple

way to avoid the BIOS 1024 limit is to create /boot within the first 1024 cylinders (~8.5 GB) of the hard drive. a) If you have multiple hard drives (disks) , /boot must be on the same hard drive (probably the first hard drive) that has the Windows boot loader (NTLDR) on the MBR. To do so shrink the Windows partition such that there is 200 MB of unused disk space at the beginning of the drive or after the Windows partition within the 1024-cylinder limit.

b) U se LBA (Logical Block Addressing). LBA allows you to boot beyond the 1024 cylinder. In order to

use LBA, your BIOS must support it. In addition, for LILO, you must also add a flag to enable LBA

support. GRUB supports LBA "out-of-the-box"

To non-destructively shrink the Windows partition, you can use the free software program fips or (qt)parted

or a commercial product like Partition Magic.

The tool that comes with Red Hat, Disk Druid, does not have the ability to shrink existing partitions. Once you've shrunk the Windows partition, you can use Disk Druid during the Red Hat Installation to create all the partitions you need for Linux

Dual-Boot Setup

Preparation:

a) install Windows (or already have existing)

b) remove the page file from the OS drive

c) defragment the Wwindows OS (C:) partition

d) Boot a “LiveCD” containing (qt)parted

Shrink the Windows partition as described above.

Installation:

a) Install GRUB on the first sector of the /boot partition.

DO NOT INSTALL IT ON THE MBR!

b) If you are performing the Red Hat installation, for the "Boot Loader Installation" screen:

Select "Use GRUB as the boot loader"

Select Install Boot Loader record on "...First sector of boot partition".

After finishing the Red Hat installation, reboot into Linux.

If you don't have a boot disk, try booting in linux rescue mode

c) If you already have Linux installed:

Run the following command (e.g. assuming /boot is /dev/hda2): grub-install /dev/hda

Edit /etc/grub.conf and make sure there is an entry for your version of Windows.

Example:

grub.conf generated by anaconda

Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file

NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that

all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.

root (hd0,1)

kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda

initrd /initrd-version.img

#boot=/dev/hda default= timeout= splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10) root (hd0,1) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda3 hdc=ide-scsi initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img title Windows 2000 rootnoverify (hd0,0) chainloader +