Re: Windows XP + Linux

[Stefan Bellon <sbellon@sbellon.de>]

HubertChan wrote:
> >>>>> "Stefan" == Stefan Bellon <sbellon@sbellon.de> writes:
> 
> Stefan> You can't do it the other way round (i.e. using GRUB to boot
> Stefan> WinXP), as GRUB can't read NTFS (AFAICT).
> 
> FWIW, I'm using GRUB to boot WinXP, and it's definitely working.  GRUB
> doesn't need to read NTFS to boot WinXP.  It just needs to be able to
> read the first block of the partition and do "chainloading" as they
> call it (load the first block into memory, and start executing it).
> 
> Try it out for yourself.  When you get into GRUB, go to the GRUB
> command line, and issue the following commands:
> 
> root (hd0,0)
> makeactive
> chainloader +1
> boot

Ok, so you have GRUB installed in the MBR. And the NT boot loader is
installed in (hd0,0) as it seems. So you first get the GRUB menu and
afterwards you get the WinXP boot loader menu (or none, if you have only
one entry in c:\boot.ini).

I didn't now that chainloading works with NTFS. I thought you need some
FAT format for it to work.

Indeed, then your method is nicer as you only have one menu (the GRUB
one) if c:\boot.ini has only the WinXP entry. And you don't have to rely
on the c:\bootlinx.bin on the WinXP partition. I'll try that later on.
:-)

> The great thing about going straight to GRUB is that it allows me to
> select among any number of different Linux kernels, WinXP, Memtest86,
> etc. all in one shot.

Yes, I had set up that for my old notebook (which ran Win98) as well,
but I didn't know it was possible with NTFS as well.

Thanks for the information.

Greetings,

Stefan.

-- 
 Stefan Bellon * <mailto:sbellon@sbellon.de> * <http://www.sbellon.de/>
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