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Hey guys,

Just installed Madrake 7.1 yesterday and i wanna dual boot it with multiple OS's. I want to install WIN2k server, Netware 5.x and any other fledging OS i run across (wish they would finish up on Lindows already)

My question is:

Since Linux is installed with the bootloader on the MBR, can i go ahead and install win2k server or Netware straight of the CD w/o screwing up the LILO?

If not, what is the procedure.

Not really. It may work but chances are it will wipe LILO from the MBR somewhere during the install. You'll need to make a Linux bootdisk so you can go back in and restore LILO later. Or install LILO on the boot block of your Linux boot partition and use a different boot loader.

Not too sure about Netware but do you have a partition setup for windows on the drive using FAT32 file system? If so once you go through the install windows will recreate the master boot record to only boot to windows but there are a couple of options to do both. If you have a linux boot disk and boot to the command line login as root and run the /sbin/lilo -s /tmp/linux.bin command. Once you do that run this command cp /tmp/linux.bin /mnt/win_c/ (or whatever the name is of the windows partition). Then just edit the boot.ini file in windows like this C:\linux.bin="Linux" then reboot. Now you can boot to both. The other option is boot to command line with linux and login as root and run /sbin/lilo/ command. That should pick up the windows partition and add it to the lilo boot choice.

As soon as you install Windows, and most likely any other OS, it will tend to install its boot loader to the MBR. I would recommend installing Windows first, and Linux last. During the Linux install it will ask you to install a bootloader (usually with a choice of Lilo or Grub), just be careful. I recommend Grub, because it's easier to maintain and have your Linux distro install it to the MBR of your primary hard drive. The installer should detect the other OS's and create a boot menu for you with a further choice of which will be the default -- READ CAREFULLY AND SELECT CAREFULLY!!

I know that Grub will handle Windows and Linux with no problem -- I'm not sure of any other OS, however. Be aware that Grub will store it's menu entries in a file called "menu.lst" in the /boot/grub directory of your Linux space. Be sure you create the appropriate emergency boot disks for each OS that you load -- in case something goes awry.

Just be careful and observant, and you will probably have little to no problems.