NT issues

[glenn at aoi.ultranet.com (Glenn Burkhardt)]

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These documents regarding Linux/WinNT installations were picked up off of
sunsite:

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The Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO
by Bill Wohler, wohler at uluru.worldtalk.com
v1.0, 27 August 1996

  "You hear maniacal laughter..."
  
  Due to hardware or software problems or user headroom, I pulled my
  hair out for several days trying to get both NT and Linux happily
  settled on my new HP Vectra PC at work.

  Under no circumstances run the Disk Administrator from NT 3.51 to
  format partitions.  It asks if it can write a signature "which will
  cause absolutely no harm."  When it did this, it hosed my partition
  table until fixed by steps 3 and 7 below.  Because of these
  problems, I was limited to one FAT NT partition.  Also remember that
  even if you do get the Disk Administrator to work, you'll want at
  least one small FAT partition to use as a staging area for
  exchanging files between Linux and NT until Linux has an NTFS
  filesystem.

  I installed Linux first and then NT, but based on my experience, I
  might now be able to install NT first and then Linux.

  Note that step 6 is pertinent only to the following setup: Debian
  Linux 1.1, Linux 2.0.0, HP Vectra XU 6/150, Adaptec AIC 7880 Ultra
  (BIOS 1.2S-HP), Quantum Fireball 1080S, Phoenix compatibility BIOS
  GG.06.02.  NT 3.51.  The examples show a SCSI disk (/dev/sda);
  substitute /dev/hda for your IDE drives.

  
  1. Install Linux (hold off on installing everything until you win
  the Linux/NT battle).  Do all your disk partitioning in Linux,
  including your NT partition (make it FAT).  I was not successful at
  making more than one NT partition.  I also made it the first
  partition, but I don't know if that is essential or not.
  
  2. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and use boot=/dev/sda (I was not successful
  at installing LILO on the Linux partition--/dev/sda3 in my case) and
  run "lilo".  You'll have to use the editor ae.  You'll live.

  3. Save the MBR with this: dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
  Use a floppy.  Trust me.  Also do this each time you change the disk
  partition table.

  4. Install NT, part 1.  When it goes to reboot halfway through the
  process you'll boot into Linux.
  
  5. Add NT stanza to /etc/lilo.conf, e.g.:
  
        other=/dev/sda1
        label=NT
        table=/dev/sda

  and run lilo.  If lilo complains about this (I forget the message),
  add the "linear" flag to /etc/lilo.conf near the "compact" keyword.
  Furthermore, if your partition table is screwed up by NT you'll
  either need to use "ignore-table" or follow the directions in Step 7.
  See also "fix-table".  The LILO HOWTO is your friend.
  
  6. Reboot, select NT from LILO, and finish NT install.  You'll need
  the "Boot Disk XU, HP Vectra AIC 7880 Driver A.01.02" floppy to
  install the ethernet drivers and the "XU/VT Drivers and
  Documentation" CD (directory video/disk4 if I recall correctly) to
  install the video drivers for the Matrox MGA Millennium.
  
  7. Back to Linux, run fdisk and ensure you don't get "partition
  doesn't end on cylinder boundary" on your Linux partitions.  You'll
  still have this error on the NT partition though, but this seems to
  be OK.
  
/dev/sda1            1        1      322   329301    6  DOS 16-bit >=32M
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(321, 39, 9) should be (321, 63, 32)

  Cfdisk reports strangeness, but it seems OK:

                                          Unusable                      0.04*
 /dev/sda1                 Primary        DOS 16-bit >=32Mb           321.59*
                                          Unusable                      0.39*

  If you do get the cylinder boundary warning on your Linux
  partitions, it is sufficient to use cfdisk to do something innocuous
  like changing the boot sector.
  
  If, however, NT has really screwed you over and cfdisk can't even
  run, complaining that it cannot open /dev/sda, then you'll need to
  take more extreme action.  You'll need that MBR you saved
  previously.  Clear and restore the MBR (but not the signature) with:

          dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
          dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/sda bs=510 count=1

  8.  Install the rest of Linux.  Easy, huh?

  If you prefer to have NT write the MBR instead of LILO, you may have
  to resort to the following to clear the MBR first:
  
  a) dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1 (in Linux) or perform
     a low-level format with the SCSI utilities.  I've heard that a
     low-level format of an IDE disk is fatal, so don't do it.
  b) fdisk /mbr (you've obviously already created a DOS boot disk that
     contains fdisk).
  c) delete NT partition and create it again in NT install.
  d) continue with NT install.

  Epilogue: After first posting this message, I heard from several
  folks that they had no problems with NT's Disk Administrator, and
  were able to install either NT or Linux first without any problems.
  Hopefully, you'll be in this camp, but if not, perhaps this campfire
  story will be of some use.

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Linux + WinNT++ mini-HOWTO
by Kurt Swendson
v1.0, 21 December 1996

This file describes how I installed Linux and Windows NT 3.51 on the same
computer.  Unlike most HOWTOs that start with "First erase your entire C
drive", this HOWTO will allow you to install Linux without harming any
existing data on your drive.

In brief, I started with the Walnut Creek Slackware 3.0.0 CD rom, and a DOS
system disk.  I used Fips, from the CD,  to create my Linux partitions.
Then I used the Loadlin program, from the CD, along with the DOS system disk
to boot Linux.  Then I copied the DOS system files to the C drive, and
edited the file BOOT.INI to include loadlin as one of the choices when you
boot up NT.  That's it.

Let's go into a little more detail.

Recall that before NT and 95, PCs had DOS as the operating system. Windows
3.1 ran as a program within DOS.  We could do all kinds of Linux installs
using DOS as our "base" operating system.  All you did was exit out of
Windows, and you were at the DOS prompt, where you could perform various
system-crunching functions like fdisk  and the Linux install.  When NT came
out, NT became the entire operating system.  Sure, DOS shell is there, but
as a program that runs within the NT operating system.  You can't exit out
of Windows NT to do the install.  You turn on the computer, and it gets you
into NT automatically, where you stay, until the end, when NT "allows" you
to turn the computer off.

Before I started the install, I went to a DOS computer and made a system
floppy, and included the files: COMMAND.COM, DEFRAG.EXE, DEFRAG.HLP,
FORMAT.COM, and SYS.COM.  I got fips from the CD rom, and stuck that on the
disk too.

Using defrag, I determined where the free space on my disk was, and was able
to safely partition the disk with fips.  On the CD rom was a good set of
instructions on how to use fips. I followed other HOWTO  instructions to do
the Linux install.

Then I made a bad mistake. I installed LILO, and when it overwrote my MBR,
it effectively killed my computer.  I'm sure that some people may be able to
fix their MBR, but in my case, I ended up completely erasing my hard drive
and re-installing EVERYTHING from scratch.  (For the record, I did ask
around, and I did look on the MS Knowledge Base, and try to recover my MBR,
but nothing worked.  A total re-install was the easiest route).

This prompted me to investigate loadlin. Loadlin is a program that runs from
the DOS prompt to bootstrap Linux. It exists in the Linux distribution, in
gzipped format.  Along with the actual loadlin program, you get a good set
of instructions and faqs.  I booted up the computer with the DOS system
disk, and ran loadlin.  Linux came up perfectly, just like if I used my
Linux boot floppy.

So, after some manual playing around, I was able to make my computer start
up using DOS, and start up Linux with an autoexec.bat file.  But surely I
was not going to overwrite my MBR again!

Watch what happens when you start up your Windows NT computer.  Upon your
standard NT startup, you momentarily see (more or less):

1.  BIOS banner
2.  Press <F1> to enter Setup message
3.  OS Loader v 3.51
           Please select the operating system to start:
        Windows NT Workstation Version 3.51
        Windows NT Workstation Version 3.51 (VGA Mode)

You will recognize all this, no doubt, and also recall that in Control
Panel, System, you see that list of OS Loader menu options. So, why not add
a DOS autoexec.bat, running loadlin, on the end of that menu?

The answer lies in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, article Q153762, "Setting
Up Dual Boot After Installing Windows NT".  Okay, Bill Gates, I properly
footnoted you, so don't send your lawyers after me for plagiarizing.

If you are doing this Linux thing, and hitting the HOWTOs pretty hard, you
should also check out the knowledge base, because there is a wealth of
knowledge out there, and you can learn a lot.  Each article has suggested
keywords at the end you may search on to get more information on related
subjects.

Back to the article. Unfortunately, it states you can't run your NT
operating system using the NTFS file system.  You must be still using the
old FAT format.

Start up the computer using the DOS system disk, and type in "sys a: c:".
When it is complete, you will get a message saying the system transfer is
complete.

Reboot your computer.  It will start up in DOS. (Note: If you followed my
footsteps, and already created an autoexec.bat file running loadlin, this
may be bad. Temporarily disable the autoexec.bat file by renaming it or
deleting it before rebooting).

Copy command.com onto your root directory, and build your  autoexec.bat
file.   (If you want to do a complete DOS install here, you can.  After all,
the official purpose of the knowledge base article is for a DOS dual boot).

Reboot your computer again, using your NT setup disk set, and specify the
"Repair" option when it asks you, and follow the setup procedure.  All you
are doing is repairing the boot sector,  so you do not need to inspect the
registry files, the system files, or the NT boot environment during the
setup procedure.

Get into File Manager, and click on View, File Type, and click on the box to
reveal system and hidden files.  You will then see BOOT.INI in your root
directory.

Click on this file, and do a File, Properties (alt-enter), and turn off the
flags for hidden, read only, and archive.  Make a backup copy of this file,
and also make another copy, which you will edit.  Add one line to the end:


        C:\"Linux"

Save this file, and copy it on top of the real boot.ini file, and turn those
flags back on.  Read Only, Archive, and System should be turned on.

When you reboot, and get to the OS Loader screen, you should see Linux on
the end of your list of operating systems.  Press the down arrow to
highlight Linux, press enter, and, well, you know, see what happens next!


Kurt Swendson