Boot from Master or Slave,
Forum: HD Install
Topic: Boot from Master or Slave,
started by: Ninja
Posted by Ninja on Oct. 28 2004,10:14
Is there any way i can have two different Linux distros on two harddrives, (hda1 and hdb1) master and slave repectfully.I was thinking perhaps the black choice screen you get with bootlines on windows. Or is there no way to have a choice at startup, or any way to even boot from slave... or do i need a boot floppy for it?
Sorry for all the questions
Posted by AwPhuch on Oct. 28 2004,16:22
| Quote (Ninja @ Oct. 28 2004,06:14) |
| Is there any way i can have two different Linux distros on two harddrives, (hda1 and hdb1) master and slave repectfully. I was thinking perhaps the black choice screen you get with bootlines on windows. Or is there no way to have a choice at startup, or any way to even boot from slave... or do i need a boot floppy for it? Sorry for all the questions |
Absolutely!!!
The MBR (master boot record) and the distro containing the lilo.conf or grub bootloader will have to remain intact or your system may not boot...
Then all you have to do is tell the conf file where to start loading the linux distro's
like my fedora /boot/grub/grub.conf file
| Quote |
| # 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 (hd0,0) # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda2 # initrd /initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hda default=2 timeout=10 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Fedora Core (2.4.22-1.2199.nptl) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2199.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb initrd /initrd-2.4.22-1.2199.nptl.img title Fedora Core (2.4.22-1.2115.nptl) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb initrd /initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img title Fedora Core (2.4.27) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.27 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb initrd /initrd-2.4.27.img |
Brian
AwPhuch
Posted by Ninja on Oct. 28 2004,21:25
thanks for the swift reply... so is this the part i need to change?| Quote |
| If you have another OS on this machine to boot, you can uncomment the # following lines, changing the device name on the `other' line to # where your other OS' partition is. |
Or is there something else that i need to give me a choice on reboot?
Posted by AwPhuch on Oct. 28 2004,21:46
The last Linux OS you install will overwite the MBR of the previous MBR, however it should autodetect the old distro and add a 2nd entry to boot either one...however...if you modify or delete the 2nd OS b4 restoring the MBR of the 1st os you might have a pain of a time getting the 1st OS booted againBrian
AwPhuch
Posted by newOldUser on Oct. 29 2004,02:52
This site helped me understand Lilo...www.troubleshooters.com/linux/lilo.htm
Lilo is a boot loader. There are several different ones but I know Lilo comes with DSL. Your lilo.conf file should be in your /etc directory.
Good luck....
And as a warning... Lilo can make it so your computer doesn't start. You might want to have a boot disk or CD handy.
Also... if you type /sbin/lilo -v -t
it runs lilo in test mode. Nothing gets updated but you see if there are any errors in your lilo.conf