How Do I Set This Up?????

[2canSAM]

I would like to set up a Triple-Boot System with Win98SE, NT 4.0 Workstation and Linux. I need som explicit instructions on how to do this. Thanks in Advance for the help.
OBTW I have Partition Magic should I use this or just set it manually.

[Dominus]

Never done this before, but check the partition magic website. They have tutorials about this sort of thing. You should probably use the PM bootloader "BootMagic", as it will be best suited to this sort of situation.

Actually, come to think of it, I did this before once with Win98, Win2k, and RH6.1, but I can't remember for the life of me how I did it. Sorry.

[felix726]

Haven't done it myself either. I've heard from a couple of people though that the best is to install Win98 then NT then finally Linux. I think you will first get LILO(Linux's boot loader) then then if you choose not to run Linux you will get a choice of NT or Win98. Of course I could be completely wrong and I'm sure someone will come along soon who has done this before and can shed some light on the subject.

[hd581]

Well felix, that's exactly the order I did it in. 98, NT, Linux. Once you have 98 on there, do an NT install and it will add Windows 98 to your NT OS Loader menu. Then install Linux, putting LILO in the MBR. It comes up immediately after boot and allows you to select "dos" to get to NT OS loader (and choose btwn NT, NT safe, and win98)

There is a way to make Linux one of your choices in NT OS loader so you can boot and select between NT, NT safe, win98, and Linux. I like NT OS Loader better than LILO. Instructions for this are at this link (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+NT-Loader.html). Once Linux is accessible through NT's menu, issue an "fdisk /mbr" to take it out of the MBR and boot straight to NT's menu.

Take note: The win98 installation clears the MBR so if LILO is there, it'll get wiped out and you'll have to get to your Linux partition some other way. I'm not sure but I think it messes w/ the NT OS Loader as well. This is why 98 should go 1st no matter what unless you have boot disks for both Linux and NT and don't mind repairing them.

I didn't use partition/boot magic b/c I don't trust it. PM has made so many bad partitions for me like allocating 130% space on a hard drive. This usually ends up being one of those things that DOS based fdisk doesn't know how to handle or even delete. I think Linux fdisk is more powerful for cleaning up that kind of thing.

[This message has been edited by hd581 (edited 04-10-2000).]

[Ptrper]

Hey guys, just wanted to put my two cents in... Actually, Boot magic may be the way to go... I've got Win 98, Linux and BeOS going through Boot Magic and haven't had a problem yet.

As far as patition magic. That program has really ticked me off. When I first tried to install Linux on to my machine, I could create the partitions in windows, but when I got ready to install Linux, I couldn't ind the daggone partitions I had allocated for it. Oh well, guess I'll try again later.