Subject: NT and Linux

From: Bill Wohler <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 19:24:05 -0700

[cc'd to debian-user since this info may help someone else.]

Joe Russack <[email-masked]> writes:
> (I'll be running NT in a few weeks, when the full release comes out. 
>  If you feel like typing up the info, that might be nice, but it's
>  not critical yet...)

  I'll save you a few days of aggravation.  If you're in the Silicon
  Valley area sometime you can buy me a beer ;-).

  Under no circumstances run NT's disk administrator to format
  partitions.  It asks if it can write a signature "which will cause
  absolutely no harm."  When it did this, it hosed the partition table
  and neither NT nor Linux booted afterwards.  Therefore, you'll
  probably be limited to one FAT NT partition unless NT 4.0 fixed
  these things.  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.

  If I read my notes right, the following is a fine distillation of
  many days and nights of pulling out my hair to get things working:

  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. Add the "linear" flag to /etc/lilo.conf, change boot=/dev/sda (I
  was not successful at installing LILO on the Linux
  partition--/dev/sda3 in my case) and run "lilo".  I may have had to
  use "ignore-table" along the way.  See also "fix-table".  The LILO
  HOWTO is your friend.  You'll have to use the editor ae.  You'll
  live.

  3. Save the MBR with this: dd if=/dev/sda of=/floppy/MBR 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.
  
  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 a 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, 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=/floppy/MBR of=/dev/sda bs=510 count=1

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

  If you have problems trying to get NT to 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.

  Other details: 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 3.5.1.
  
Bill Wohler <[email-masked]>   ph: +1-415-854-1857  fax: +1-415-854-3195
Say it with MIME.  Maintainer of comp.mail.mh and news.software.nn FAQs.
If you're passed on the right, you're in the wrong lane.