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1 edit | reply to FastEddie
Re: Dual Boot Question No, you can't stop Windows from overwriting the MBR. As was mentioned up the thread, any Microsoft operating system assumes it owns the machine and re-writes the MBR.
Linux installation options allow you to place the bootloader anywhere you want, the best place if you are not going to let it install into the MBR is to install it to the root sector of that distro's boot partition.
XOSL than chains to lilo or GRUB in the root sector of the distro's partition, you see it as per normal, get to add any boot time options, select a kernel if you want to, and all of the distros are kept separate and from interfering with each other's bootloader settings.
Windows actual bootloader is also already in the root sector of it's boot partition. NTLDR just chains to it from the MBR, the same way you chain to one of the Linux bootloaders in the root sector of their partitions.
The great part about XOSL is that it is easy to configure using the GUI, maintains copies of the MBR in it's own dedicated partition, and is easy to reinstall after a Microsoft OS wiped the MBR. A few clicks and XOSL is re-installed, a few more and you have added the new partition to the boot list.
I wouldn't want to do multi-boot any other way, even using GRUB, etc. This is just so simple and easy to manage with no interactions between operating systems.
XOSL hasn't been developed for a long time, but it works great still, and there is an active Yahoo Group for it, with a lot of users still tweaking ti and supporting it.
Plus, it's free. |
