| www.allensmith.net . . . [Multi-OS] | ||
| |
||
| Technical >> Operating Systems >> Multiple OS >> | ||
|
|
|
![[AT]](/Img/AT.gif){kind=small}
email.si) There are three steps to 'how XOSL works':
Q: I now have 2 IDE hard disks. When I boot Windows from the 2nd hard disk, my hard disk runs in DOS compatibility mode, and Windows is slow as hell. There is also a message that says that my MBR may be infected by a virus or something. Is there a way to make my Windows on second hard disk NOT boot in DOS compatible mode when I boot it with XOSL ?
A: Don't select Swap hard disk, just hide all (or at least primary) FATxx partitions on the 1st hard disk when booting 2nd hard disk Windows.
First you need to know something about EZ-Drive. It is a DDO (Dynamic Drive Overlay) program, which is intended to handle hard disks with more than 1024 cylinders when your BIOS can't. It was adopted around the time disks got bigger than about 504 MB. MBR loads EZ-Drive. I think that the first cylinder is used for binary itself and for up to 10 backups of "replaced MBRs". When backups are full EZ-Drive doesn't backup any more and may possibly lose new partitions (it happened to me a few times - I now use the freeware program MBRWork to backup myself). There is program for erasing those "nasty backups" called "baktrak.exe" from the makers of MaxBlast, which is just another version of EZ-Drive. But it doesn't work on all versions of EZ-Drive.
As far as I know EZ-Drive needs an active primary (but it could be hidden) partition and can only boot DOS, Windows or another boot sector with signature 0AA55h. So one option is to use the Windows NT or 2000 loader; another is changing that magic number with some kind of disk editor like "PTS DiskEditor".
Philippe Guillemette found a reason why EZ-Drive can't boot XOSL (between version 1.1.0 and 1.1.5) directly as second boot manager (on dedicated partition):
I checked a while and I saw in XOSL source code, that the boot sector signature is 0534Fh. It seems that the EZ-Drive *must* have the standard boot sector signature 0AA55h to allow a partition to be booted, even it is set "active" in the partition table. But interesting, partition type is not important.
PhilippeHow to install XOSL 1.1.5 if you have to use EZ-Drive:
If you need a detailed procedure for using Windows NT or 2000 loader, here it is (IMPORTANT: reboot only if allowed):
Top of Page
[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=C:\curr_mbr.xcf
[operating systems]
C:\curr_mbr.xcf="XOSL"
C:\BOOTSECT.W95="Win 95 Command Prompt" /win95
Excellent post from Tom A. Honermann explains all:
Here is what happened:
You had Windows 9x already installed.
You installed GNU/Linux.
GNU/Linux installed LILO to the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your first disk thus blowing away Windows 9x's MBR (which is normal).
LILO was
configured to boot either Windows 9x or GNU/Linux.
You installed Windows 9x again, which installed it's boot loader to the MBR again and lost LILO.
What you need to do:
Re-install LILO back to the MBR and use it to boot both Operating Systems as before; or, even better, re-install LILO to the boot block of a "/boot" partition or (if you don't have one) to your root partition "/". The partition that you'll use must be within the first 1024 cylinders of the disk or get newer LILO (At least version 0.21.4.2 or later). Then use XOSL to boot that partition
How to do it:
Re-install LILO back to the MBR (not recommended):Q: I have Linux & LILO installed on my 2nd hard disk. When trying to boot it, LILO stops with 'LI' When I disconnect my first drive, LILO boots up just fine. What should I do?
A: In this case, LILO expects to be on the first drive, which it is when the 1st hard disk is disabled. However, when you use XOSL to boot LILO, LILO is on the 2nd drive. Then it's only natural that LILO will fail to boot. To solve this, you have to reconfigure LILO, while the 1st hard disk isn't disabled (so you'll have to boot Linux from a CD). Linuxconf or YAST should be able to do this.
Note also that your /boot partition has gone from /dev/hda? to /dev/hdb?!
Q: The problem I have is that, after booting into the logical partition, the next time I start the computer it responds with a "no active partition found error" before it gets to XOSL. I then have to reset an active partition using FDISK. Is there a way round this?
A: When you boot off the logical partition, XOSL will activate it. However, your BIOS doesn't like it when no primary partition is active after reboot, hence the error. To solve it, uncheck the 'Activate' check box for the logical partition Boot item.
No one knows when you'll need it, so backup these files for version 1.1.x:
How to restore that backup depends on the situation. If XOSL isn't installed at all, install it and overwrite those three files with the backups.
If XOSL is installed, just overwriting will do.
IMPORTANT NOTE: files of different versions may not be compatible with each other! Only when easy-upgrade is supported, can you exchange them between different versions.
Windows NT without Service Pack 4 or higher must boot from the within the first 4 GB of a hard drive. This problem is avoided with the 3 Windows NT setup disks created during installation. When asked, supply the driver disk with Service Pack 4's file ATAPI.SYS. Be aware that, whilst this solution does work, the boot process takes a few seconds longer.
See the following Microsoft KnowledgeBase articles for details on this: Q197295 and Q102873. However they forget to tell you that you need to copy ATAPI.SYS to NTBOOTDD.SYS in the same folder as your BOOT.INI file.
Also Ranish Partition Manager can overcome this situation. Check its documentation for details.
Q: When I boot Windows 2000, I get to the login dialog, but it goes into an infinite loop of trying to read/write my preferences. Windows 2000 works fine if I remove XOSL and just make that partition active. What should I do?
A: This is likely to have happened if your partition was visible when you installed Windows 2000. It doesn't matter if it is later marked as hidden, Windows 2000 will always assign it a drive letter. So don't hide partitions in XOSL for Windows 2000. That Operating System wants to know everything about your partitions and if you hide any it is confused and "restarts" all the time to reread the preferences.
To change partition visibility in Windows 2000 go to the "Computer Management->Disk Management" option, select your partition, right-click and choose "Change Drive Letter and Path." Now click the "Remove" button and it will remove your drive letter assignment, effectively making it hidden. You can use the same method (but clicking "Add") to make hidden partitions available to the Operating System. In Windows NT use Disk manager in Administration tools. Remember that once you assign a drive letter, it will stay visible until you remove the assignment, regardless of whether XOSL makes it hidden or not on boot-up.
Original Document: http://www.xosl.org/faqhow/faq.html
Related Information & Files: The Yahoo! XOSL Group
![[Supports Any Browser]](/Img/SABen.gif){kind=small} * |
 E-mail the WebmasterPage Content Updated: September 22, 2003 |
This How-To and FAQ contains some very useful information, but I found it a bit difficult to use and move around in the original document. (That's just my personal opinion.) So to improve the usability of this information, I've created a multi-page copy that sets details like the margins to the formatting used by this site, while providing more extensive navigation within the document. As such, I make absolutely no claim to this content . . . nor do I accept any responsibility for it. B^)
