futuristically_ancient multi boot system
Hi,
I don't know what's wrong with u people.
Nobody mention this solution but there is an excellent soft available on the net for the same purpose listed on this forum. I have been using it for 5 years & tried it on many systems & it NEVER nagged about the task it is given.
The name is XOSL. An excellant boot loader for all generally used OSs & works on all kinds of systems. You may follow the link provided below or download from "c-net" or "zdnet".
First of all it is free (under GPL). It can support 30 OSs on a single disk. It can be installed on any DOS partition (FAT32), it make ' Windows ' life easier by hiding partition which drive ' Windows ' nuts, such as your dilemma, u may need to hide your Primary ntfs partition as it won't like any other 'OS' sitting in pri. part. It is so flexible that won't have to use any of the boot-loaders provided generally with 'OSs'. It is accompanied with verbose manual that will make u expert on the subject. Also it is packed with a ' Boot Manager ' & ' Partitioning Utility '. Though these tools are buggy & have issues and I won't suggest using them, just avoid installing them.
The best thing I liked about this soft is that I can use it to boot any "OS", be it 'LINUX', 'WIN98', 'WIN me', 'WIN XP' name it what. Just partition ur disk & load the 'OS' u want. If u load any 'Windows' u have got to restore 'XOSL' with the floppy it will create.
One point to note this soft is DOS based. To use it u've got to have a FAT partition & a DOS bootable floppy. Read the manual & get going with multi boot system.
web link: *www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm
direct file: *www.ranish.com/part/xosl115.zip