  Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO
  Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, m.skoric@eunet.yu
  v2.6, 13 May 2001

  This mini-HOWTO covers some ways on how to install both Linux and Win­
  dows NT on the same computer and how to boot either of them from
  within LILO menu. There is also another mini-HOWTO "Linux+NT-Loader"
  that covers how to boot either of them from within NT Loader menu. As
  I consider Windows 2000 to be NT 5.0 this mini-HOWTO also covers
  upgrading from NT 4.0 to 2000.

  1.  INTRODUCTION

  Bill Wohler wrote in his v1.1 of The Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO:

  "Due to hardware or software problems or user headroom, I pulled my
  hair out for several days trying to get both NT and Linux happily
  settled on my new HP Vectra PC at work."

  I could say that was true in my case too, but you really have a way to
  make both Linux and Windows NT co-existing on the same machine and to
  switch from one of them to another.


  "Under no circumstances run the Disk Administrator from NT 3.51 to
  format partitions.  It asks if it can write a signature "which will
  cause absolutely no harm."  When it did this, it hosed my partition
  table until fixed by steps 3 and 7 below.  Because of these problems,
  I was limited to one FAT NT partition.  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 until Linux has an NTFS filesystem."

  Well, NT's Disk Administrator is sufficient tool to check what
  situation on your hard disk(s) you have, before and after you used an
  utility called Partition Magic by Power Quest. This utility might be
  needed to 'shrink' your NT (either NTFS or FAT) partition, in order to
  get some free space for your further Linux' partitions.  (After a
  while, I recognized that 'shrinking' used partition might not be
  needed. Actually, if you start from 'scratch', it might be the best
  way to re-format your whole disk(s) using FDISK command. You should
  make a DOS boot floppy diskete where DOS commands FDISK and FORMAT
  have to be also copied.  More details later...)

  "I installed Linux first and then NT, but based on my experience, I
  might now be able to install NT first and then Linux."

  Of course you all are able to install Windows NT first and after that
  Linux. We'll see how to do that and how to use LILO (Linux Loader) to
  chose which operating system to boot. But, before that we'll see the
  procedure that Bill Wohler, the previous maintainer of this mini-
  HOWTO, has been using:



  2.  HOW TO INSTALL: LINUX FIRST , WINDOWS NT AFTER

  1. Install a minimal Linux (hold off on installing the rest 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. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and use boot=/dev/sda (I was not successful at
  installing LILO on the Linux partition--/dev/sda3 in my case) and run
  "lilo".  You'll have to use the editor ae.  You'll live.


  3. Save the MBR with this: dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/fd0 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.  If lilo complains about this (I forget the message),
  add the "linear" flag to /etc/lilo.conf near the "compact" keyword.
  Furthermore, if your partition table is screwed up by NT you'll either
  need to use "ignore-table" or follow the directions in Step 7.  See
  also "fix-table".  The LILO HOWTO is your friend.



  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 I 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 on your Linux partitions,
  it is sufficient to use cfdisk to do something innocuous like changing
  the boot sector.



  If, however, NT has really screwed you over and cfdisk can't even run,
  complaining that it cannot open /dev/sda, then you'll need to take
  more extreme action.  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=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/sda bs=510 count=1



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

  If you prefer to have NT write the MBR instead of LILO, you may have
  to resort to the following to clear the MBR first:


  ·  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.



  ·  fdisk /mbr (you've obviously already created a DOS boot disk that
     contains fdisk).



  ·  delete NT partition and create it again in NT install.



  ·  continue with NT install.


  Epilogue: After first posting this message, I heard from several folks
  that they had no problems with NT's Disk Administrator, and were able
  to install either NT or Linux first without any problems.  Hopefully,
  you'll be in this camp, but if not, perhaps this campfire story will
  be of some use.


  Since the first edition of this mini-HOWTO, others have written
  similar documents as well.  Please be sure to consult them.  If your
  experience differs from any presented, then you should submit your own
  mini-HOWTO or submit a revised version of this document to the HOWTO
  maintainer (reference this sentence) and send a carbon copy to me as I
  don't have the time to maintain this document.  Someone should
  eventually combine all of these documents into a single coherent
  HOWTO.


  Finally, I'm afraid this document details all I know about this
  subject.  I should point you to an appropriate Linux newsgroup for
  further information.  I use NT about one day a year.  Under duress.



  3.  HOW TO INSTALL: WINDOWS NT FIRST , LINUX AFTER


  3.1.  If you have only one  IDE hard disk


  ·  First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of
     Windows NT 4.0 on your hard disk. I suppose that you already made a
     backup of your important data, so the NT installation shouldn't be
     a problem. During the NT installation, setup is not going to ask
     you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be placed into the
     MBR (Master Boot Record) of your hard disk. But, there is a
     possibility for a previous content of the MBR to remain within the
     MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would suggest you (before
     installation of NT) to boot the computer with a DOS floppy diskette
     having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\  just enter the
     command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again (without that
     floppy).



  ·  After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it
     uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk
     (depending on what you decided during the setup process).  So, it
     is advisible to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to
     make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will
     install your Linux. After you have your NT configured and running,
     you have to boot your computer using a floppy diskette with
     Partition Magic utility by Power Quest. It is a graphical tool able
     to see all partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is
     that you can make some changes with your partitions but not to
     destroy your existing data. One of the available changes is to make
     your existing partition(s) smaller, so to get some free space on
     the disk(s) for other purposes.  Although you are advised to make a
     backup before you make any changes to the partitions, I usually
     practise to 'shrink' NT's partition(s) before I install anything
     else onto this NT (so, if needed, a repetitive NT re-installation
     wouldn't be a problem).  Well, Partition Magic (or any other
     similar utility you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's
     partition (either NTFS or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to
     either the beginning or to the end of the previous measure. It
     means that you may choose to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at
     the beginning or at the end of your disk (I usually choose NT to be
     at the beginning, so the ending part of the disk will become a
     'free space'). After the 'shrinkin' is finished, you may re-boot
     your NT in order to check the new situation: you may use Windows
     Explorer or Disk Administrator for that.



  ·  As it was said in Introduction, it might not be needed always to
     use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that this
     tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been running
     Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from
     'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved
     NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you
     have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's
     partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much
     populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice.

     But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-
     formatting the disk, it might be suitable to get a blank floppy
     diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it:
     FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at
     A:\ prompt enter fdisk.  There you'll find several options that
     allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part
     of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your
     beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do
     not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's
     version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions
     now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.



  ·  So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are
     familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the
     same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the
     drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose
     what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation,
     Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I
     would suggest to install a Workstation at first.  This is good
     because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the
     (first) hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format
     them properly, make majority of options by default so you won't
     have much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either
     add missing components or re-install RedHat Linux as Custom over
     the existing linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR.



  ·  Don't forget to make Linux boot floppy diskette. You'll never know
     when you may need it. If something goes wrong with the MBR, and you
     don't have boot floppy, your Linux might become not accessible, so
     you might have to re-install it again.



  ·  After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going
     to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with only
     one entry to boot: Linux (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in
     case your hardware is multi-processor one or so). But, don't panic!
     Your Windows NT is still there - where you had installed it before
     Linux. You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as
     possible, in order to be able to find and edit your new
     /etc/lilo.conf file. When you open this file for the first time,
     you'll see that there is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you
     should know the exact position (read: a partition) where Windows NT
     has been installed, so you could add an appropriate entry into
     /etc/lilo.conf file. After you make those changes, restart Lilo
     with a command: /sbin/lilo and, after the next re-boot, you will
     have both 'linux' and 'nt' (or 'dos' or similar) entries under Lilo
     menu.



  ·  My added NT entry is:



           other=/dev/hda1
           label=nt

  So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:



        boot=/dev/hda
        timeout=50
        prompt
            default=linux
            vga=normal
            read-only
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
            label=linux
            root=/dev/hda3
        other=/dev/hda1
            label=nt



  ·  Some more explanations regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf
     file: After I have installed Windows NT, I assigned the letter C:
     to that drive. Beside that, I wanted to have another NTFS partition
     in order to store and backup important files, case I have to re-
     install NT on C: for some reason in the future. That's why I've
     made another NT partition, that has been assigned as D: disk.  Both
     NTFS partitions are approximatelly 3 GB each and Linux setup found
     them as /dev/hda1 and /dev/hda2 partitions. The rest free space on
     the disk was cca 2 GB, where I have made the /root partition of
     near 1.9 GB and /swapp part of cca 100 MB (/dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4
     respectively). Lilo went to the MBR and all has been running fine.


     For your information, I wanted to make these linux partitions that
     time. Later, I found that it was not needed, so now I let Linux
     setup to make partitions from the free space in a way it likes to
     do that. I trust it :-)



  3.2.  If you have more than one  (SCSI) hard disk

  Notice: Folks, you see, at my place, one of computers has several SCSI
  disks. That's why I put the word 'SCSI' in parentheses. There I have
  several SCSI controllers, SCSI CD ROM drive and SCSI Tape drive.  So,
  it doesn't mean that *you* will be using SCSI parts at all.  You'd
  rather handle more than one IDE disks, but I hope that install process
  shouldn't change too much, if any.



  ·  First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of
     Windows NT 4.0 on your first hard disk. I suppose that you already
     made a backup of your important data, so the NT installation
     shouldn't be a problem. You can easily copy your data on your
     second hard disk or so. During the NT installation, setup is not
     going to ask you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be
     placed into the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your first hard disk.
     But, there is a possibility for a previous content of the MBR to
     remain within the MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would
     suggest you (before installation of NT) to boot the computer with a
     DOS floppy diskette having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\
     just enter the command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again
     (without that floppy). If you want to be sure about your machine is
     'clean', you may also delete any existing partition(s) on your
     other disks, during the Windows NT Setup in case you have *not*
     made any backup on other disks.



  ·  After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it
     uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk
     (depending on what you decided during the setup process).  So, it
     is advisible to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to
     make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will
     install your Linux. Well, you may also think of using other disk(s)
     you have for Linux (so did I). That case, you would start your
     linux installation and tried to use, for example, /dev/sdb (or sdc,
     or sdd, or else in case of SCSI system) or /dev/hdb (or hdc, or
     hdd, or else in case of IDE system). Looked that Linux installation
     accepted whatever I chose, but somehow after all was finished, when
     I did that, LILO was not able to do anything. Actually, it always
     stopped after 'LI' so it was not possible to start Linux at all.
     Finally, after pulling my hair out, I decided to make it all on the
     first disk. So, after I had NT configured and running, I had to
     boot my computer using a floppy diskette with Partition Magic
     utility by Power Quest.  It is a graphical tool able to see all
     partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is that you
     can make some changes with your partitions but not to destroy your
     existing data. One of the available changes is to make your
     existing partition(s) smaller, so you can get some free space on
     the disk(s) for other purposes.  Although you are advised to make a
     backup before you make any changes with your partitions, I usually
     practise to 'shrink' NT's partition before I install anything but
     NT itself (so, if needed, a repetitive re-installation wouldn't be
     a problem).  Well, Partition Magic (or any other similar utility
     you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's partition (either NTFS
     or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to either the beginning
     or to the end of the previous measure. It means that you may choose
     to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at the beginning or at the end
     of your disk. I usually choose NT to be at the beginning, so the
     ending part of the disk will become a 'free space'. I discovered
     some problems if the 'free space' is made at the beginning of disk
     (later we'll talk about). So, after the NT in order to check the
     new situation: you may use Windows Explorer or Disk Administrator
     for that. You will also note how NT can 'see' all (other) disks you
     have in your machine (either partitioned or as 'free space' areas).



  ·  Once again, as it was said earlier, it might not be needed always
     to use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that
     this tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been
     running Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from
     'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved
     NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you
     have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's
     partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much
     populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice.

     But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-
     formatting the disk(s), it might be suitable to get a blank floppy
     diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it:
     FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at
     A:\ prompt enter fdisk.  There you'll find several options that
     allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part
     of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your
     beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do
     not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's
     version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions
     now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.

  ·  So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are
     familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the
     same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the
     drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose
     what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation,
     Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I
     would suggest to install a Workstation at first.  This is good
     because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the
     first hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format them
     properly, make majority of options by default so you won't have
     much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either add
     missing components or re-install Linux as Custom over the existing
     linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR of your first disk.



  ·  After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going
     to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with one
     Linux entry to boot (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in case
     your hardware is multi-processor one). But, don't panic! Your
     Windows NT is still there where you had installed it before Linux.
     You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as possible, in
     order to be able to find and edit your new /etc/lilo.conf file.
     When you open this file for the first time, you'll see that there
     is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you should know the exact
     position (read: a partition) where Windows NT has been installed,
     so you could add an appropriate entry into /etc/lilo.conf file.
     After you do that, restart Lilo and, after the next re-boot, you
     will have both 'linux' and 'nt' entries under Lilo menu.



  ·  My added NT entry is:



           other=/dev/sda1
           label=nt



  So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:



        boot=/dev/sda
        map=/boot/map
        install=/boot/boot.b
        prompt
        timeout=50
        default=linux
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20smp
            label=linux-mp
            initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20smp.img
            read-only
            root=/dev/sda6
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
            label=linux-up
            initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
            read-only
            root=/dev/sda6
        other=/dev/hda1
            label=nt


  ·  Some more explanation, regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf
     file: After I have installed Windows NT on the first disk, I
     assigned the letter C: to that drive. After I made enough free
     space after the NTFS partition, I let Linux setup to handle further
     partitioning. Although Linux should support as far as four primary
     partitions per disk, it seems that Linux setup is likely to make an
     extended partition, whenever it recognizes that there is already a
     primary partition on the disk. Considering that those 'virtual'
     primary partitions would be numbered from /dev/sda1 to /dev/sda4
     (including an extended one, of course), the extended one should
     become /dev/sda4. Following that idea, the first one logical
     partition within the extended one was numbered as /dev/sda5 (in my
     case, it was the /boot partition that physically was the first from
     the beginning of the first hard disk). So, the /root and /swapp
     partitions are /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 respectively. You may see a
     line "root=/dev/sda6" telling you that. Once again, Lilo went to
     the MBR and all has been running fine.



  ·  Well, you may ask me: Ok, but what in a case I have several hard
     disks installed in the machine? Good question. You see, I myself
     have four SCSI disks and, of course, I tried to install Linux on
     the 2nd one, next the 3rd and, finally, on the 4th disk. Whatever I
     did (Linux setup haven't complained at all), when I was about to
     finish the installation and after performing the final automatic
     re-boot, my Lilo would stop after 'LI' so the computer had to be
     re-started. Finally, I realized that there must be a problem with
     disks that are too "far" from the MBR that is located at the
     beginning of the first hard disk. That's why I suggest you to make
     them all (both NT and Linux) on your first disk. After having all
     of them running ok, there is no problem to make other disks visible
     (and usable) by both operating system. I hope your first disk is
     large enough to carry both operating systems (NT needs at least cca
     150 MB for itself, Linux depends on what you want to get: Gnome or
     KDE Workstations are about 580 MB, but the Custom wants more than
     1.4 GB). That means the first hard disk of cca 2.4 GB should fit.



  ·  You may also ask me: Ok, but, could I 'shrink' my NT partition in a
     way the 'free space' is made at the beginning of the disk? Well, I
     remember I tried to do so and to install, at first, Gnome
     Workstation (395 packages, 570 MB) there. During the setup,
     everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not installed, nor the
     boot floppy was made. You bet, Linux was not functional. Then I
     tried to install KDE Workstation (377 packages, 582 MB) on the same
     place. Once again, everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not
     installed, nor the boot floppy was made. Investigating that, I
     studied the structure of all existing partitions. I was surprised
     when recognized that new born logical partitions (within the new
     born extended one) were numbered as if they were physically
     positioned after the NT partition! In the other words, there I have
     got a 'funny' order: /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, /dev/sda7 and, finally,
     /dev/sda1. Looked like the system was a bit confused. So I
     considered that it is advisible to make the 'free space' after
     already existing NT partition(s).



  ·  Regarding two similar Linux images (differ in 'smp'). It is a
     server hardware with a multi-processor support. The "inteligent"
     setup has inspected the hardware and offered me to have both
     'multi' and 'uni' processor functionality. Nevertheless, I still
     have only one CPU there.

  4.  HOW TO UPGRADE  WINDOWS NT TO WINDOWS 2000

  Well, actually, it isn't a real "upgrade" of running NT to 2000, but a
  "fresh" installation of Windows 2000 Professional.  I hope it should
  also work for other Windows 2000 products. I haven't tried its server-
  type installations yet, but I remember I haven't experienced any
  problem with NT, regarding it was Server or Workstation.



  ·  First of all, a backup of important data should be made! I do it by
     having another Windows-like partition on the disk, where I
     copy/move my texts, drawings etc. That partition is not going to be
     handled during the installation. After the backup is made, it's the
     right time to install Windows 2000.



  ·  You see, folks, whenever I (re)install a Windows NT product, I like
     to see it on a clean partition. It means, I remove i.e.  delete the
     existing partition where NT "system" files were stored, in order to
     get free ('unused') space. Then I chose to make a new partition
     that will be formatted as NTFS type of file system. After that, I
     opt to install Win2000 onto the new partition.



  ·  The procedure of Windows 2000 Setup will remove LILO from the MBR,
     so a couple of next re-bootings during the installation won't show
     LILO prompt.



  ·  When the Win2000 installation is finished, you may re-install your
     favourite applications and restore your data from the backup. You
     should then check if everything goes fine with your new and old
     Windoze stuff :-)



  ·  So far - so good. Now you have to look after your Linux boot floppy
     diskette. If you can't find it, you are out of luck.  Actually, I
     am not sure if all Linux systems might be now activated without
     boot diskette. Some Linux gurus suggest to boot Linux from the
     installation CD, but I don't know if it can help in case your
     system doesn't have bootable CDROM drive, i.e. a modern
     motherboard's BIOS. Any comment here?



  ·  Well, after you successfully boot your Linux, you should go to
     /etc/lilo.conf to check it once again. You should have there at
     least two options: Linux and NT. Case you don't see the option to
     boot your beloved Windoze, you have to add it. It was described in
     previous sections. Then you have to run /sbin/lilo in order to put
     LILO boot loader into the MBR.



  ·  That's all. Next time you boot your computer, you'll get your LILO
     prompt. Using <Tab> key you'll see your boot options.



  ·  From my experience - all work great! Although I removed previous
     WinNT installation in order to make new Win2000 installation and
     also lost (temporarily) LILO boot loader, at the end I got both of
     them, Win2000 and Linux, the same way as I did with WinNT and
     Linux!



  5.  FURTHER INFORMATION


  5.1.  Copyright

  Copyright is a source of much and continuous debate on the LDP mailing
  list. For more in depth information please consult the Manifesto at
  the LinuxDoc <http://www.linuxdoc.org/> site.  The purpose of having a
  license is to allow appropriate distribution.  You can use any license
  that meets the Manifesto.  What follows is a boilerplate licence.

  Copyright (c) 2001 by Miroslav "Misko" Skoric.

  Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in
  any format.  It's requested that corrections and/or comments be
  fowarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work
  and distribute it provided that you:


  ·  Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as
     sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for
     posting on the Internet.  If not the LDP, then let the LDP know
     where it is available.

  ·  License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL.
     Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license
     used.

  ·  Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.


  If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation,
  it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current
  maintainer.


  5.2.  Disclaimer


  Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any
  potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the
  concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely
  at your own risk.

  All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted
  otherwise.  Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as
  affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

  Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as
  endorsements.

  You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before
  major installation and backups at regular intervals.


  5.3.  News

  This is not the first release of this mini-HOWTO. I hope to improve it
  whenever possible.  Beside that, there are other documents that may
  help you to install more than one operating system on the same
  computer.  You may look for them at the same location where you get
  Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO.

  This mini-HOWTO would be improved from time to time. If you think that
  the HOWTO on your Linux installation CD is some out-of-date, you may
  check for newest release on the Internet. It could be found within the
  main Linux Documentation Project <http://www.linuxdoc.org/> homepage.


  5.4.  Credits

  This version of Linux+WinNT mini-HOWTO is based on:



       The Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO
       by Bill Wohler, wohler@newt.com
       v1.1, 19 February 1997



  Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my email address:
  m.skoric@eunet.yu.


  5.5.  HOWTO

  These are intended as the primary starting points to get the
  background information as well as show you how to solve a specific
  problem.  Some relevant HOWTOs are Bootdisk, Installation,  SCSI and
  UMSDOS.  The main site for these is the LDP archive
  <http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/> at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).


  5.6.  Mini-HOWTO

  These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs.  Some
  relevant mini-HOWTOs are Backup-With-MSDOS, Diskless, LILO, Large
  Disk, Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2, Linux+OS2+DOS, Linux+Win95, Linux+WinNT,
  Linux+NT-Loader, NFS-Root, Win95+Win+Linux, ZIP Drive .  You can find
  these at the same place as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory
  called mini. Note that these are scheduled to be converted into SGML
  and become proper HOWTOs in the near future.


  5.7.  Local Resources

  In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory
  installed, have a look in the /usr/doc directory.  where most packages
  store their main documentation and README files etc.  Also you will
  here find the HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO) of ready formatted
  HOWTOs and also the mini-HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO/mini
  <file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini>) of plain text documents.

  Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the
  /etc directory. In particular you will want to work with the
  /etc/fstab file that sets up the mounting of partitions and possibly
  also /etc/mdtab file that is used for the md system to set up RAID.

  The kernel source in /usr/src/linux <file:///usr/src/linux> is, of
  course, the ultimate documentation. In other words, use the source,
  Luke.  It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only
  with source code which is even commented (well, partially at least)
  but also an informative documentation directory
  <file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation>.  If you are about to ask any
  questions about the kernel you should read this first, it will save
  you and many others a lot of time and possibly embarrassment.

  Also have a look in your system log file ( /var/log/messages) to see
  what is going on and in particular how the booting went if too much
  scrolled off your screen. Using tail -f /var/log/messages in a
  separate window or screen will give you a continuous update of what is
  going on in your system.

  You can also take advantage of the /proc file system that is a window
  into the inner workings of your system.  Use cat rather than more to
  view the files as they are reported as being zero length. Reports are
  that less works well here.


  5.8.  Web Pages

  There is a huge number of informative web pages out there and by their
  very nature they change quickly so don't be too surprised if these
  links become quickly outdated.

  A good starting point is of course the Linux Documentation Project
  <http://www.linuxdoc.org/> home page, an information central for
  documentation, project pages and much, much more.

  Please let me know if you have any other leads that can be of
  interest.



  6.  GETTING HELP


  In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems and
  need help from someone else. The most efficient way is either to ask
  someone local or in your nearest Linux user group, search the web for
  the nearest one.

  Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many, many
  newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a high
  volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your question
  can easily fall through unanswered.

  No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will not be
  taken seriously. Saying just my disk does not work is not going to
  help you and instead the noise level is increased even further and if
  you are lucky someone will ask you to clarify.

  Instead describe your problems in some detail that will enable people
  to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did not expect.
  Therefore you are advised to list up the following information on your
  system:


     Hardware

     ·  Processor

     ·  DMA

     ·  IRQ

     ·  Chip set (LX, BX etc)


     ·  Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)

     ·  Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc)


     Software

     ·  BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)

     ·  LILO, if used

     ·  Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and
        patches

     ·  Kernel parameters, if any

     ·  Software that shows the error (with version number or date)


     Peripherals

     ·  Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type

     ·  Other relevant peripherals connected to the same busses


  Remember that booting text is logged to /var/log/messages which can
  answer most of the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you
  might not be able to get  the log saved to disk but you can at least
  scroll back up the screen using the SHIFT and PAGE UP keys. It may
  also be useful to include part of this in your request for help but do
  not go overboard, keep it brief as a complete log file dumped to
  Usenet News is more than a little annoying.



