maybe I’ve posted a similar thread here. but I still want to make it clear.
the laptop has vista and suse. grub is intalled to mbr instead of the suse sector. I hear that had I let vista BCD take control of boot, it would be easier to install an xp system to the current machine. But I let grub to take control.
So if I intall xp, it will surplant grub (instead of bootmgr)and NTLDR will take control of boot which cannot boot vista.
Then I would need to reinstall grub, but how to let grub take control of the boot of all three os?
Thanks a lot.
Essentially, XP thinks it’s the only system in the world; so it will always overwrite the MBR.
Your best option is probably to run XP in a virtual box either on top of Vista or on top of Linux.
If vista is first up on the drive:
Make space for xp on the drive
Install xp and grub will be overwritten – you’ll only have xp bootable
Repair the vista bootloader and you’ll have xp and vista multibooting (no SuSE).
Boot to Suse using some snappy tricks and repair Grub – then you’ll have all three multibooting.
Tricky – but doable – for advanced geeks, adventurous newbies etc
currently grub is in charge of boot. I hear grub could be installed to the linux sector so that one can use vista ‘neobcd’ to take control of boot.
is it better to delete current grub and reinstall grub into the linux sector before trying to install xp? then is linux still bootable?
When you install xp it will wipe the MBR and put its own code there. There probbaly won’t be an advantage in putting the code into the linux partition, but it won’t hurt.
Yes, why not run XP in VB?
could you tell me how to remove the current grub , then reinstall to the linux sector.
and especially after installing xp, & fixing the boot using vista stuff, how to enter linux again (then fix the grub further)?
becoz my laptop might run slow if I install xp in vb.
You don’t have to remove the current Grub. The xp installer will do that IIRC.
How to install to the Linux partition: Yast → System → Bootloader → Click the tab “Boot Loader Installation”
There’s a list of 5 options under “Boot Loader Location”. Remove checkmarks and put a check in “Boot from Root Partition”.
Click OK
and especially after installing xp, & fixing the boot using vista stuff, how to enter linux again…
HowTo Boot into openSUSE when it won’t Boot from the Grub Code on the Hard Drive
… (then fix the grub further)?
Installing a brand new bootloader once you’ve booted into openSUSE
really cool…
I’ll try that.
thanks a lot!