winXP + backtrack howto?

[backt]

I'd like to use backtrack and win xp on the same notebook. I installed backtrack and after that I couldn't boot into winXP. I fixed the mbr with fixmbr and fixboot commands but now I can not boot into backtrack. How can I fix lilo to select both OS? I don't know what kind of bootloader has backtrack, maybe lilo. I tried to install lilo but I get error message when it installing itself.
How can I boot into backtrack anyway?

(Sorry for my bad english.)

[MaNiaC]

all you gota do is add 2 lines to your lilo config file in order to boot into windows xp, the backtrack installation doesn't do this for you like auditor did.

vi /etc/lilo.conf
add these 2 lines:

other = /dev/hda1
label = WindowsXp



also if you want windows xp to be the default then add this to the top
default = WindowsXp

[yeehawjared]

make sure you run "lilo" after adding those 2 lines.

edit: your hard drive may not be hda1. look in QtParted to see what partition you want to use. I have 3 partitions on my lappy - XP(ntfs 20gig), BT(ext3 5gig), and Storage(Fat32 55gig)

I like the storage partition on there so I can read write with both XP and Linux.

[backt]

Thanks for the answers both of you! :)


One more thing...

How can I boot into backtrack from the cd?
The only command I can use after I boot from cd is slax, but then it boots from live cd and not from the hd installed backtrack.
I use 2 partitions, the 1st is ntfs xp and the 2nd is the backtrack. I think /dev/hda1

[padou]

backt,

i have got same pb as you.

XP was already installed on my hd and i installed BackTrack.

Consequence: i can only boot on BackTrack.

So i tried to add the 2 lines in lilo.config but it did not works as i was always booting on BackTrack and no more on XP.

I do the same as you, i fixed my XP boot with bootfix. After i could boot to XP normally but no more in BackTrack.

I can not come back into lilo.config on BackTrack on HD. Only on BT from CD live.

Anyone could help ?

I have tried everything and i get completly stuck now.
:confused:

[backt]

I solved the problem!!! :)

padou:

Boot from live cd.

(I chose install lilo to MBR!)

open a command shell. Type liloconfig
In the menu choose #1 and follow the instructions.
Then choose add a windows partition.
type /dev/hda1
give it a name like "windows xp" or something else
(I have a 40 GB hdd with about 33GB ntfs partition, 4GB ext3 and 512 MB swap)
Then choose add a linux partition type /dev/hda2 (this is where I installed BT)
give it a name like "linux"
oops, I forgot what is next but I think choose install lilo or write lilo.conf.
I chose wait 5 seconds before automatically boot the default OS
after that when you see again the command shell, type lilo
It will tell you
added windows
added linux

And that's all!
Reboot the system and there will be the lilo bootmanager with windows xp and linux.

I'm in win xp so I can't tell you the right steps of the lilo configuration menu but I think that is quite clear to understand what to do.

I will use BT in the afternoon so I will check a lilo configuration process and if I was wrong I will update my post.

[padou]

Backt,

Thanks. It works now!!

Cheers // Padou

[werd1284]

If you don't mind, I'd like to revive this thread rather than creating a whole new thread for my problem. In short, I'd like to Duo boot on my Laptop (Who doesn't?)

I'm trying to install Backtrack onto my laptop (Sony Vaio), but I'm relatively new at Linux and such (Used Knoppix awhile back, but that's about it). I'm having a little issue regarding installing BT onto my HDD.

I was wondering if I'd be able to use QTPart in BT to create a new partition and such. I was able to detect my HDD and all, found that I had 3 partitions on it. One is a 6GB recovery partition made by Sony (Rather than giving out disks, they created a recovery partition to recovery everything), my main C: drive, and a small hidden 7 mb partition (Which I believe is my Linux partition to start up AV Mode on my Vaio....maybe?).

My question is why can't I create a partition from my C: drive? It's listed as active and when I switch it to non-active, I can't do anything. The only thing that it seems that I can do is to resize the partition. I heard of people defragging first and then resizing and then installing BT on the newly resized partition. I'm just wary about whether I should use PMagic and see if I can create a partition or if I should just defrag and resize my C: ?

After that I believe it's a matter of creating a 3 or so GB partition for BT as ext3 and then a 1GB or so for the linux swap ext3. Is that correct? Once I created the partitions, I can run BT and use the installer GUI to install and configure the Lilo OS selector.

Sorry for the trouble, hopefully somebody can help me with this....I feel a bit inferior to everybody else on the forum. Thanks again.

And I have gone over the FAQ/Tutorial/other posts/sites. Perhaps I should go over them again.....hmm...

[backt]

I have a 40 GB hdd, and I created a linux and a swap partition with Partition Magic 8. Then I used BT hd installer. Evrything works fine.

[tracker]

Hi! I just tried your method, but it didn't work! Whatever I do it starts with BT. I never get a choise...:confused:

Regards
Tracker


I solved the problem!!! :)

padou:

Boot from live cd.

(I chose install lilo to MBR!)

open a command shell. Type liloconfig
In the menu choose #1 and follow the instructions.
Then choose add a windows partition.
type /dev/hda1
give it a name like "windows xp" or something else
(I have a 40 GB hdd with about 33GB ntfs partition, 4GB ext3 and 512 MB swap)
Then choose add a linux partition type /dev/hda2 (this is where I installed BT)
give it a name like "linux"
oops, I forgot what is next but I think choose install lilo or write lilo.conf.
I chose wait 5 seconds before automatically boot the default OS
after that when you see again the command shell, type lilo
It will tell you
added windows
added linux

And that's all!
Reboot the system and there will be the lilo bootmanager with windows xp and linux.

I'm in win xp so I can't tell you the right steps of the lilo configuration menu but I think that is quite clear to understand what to do.

I will use BT in the afternoon so I will check a lilo configuration process and if I was wrong I will update my post.

[backt]

Did you type "lilo" without quotes after you've finished liloconfig? Bash send 2 lines.
Windows added.
Linux added.

[werd1284]

Sweet! I got Lilo up and running and now I'm dual booting w/ XP and BT. With a little bit of searching and a fair bit of nerve, I've managed to set everything up. Now time for me to start learning the ropes and all. Thanks for the help everyone! :)

[Saimon]

First thanks to all of you that took the time to post in these forums the info I found here is what helped me. After quite a few tries at installing a proper dual boot then suceeding, these were some of the choices I found that worked for me, as for partitions. After installing Windows.

If you have Partition Magic like the others have said make your partitions.
Linux = /dev/hda2
swap =/dev/had3
always read everything as you progress along.

If don't have Partition Magic you can use Back|Track buy typing the command; fdisk /dev/hda in the console < before gui is fine > this could take some getting used to if you've never used it, but press m to see the menu then with a little trial and error you should find your way thrugh it all just don't give up if you botch it a few times think of it all as a learing experience of course using the Backtrack FAQ Install2HD is verrrry usefull. I point to this because it is very useful having some sort if visual in finding your way around the fdisk /dev/hda if you have never seen one.

CAUTION: This was written for a single installation and not a dual boot, if you used it as "your" guideline you must number the partitions accordingly. Read.

http://www.remote-exploit.org/index.php/Backtrack_FAQ_Install2HD

Lilo; I tried the way backt suggested and for whatever reasons I just had no luck, so what I did was try another suggested way. After the install in the console type liloconfig and the Gui-interface comes up pick simple and MBR it will bitch and say sorry, but no this won't work just ok out, then in console edit your lilo.cong. Do this using: nano /etc/lilo.conf you should see your entries that look like or something like this. Make the changes.

#Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
#Windows bootable partition confing ends
#Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/valinuz
root = current <<<Change to current.
lable = back|track <<<Change name.
read - write <<<Change to read - write.
#Linux bootable partition config ends

Save: Ctrl + o
Writeto: enter
Exit: Ctrl +x

Note: When done in console always type lilo /to run the config.
After exit in the console type lilo you should see a response simular to
Added
Windows *
Back|Track

Then reboot if all went well your in the zone, if not keep trying till you find out where you went wrong. Good luck, everyday a adventure. :)

[afchief]

Objective: Dual boot XP and BT - Took a while but finally got it working thanks to the various posts and responses!

Used Partition Magic 7.0 to configure as follows
10 Gb Windows NTFS on hda1
30 Gb Second FAT32 on hda2 (shared and VM directories)
4 Gb for BT with ext2 on hda5
1 Gb Swap with ext2 on hda6

I ran through several of the forum exercises and followed a number of directions but could not get liloconfig to run. Here is what finally worked.

Install BT from CD (using 05022006 Beta)
df -h shows above plus tmpfs 1 Gb (not sure what this is)
Start BT Installer > source /boot > Install to (/mnt/hda5) > Write MBR (/dev/hda)
Be patient as this could take up to 30 minutes

Remove BT CDR and let system boot to newly installed HDD. Then type liloconfig in console and did the following:
(1) Take expert option and install header or #1 - follow instructions
(2) At prompt use third option for MBR
(3) Then setup Linux - in my case used /dev/hda5
(4) Then setup Windows - in my case used /dev/hda1 which was marked active
(5) Then install Lilo - mine hangs but just went to a prompt after a few seconds
(6) When finished don't forget to run lilo so you will see both BackTrack and Windows set on Lilo - This is a critical step as not saved as with GRUB
(7) Then vi or nano lilo.conf under /etc
Under section for Linux bootable partition config begins make sure you set read only to read-write. If you do not do this you will not be able to boot your new installation.
(8) Run lilo at a prompt as in #6 above so you see
added
Windows *
BackTrack

Thanks again for all the posts to the forum.

[Structure7]

Hey afchief, I followed your guide and it worked like a charm. Thanks!

[kirmet]

thanks from my side too. worked really nice.

[G-Stress]

k guys I'm having a problem, I finally decided to do a HD install dual booting with XP.

My setup...

HP Pavilion zv5370us Laptop, XP Pro SP2. Athlon 64 3000+ series, 512 MB Ram, 60 GB HDD.

What I did was use partition magic to create an seperate partition 3.9 GB fat32, I then booted BT via live CD and did the BT Installer Live uncompressed.

Now it will only attempt to boot in BT but it won't even fully boot, it stops at...


VFS: Mounted root (vfat filesystem).
Freeing unused kernel memory: 216k freed
Warning: unable to open an initial console.
nput: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0

those are the last 5 lines and it just hangs there? This was the best thread I found so far searching for BT HD installer. I would highly appreciate any advice or on getting this issue resolved.

[backt]

Try to boot from your win xp install cd and repair windows. Go to command line and do a fixmbr (see fixmbr /? for options)and fixboot command. After that you can boot into Win XP. Make a min 5GB partition with ext3 filesystem for backtrack and 1 GB swap partition with Partition Magic.

Change win xp install CD to Backtrack live CD. Boot from BT live CD then do a hd install.

After hd install start a bash prompt and type liloconfig. Follow the instructions then type lilo in bash prompt.

[G-Stress]

okay so basically use 6 gig for BT 5 for data and 1 gig for swap? I thought about using the xp CD, but haven't tried it as I read in this tutorial it didn't work. Let me give that a shot now and if I'm not successful I would like to get back to XP and somehow just erase BT completely until a later time after I've tested it on a different machine.

[G-Stress]

Dude thanks ALOT!!! You don't know how much I appreciate it, it worked. I coulda figured it out, but I didn't want to redo my drive and all my configuration it woulda been too much of a pain. Again thanks a bunch:)

[G-Stress]

Hey aslo one thing I did try, is my 2 partitions my NTFS 52 Gig for XP and my 3.9 Gig for BT fat32, I used Bart'sPE builder and a boot disc I made with that and I used the I think it's called AF4 management utility and I formated the fat32 partition, but when I rebooted it still tried to boot to BT, I was just curious as to why being that I installed it on a seperate partition and formatted the drive?

[backt]

fat32 filesystem is for windows operating system. Use ext3 filesystem for linux.

You do not have to reinstall or reconfigure your windows. The only thing is to repaire the MBR Master Boot Record.
When you boot from windows install cd, you can choose from a menu. Choose repaire windows(do not format any of your partition:D ) and go until it gives you a command line. You have to log in as Administrator. Then as admin type fixmbr. Maybe you have to use this command with an option. For options type fixmbr /? itt will show how to use fixmbr command. Then reboot your machine. The next boot will boot the windows xp. In win XP delete the fat32 partition. Format it and make a linux filesystem like ext3. Make a swap partition.

Then reboot your machine and boot it from Backtrack cd.

[G-Stress]

Yea I did manage to get back to XP, I've done the fixmbr before just reading this post most people said it didnt work for them so I didn't tryin it at first. I was just curious as to why when I used the Bart'sPE builder and formatted the linux partition I made why when I rebooted it still somehow would only try to boot to BT like it did write to the C: partition also?

[xatar]

I think maybe because your boot loader (GRUB / LILO) sits on the MBR. This is not part of any partition as such, and is the first place the BIOS goes to to look for where to start loading an OS. The boot loader then points it towards different partitions for the OS specific loader.

fixmbr will copy over the MBR with the settings required to load NTLDR, the file required to boot windows which sits on the root of your C: drive.

[G-Stress]

ok, makes sense:) I was thinking something of that nature, but wasn't sure since I did write to a whole different partition. Appreciate the info:)

[saratis]

My scenario, 1 60 gb partition with windows XP.

I wanted to install BT to HD for thegreatvirus guide.

Step 1:
>Use partition magic 8 in windows to create a linux ext3 partition before the windows partition, and then the wizard will ask you if you want to create a swap partition, you should answer yes. I placed it in front of my linux partition, but im not sure if thats right. JUST MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL THE INFO PM IS GIVING YOU!

Step 2:
>Apply your settings and reboot, you'll see a chkdsk sort of screen where partition magic explains what its doing. Mostly moving ur data to the back of the drive....
Reboot

Step 3:
>After reboot i got 'operating sytem error' or something like that... Not to worry, just insert your BT live cd en boot from cd. When ur in BT start the installer...

Now just be carefull with selecting the partition, because i was sure i put the linux partition in front of the windows part, but sda1 was my windows part and sda2 my empty ext3 part. (sda is my swap).

To make sure, just fire up konqueror and have a look at 'storage media', and make sure that u know what is on which partition.

After u selected the right partition, install and reboot.

Step 4:
>I my case i booted directly in BT, but as mentioned in this thread, just edit lilo.conf:
Boot into backtrack.
Open a terminal window.

nano /etc/lilo.conf

Change boot to: boot = /dev/hda (or sda*)
Change root to: root = /dev/hda2 (or sda2 *:P )
Change read-only into read-write

Alter the root = /dev/hda2 line to reflect what partition you have installed backtrack onto, most likely your hda2 partition.

At the bottom of the file, add:

other = /dev/hda1 (or sda1*)
label = WindowsXp

also make sure that the part where the BT partition is configured looks like this:
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = current
label = back|track
read-write
# Linux bootable partition config ends

The read-write part is the important bit, it should be there or you will get into trouble.... (not with the law though, but still)

Save the file ( CTRL-X, yes to save changes, save as lilo.conf)

Execute:

lilo -v

You should see a response indicating that the windows OS has been added.

(Thx xatar for this exellent explanation, and killnine for the read-write part)

Reboot

* To know if it is sda or hda, just browse ur storage media with konqueror. Maybe not the best way to find out, but im too noobish to know another way :P

Step 5:
>If all went well, you now get the lilo bootloader with the slax logo. You can now choose windowsXp

But when i did that, i got the error: chkdsk not found.... And then it automatically rebooted. If you get something like that, Step 6 is for you.

Step 6:
>After some googling, it turned out i had probably set two active partitions, and now my windowsXP partition got hidden.
To fix this, boot in BT, and go to the backtrack menu->misc->qparted

In qparted, have a look at your windowsXP partition, it should say 'hidden', if it does, right click, and you should have an option 'show' (or something similar).

Press commit.

Reboot...

Now windows should work too. I should mention that the first time windows booted, explorer.exe wouldnt load, but after a reboot, all worked fine, without any loss of data.

I really hope someone finds this useful :)

[waqapak]

i followed the steps but then afterwards when I type in lilo i get this message:

Fatal: raid_setup: stat("tmpfs")

(even after I changed from tmps to current and labled it back track and read-write... still get the same issue)


When I reboot the /etc/lilo.conf is in the same state (with tmps, linux, etc) even though i changed it and saved it....

[xatar]

Right, the problems that most of you are having is that you do not configure the lilo.conf file to add your windows operating system into it. the configuration file defines exactly what lilo (linux loader) does when it runs.

For those that can only access their backtrack OS:

Boot into backtrack.
Open a terminal window.

nano /etc/lilo.conf

Change boot to: boot = /dev/hda
Change root to: root = /dev/hda2
Change read-only into read-write

Alter the root = /dev/hda2 line to reflect what partition you have installed backtrack onto, most likely your hda2 partition.

At the bottom of the file, add:

other = /dev/hda1
label = WindowsXp

Save the file ( CTRL-X, yes to save changes, save as lilo.conf)

Execute:

lilo -v

You should see a response indicating that the windows OS has been added.

Now reboot your machine! This time, you should be presented with a LILO menu, select whatever OS you want to boot and press enter.


For those that have been running fixmbr commands in windoze, all you are doing is overwriting the Master Boot Record (the area that the BIOS looks to for instructions on where to search for an OS), you are overwriting it with the windows information! Windoze does not like other operating systems being dual booted with it, you can edit the boot.ini file to do a similar job than LILO, but it is not the preferred way.

later,

[waqapak]

that worked like a charm! thanks soo much! Now all I have to do is get my atheros card (5006x, senao nmp 8602+ pcmcia) working.

[donquixote]

WARNING - EXTREME NOOB VERSION of XATAR's more elegant explanation.

This is the fool proof (meaning that I am a fool and I could do it) way to get a dual boot with xp and BT if you already installed BT to a linux partition.

This is what I did, but by just screwing around. It works!! (however it took me all day to discover this, when I should have bothered to read further into this forum than the first page, lesson learned)

Start your machine. Log in as root etc. etc.

Noob Tip: Note what your partitions are named. I have SDA instead of HDA. If you use the wrong one in your lilo file then your computer will turn into a unicorn and kill baby jebus. :eek:

Open the lilo.conf file by either using the search for a file thingy or opening the system info thingy (see I told you I was a fool) and clicking on storage devices. This should show all your partitions and whatnot. Right click on the icon that has your main BT partition as its label, for me that was SDA5. In the context menu (that's what happens when you right click apparently) choose "open with file manager". There will be a bunch of folders, don't get all confused and give up everything will be ok. Pick the one that is labeled "ETC" or "etc". Open it. Hunt around for the "lilo.conf" file, DON"T click the shortcut icon that's colored green, cause that's a command shortcut and it will take you away to a BASH shell that won't work anyways. The "lilo.conf" file is is a text file, you can tell that because the icon looks like a pad of paper with a pencil on it. It will be next to all the other files that start with the letter "L". Just double click the file to open it. Then scroll down to the bottom of the file to where it looks like this...

#Windows bootable partition config begins

That's where the good stuff is. Now just cut and paste the below over what's already there.

#Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/sda
#Windows bootable partition confing ends
#Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = current
lable = backtothetrizzack
read - write
#Linux bootable partition config ends

If you can't cut and paste correctly then you will have to go directly to jail without passing go.

Don't forget to check what your partitions are labeled, the ol' hda vs sda conundrum. Use whichever one you have. You can change the "label = blah blah" to hwatever you want, even naughty words, as long as you know which is BT and which is XP.

Click the save button in the toolbar, it looks like a floppy disc.

Close the file. Its ok, you saved it right?

Now open a bash shell, you can find an icon that looks like a little black screen, its in the lower left hand corner of the desktop.

You will be wisked away to a winter wonderland tour in a BASH shell. Since you are logged in as ROOT (right?) it should be blank with one small word, "slax" followed by some symbols or whatever, if it says something else then you need to log out, stand up, spin around three times, sit down, and log back in as root.

In the bash shell, just type "lilo" (no quotes) into the command line.

It will say
Added
Windows*
backtothetrizzack

Noob Tip: The asterisk means that Windows will be your default OS, which means if you reboot your machine and don't press a button it will boot to windows. If you just hit an arrow button or the space bar then the countdown will stop and you have been "gives us the free" to choose whichever OS you want.

Now, close the BASH shell or window or whatever you wish to call it.

Log out. Shut down. Restart your machine.

You will be greeted with a stunning Lilo bootloader screen with your two labels as choices to start up. (Remember the last Noob Tip) Pick one and you're off and running.

Now go out there and be somebody!!! YAYAYAYAYAAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYY

[rooster]

Hey guys,

I have a few questions ragarding Saratis & Killnine Dual boot XP / BT2 guide.

Q1. What type of partition should I create? One is saying EXT2 and the other EXT3?
I created a EXT3 partition in front of my Windows XP SP2 NTFS partition but it never asked me about any swap disk or something. I also used Partition Magic 8.
Once PM8 is finished moving my data and stuff, my system reboots. But it has no problem finding the XP partition and it boots right of it. This is not what I expected.
Q2. Does this mean I did something wrong?
After that I ran BT2 from the CD, used the Backtrack installer to install to my EXT3 partition (which is called mnt/hda2 and I wrote the MBR to my main partition called /dev/hda. Nothing wrong here I assume
As soon as the installer is finished I reboot and then again, my laptop finds the XP partition and boots nicely from this partition
Q3 I think I did something wrong here. I am supposed to boot from the BT partition as soon as I created it, right? What did I do wrong

I proceeded anyway. I again ran BT2 from the CD. I launched liloconfig from the command window as killnine described. I then opened up the lilo.conf and scrolled down to "Linux bootable partition config begins". I changed read-only to read-write but I noticed that the root was not set at "current" but at "tmpfs". I changed it to current. Q4: is this an indication that something it wrong?
I then ran lilo and it gave me an error:
Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system
Q5: obviously I am doing something wrong. Any suggestions
Thanks a lot for your help!

[theprez98]

Hey guys,

I have a few questions ragarding Saratis & Killnine Dual boot XP / BT2 guide.

Q1. What type of partition should I create? One is saying EXT2 and the other EXT3?
AFAIK the type of file system you use should not matter...EXT2, EXT3, or ReiserFS. In other words, it's your choice.

[rooster]

I am sorry

[theprez98]

Didn't I see this same post about 30 minutes ago.

EDIT: Of course I did, the same post right here (http://forums.remote-exploit.org/showpost.php?p=31332&postcount=31). No need to cross-post, we all read the same threads.

Thread merged.

[TrialAndError]

Hey guys,

I have a few questions ragarding Saratis & Killnine Dual boot XP / BT2 guide.

Q1. What type of partition should I create? One is saying EXT2 and the other EXT3?
I created a EXT3 partition in front of my Windows XP SP2 NTFS partition but it never asked me about any swap disk or something. I also used Partition Magic 8.
Once PM8 is finished moving my data and stuff, my system reboots. But it has no problem finding the XP partition and it boots right of it. This is not what I expected.
Q2. Does this mean I did something wrong?
After that I ran BT2 from the CD, used the Backtrack installer to install to my EXT3 partition (which is called mnt/hda2 and I wrote the MBR to my main partition called /dev/hda. Nothing wrong here I assume
As soon as the installer is finished I reboot and then again, my laptop finds the XP partition and boots nicely from this partition
Q3 I think I did something wrong here. I am supposed to boot from the BT partition as soon as I created it, right? What did I do wrong

I proceeded anyway. I again ran BT2 from the CD. I launched liloconfig from the command window as killnine described. I then opened up the lilo.conf and scrolled down to "Linux bootable partition config begins". I changed read-only to read-write but I noticed that the root was not set at "current" but at "tmpfs". I changed it to current. Q4: is this an indication that something it wrong?
I then ran lilo and it gave me an error:
Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system
Q5: obviously I am doing something wrong. Any suggestions
Thanks a lot for your help!
Does anyone know what's going on with this problem?

I'm having the same thing happen to me at the moment and the forum search brought me here....all suggestions wlecome

[theprez98]

Does anyone know what's going on with this problem?

I'm having the same thing happen to me at the moment and the forum search brought me here....all suggestions wlecome
Follow the dual boot video tutorial found on the Wiki.

[aspekt9]

lba32
boot /dev/hda
#message = /boot/boot_message.txt (this file doesn't exist)
prompt
timeout=1200 (the amount of time before selecting the first selected OS)
change-rules
reset
vga=791 (explained in comments in lilo.conf)

#windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
label = WindowsXP
table = /dev/hda
#windows bootable partition config ends
#linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda4
label = backtrack2
read-only
#linux bootable partition ends

Be sure to change the above to reflect your partitions and make sure vmlinuz is in your /boot dir. Do you have a separate partition just for /boot?
^X write the file

Run lilo with the verbose switch so we can see what's going on then reboot:

lilo -v
exit
reboot

Note: Do not change read-only to read-write you will get an error on boot telling you this is incorrect and it needs to be read-only.

[akramfuzzy]

hi guys i change read-only to read-write you will get an error on boot telling me this is incorrect and it needs to be read-only but it work after i press enter

and i have windowsxp and back track2 how i make the first system winxp it back track

and the time to choose winxp or back track very fast how i make it late about 10 seconds

[harry]

I found this a while ago - it may come in useful if you are having problems:

tazforum.thetazzone.com/viewtopic.php?t=7201

[satvic]

I've reinstalled Windows, and it overwrote MBR. I need to reinstall the dual booting feature....(my bt2 is already installed and configured on sda3)

I have 4 partitions:

sda1 - ntfs (15gb) for Windows XP
sda2 - swap(1gb - my ram size)
sda3 - ext3 (4.2gb)
sda4 - fat32 (20gb) (data stuff for win and linux).

when I boot into LiveCD and edit my lilo.conf file (by the way, i have to have read-only at the end, or it doesn't work. used to work with read-only during the last instal).

Then I save lilo.conf and run lilo -v .. i get an error:

Reading boot sector from /dev/sda
Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system

is it because my sda1 is NTFS - read only? or is it because lilo looking into the running LiveCD /boot folder, which is on a CD and therefore readonly?

I tried to use chroot to change root / to /mnt/sda3 where the working installation of bt2 is located but it crashes with "cannot run command: /bin/bash - no such file or directory"

any advice is appreciated. I remember that 'lilo' command only worked when run from installed bt2 .. not from LiveCD .. but i'd really hate to reinstall bt2 since i had so much soft setup manually.

[pureh@te]

when you made the directory to mount backtrack what did you call it? If you followed the remote-exploit guides then it would have been backtarck.
The proper syntax of the command is

bt~#chroot /mnt/backtrack /bin/bash

The command can also work with sda so ....

chroot /mnt/sda3 /bin/bash

The command works I use it all the time.