Numbers in parentheses were the number of megabytes
that I used on my 1.2GB harddrive.
Now, let's move on to the step-by-step procedure:
Run view.exe on the Linux Slakware CD
and create the Linux Boot and Linux Root floppies.
For some reason, the Linux bootstrap program calls the Root disk
the Ramdisk floppy. I'll refer to this disk from now on
as the Ramdisk (Root) floppy.
Backup any information that you wish to keep to tape
(or whatever media you have available to you).
Boot your original MSDOS installation floppy, disk 1.
When ``Starting MSDOS'' appears,
press F5 to bypass config.sys and autoexec.bat.
Run a:\fdisk.exe.
Delete all partitions
(you have been warned:
DELETING / MODIFYING OF ANY PARTITION
WILL RESULT IN THE LOSS OF ALL DATA ON THE DISK!).
Add an MSDOS primary partition. (11MB)
Format this partition.
Run a:\setup.exe to install MSDOS on this partition.
Boot OS/2.
Select Advanced installation.
Run FDISK.
(this will eventually popup for you if you run through
the OS/2 installation)
Add 1 primary partition after the MSDOS one.
This will become our Windows 95 partition. (349MB)
Add the Boot Manager to the next primary partition. (2MB)
Add an extended partition.
Add a logical drive to the extended partition.
This will become the data portion of our MSDOS system. (511MB)
Add another logical drive to the extended partition.
This will become our OS/2 HPFS (``High Performance File System'')
partition. (127MB)
Add 1 last logical drive to the extended partition
using the remaining space on the drive.
This will later become 2 partitions under Linux —
our swap partition and our native Linux partition.
But, since OS/2 (and DOS as well) can only write up to
6 partitions per drive (3 primary and 3 logical drives
housed within 1 extended partition), we have to create only one
at this time. And we DO have to create this partition.
Don't leave this as free space and expect Linux to be able
to create the two partitions. Due to the way that OS/2's FDISK works,
where you add your last logical drive to the extended partition
marks the END of the extended partition.
You cannot add partitions beyond this point.
So, in other words, creating this one last logical drive serves
as a space-filler for Linux. Later we will delete this partition
and add 2 new ones in the space that it once took up.
Add partitions 1, 2, and 5 to the Boot Manager.
Make partition 5 installable.
Your FDISK screen should now look like this
(or something like this):
FDISK
Disk 1
___________________________________________________________________________
Partition Information
Name Status Access FS Type MBytes
___________________________________________________________________________
MSDOS Bootable C: Primary FAT 11
WIN 95 Bootable : Primary FAT 350
Startable : Primary BOOT MANAGER 2
None D: Logical Unformatted 511
OS/2 Installable E: Logical FAT 127
None F: Logical Unformatted 219
Continue on with the OS/2 installation process.
Reboot and select partition 2 (Windows 95) from the Boot Manager.
When the missing operating system error pops up,
boot your MSDOS installation disk.
We selected this partition in order to ``hide'' the MSDOS partition.
OS/2's Boot Manager is a bit strange. For every bootable partition
you have (in our case, MSDOS and OS/2), you can have only one of
them visible at a time. What this means is that if you boot into
one partition, MSDOS for example, the other partition (Win95) is
invisible. The MSDOS partition and Win95 essentially SHARE a drive
letter. That's why under ``Access'' above, MSDOS has drive letter C
and Win95 has no drive letter. Under the current circumstances,
MSDOS is visible with drive letter C and Win95 is invisible with
no drive letter. If we were to boot Win95, the opposite would be true:
MSDOS would be invisible with no drive letter and Win95
would be visible with drive letter C.
An invisible drive cannot be accessed AT ALL.
If you wish to copy files between two drives
in which only one can be visible at one time, you must use a common
(non-bootable) drive to swap files.
In our case, the DOS/Win95 Data drive (drive D 511MB above)
will serve as this common drive. You might be asking
``Won't we eventually be booting Linux also?''.
The answer is yes, we will. But let's not get into that just yet.
Install MSDOS to Partition 2
(we'll need this in order to install Windows 95).
Boot Partition 2.
Install Windows 95 to this partition (if you are running the upgrade
version of Win95, you may need to have your Win3.1 installation disk 1
ready to insert).
Boot Partition 1.
Format Partition 4.
Restore DOS data from tape (if any) to partitions 1 and 4.
Boot the Linux Boot Floppy.
Follow up with the Linux Ramdisk (Root) floppy.
When you log in as root and get to the # prompt,
type ``fdisk'' and press enter.
Delete the last partition (the one we created in step 18).
Add 1 16MB partition and tag it as filesystem type Linux Swap. (17MB)
Add 1 last partition with the remaining cylinders on the disk and tag
this as filesystem type Linux native. (198MB)
Write the changes to the boot sector and reboot.
When you get to the # prompt again, run setup.
Install Linux to the last partition.
When you install LILO, be sure to install it to the root of the last
partition (NOT to the MBR, as you will destroy all of your previous
work in this HOWTO if you do so). Add only the last partition to
LILO and set the timer to zero. By doing this, when you select Linux
from the OS/2 Boot Manager, LILO will activate
and will then boot Linux from the logical drive on the extended
partition. Since Linux is the only partition
that we wish to activate from LILO, we don't need a timer on it
(unless you have more than one Kernel that you wish to load.
In this case, you may want to set the timer to something more
than 0 seconds).
Activate the Linux swap partition
(refer to the Linux Installation and Getting Started Manual
by Matt Welsh for this).
Boot OS/2.
Run FDISK.
Add Linux to the Boot Manager using the Linux NATIVE partition
(type 83not82!).
Your FDISK screen should now look like this (or something like this):
FDISK
Disk 1
___________________________________________________________________________
Partition Information
Name Status Access FS Type MBytes
___________________________________________________________________________
MSDOS Bootable C: Primary FAT 11
WIN 95 Bootable : Primary FAT 350
Startable : Primary BOOT MANAGER 2
None D: Logical FAT 511
OS/2 Bootable E: Logical HPFS 127
None : Logical Type 82 17
Linux Bootable : Logical Type 83 198
...And you're done!
Send any comments/suggestions/problems (as a last resort, please!)
to me at
[email protected].
