Manolis Kiagias wrote:
Alphons "Fonz" van Werven wrote:
Hi,
I have a recent model Toshiba laptop here, dual-booting Windows Vista
and
Slackware Linux (not my call, so no flames please). When I got the
go-ahead to replace Linux with FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE, the following
happened:
The partitioner complained that the found geometry 232581/16/63 is
invalid
and it's using a more likely geometry instead. Closer inspection reveals
that this "more likely" geom (14593/255/63) is actually the real
geometry,
so question 1 is: where did FreeBSD get this other weird-ass geometry
from?
When installing the boot manager, it hosed Windows' bootability. I could
mount and access the Windows partition from within FreeBSD just fine so
the partition itself seemed to be okay, but it just wouldn't boot.
When I
selected it in the bootmanager menu, it showed a screen saying Windows
can't boot and I should use the recovery disk to repair Windows. Since
everything on the machine that was even remotely important had just been
backed up and Windows was due for a reinstall anyway, I just reinstalled
it and no harm was done, but I still wonder what happened. How come
FreeBSD's boot manager stopped Windows from booting?
The reinstall of Windows wiped away everything else, so I can retry
installing FreeBSD. But given the troubles described above, what's the
best way to do it? Currently, I'm considering the following:
1. Boot this Live Linux CD I have lying around here and which finds the
correct geometry for the disk right away.
2. Make a backup of the MBR.
3. Create a partition (slice) for FreeBSD.
4. Boot the FreeBSD install disk and run through sysinstall
(partitioning
the slice Linux just created) but don't let it install a boot loader.
5. Boot the Live Linux again and install LILO from there.
But if you have any other suggestions I'm all ears of course.
Oh, and a final question: the Windows installer creates a partition
table
in which partitions (slices) don't end on cylinder/track boundaries. Is
this a big deal? Linux notices it but doesn't seem bothered much by
it and
FreeBSD appears to act likewise. But I thought I'd better ask, just
to be
sure.
Thanks in advance,
Alphons
When installing FreeBSD and you are asked what boot manager to install
select to not install anything. In this way your Vista boot will not
be affected.
If after this you find that at startup you are not given ANY choice
but FreeBSD starts automatically, this is simply because it's
partition is marked active.
Boot with a CD like Norton Partition Magic or GParted and mark the
Vista partition active. Boot Vista, then download and install the
EasyBCD from www.neowin.net
It is then trivial to add a stanza to Vista bootloader (!) to boot
FreeBSD.
Sorry the correct link is:
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1
Manolis
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