On 8/12/05, Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith at ieee.org> wrote: > duffmckagan <mckagan at gmail.com> wrote: > > Moreover, you can still get that GRUB installed to the MBR, > > then get the Cent OS working, and then patch the Kernel to > > include NTFS Modules. Then add the required lines to the > > /boot/grub/menu.lst file and get windows working. > > You do _not_ need NTFS support in GRUB to boot Windows. > GRUB will merely use the chainloader to pass off boot to > the NTFS partition, even though it can't read it. > > BTW, note there are _issues_ with GRUB and Windows NT5.1 > (XP) Service Packs / Hotfixes. It seems that on its bootable > drive (what MS calls the "System Drive") on a "Basic Disc" > (legacy BIOS/DOS Primary/Extended/Logical disk slicing), it > uses portions of the MBR to store "hidden info." It will > overwrite portions of GRUB. If you re-install GRUB, it will > overwrite portions of these hidden areas, and XP > SP1+hostfixes or SP2[+hotfixes] will not boot. > > The conditions seem to vary from system to system, but I have > run into it regularly now -- especially with many SP1 > hotfixes and definitely with SP2. There also seem to be some > conflicting hotfixes, especially SP2+, that constantly change > things (even on a 100% Windows XP system). If I had to > guess, and based on my views of the MBR with a hex editor, I > think Microsoft is still trying to be compliant with the new > ATA48 spec (lont story). > > But _regardless_, I find that by keeping my "system drive" > (C: filesystem) with the NTLDR, BOOT.INI, etc... XP partition > within the first 32GiB (at least when geometry is <4096 > cylinders, =255 heads and =63 sectors) of the hard drive will > typically work. > > I literally had a situation where XP SP1 was booting fine in > the first 64GiB, then I loaded some hotfixes, and it refused > to boot. Sure enough, upon inspection of the "damaged" > (non-GRUB booting) MBR (which I made a copy of before > re-installing, and then losing the ability of chainloader to > work), I noticed the same bytes as SP2. > > > > -- > Bryan J. Smith | Sent from Yahoo Mail > mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org | (please excuse any > http://thebs413.blogspot.com/ | missing headers) Thanks for the information, and removing away my misconception. This mailing list rocks. :) > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos > -- "No-one dies a virgin. Life screws everyone."