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Re: Installing Win95 on existing Dos/Linux box



On Wed, 6 Nov 1996, Ze'ev Maor wrote:

> Sure, Win95 doesn't change the MBR. So you can safely install LILO on the
> MBR, keep your current installetion, i.e. define an image for the linux
> installetion and an "other" record with the corresponding partition...


Uhhh..not really.

Win95 will overwrite the MBR upon its installation, so you will have to 
reinstall LILO.
 
Winblow$ 95 *also* tends to overwrite the MBR every once in a while after 
it's installed, for no apparent reason at all. 
This yields a "Non-system disk or disk error" 
message upon boot up from the hard drive, which almost gave me a heart 
attack when I first saw that message on my computer.
 
To counter this particular destructive behavior you need to prepare 
yourself by  
having a couple Win95 bootable floppies with Loadlin handy so that you can 
still boot your machine.  Once the machine is booted, load the superior 
OS located on your other partition via Loadlin, and re-run LILO.

Or you could just delete your Win 95 partition altogether.  :)


Another danger that I encountered at the Linux Installation Party is that 
some BIOS's have a "feature" called something insipid like "virus watch,"
which sends apocalyptic warnings to your screen if anything changes in the 
MBR.  Win 95 fully supports this by providing the "user-freindly" 
scary warnings, and I assume this is why it overwrites the MBR every once 
in a while, to make sure that everything is Kosher.
 
This feature can be a hassle when trying to save partition schemes, because 
FIPS will barf when it can't change the MBR, complaining that it is 
read-only.  
The solution is to simply find the feature setting (either in the BIOS or 
in a covertly hidden Win 95 window) and turn it off.

Then FIPS should run like a charm.

Good luck.


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