From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 26 18:49:59 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 75DD516A4CE for ; Thu, 26 Feb 2004 18:49:59 -0800 (PST) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 292A943D1D for ; Thu, 26 Feb 2004 18:49:58 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from judmarc@fastmail.fm) X-Sasl-enc: W/KehBbjoi3SlT98XY1OvA 1077850194 Received: from dialup-67.74.71.151.dial1.philadelphia1.level3.net (dialup-67.74.71.151.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net [67.74.71.151]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 201DE643472; Thu, 26 Feb 2004 21:49:52 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 21:49:51 -0500 To: "Mark Weisman" , "Jerry McAllister" References: <88EB08D16800D34EA145D7DD2AA44998E64F@minnie.outland> From: Jud Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=utf-8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <88EB08D16800D34EA145D7DD2AA44998E64F@minnie.outland> User-Agent: Opera M2/7.50 (Win32, build 3620) cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Boot and MBR. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 02:49:59 -0000 On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:18:01 -0900, Mark Weisman wrote: > Just out of curiosity what is the order in creating a dual boot system? > Which operating system do you put on first? I see that having WinXP > setup in partitions is not a good idea, yet I'm not aware of how to load > the system in just a slice? I would appreciate any and all help in > trying to get this thing online. I need my workstation back as soon as > possible. Thanks. [snip] >> I've got my primary drive divided in two partitions, one partition had > >> WindowsXP and the other has FreeBSD 5.1-Release on it. I had WindowsXP > >> installed and working until I put FreeBSD on the second partition and >> had it take control of the MBR. I know that the other partition is >> still bootable if I can get a pointer to it, currently the boot menu >> shows it >> as: >> F!: ?? >> F2: FreeBSD >> How can I get that first menu choice to look at the installation on > the >> first partition as bootable? Making the machine a dual boot between > the >> two system? First off, don't worry about slice vs partition - Jerry was just telling you those are the names used by FreeBSD and Windows, respectively, for the same thing. Second, how to get your dual boot going - 1. I think if you do what you've already done in FreeBSD (set the Windows slice/partition bootable) and then type "w" to write the change, that should work. If it doesn't, two other alternatives - 2. If you have a Win9x emergency boot/system floppy hanging around, use fdisk to set the Windows partition/slice active, then reboot; or 3. Install GAG, a free, easy and automagical boot loader. . Hope this helps, Jud