Wondering how to create a triple-booting system that involves Windows and two Linux distributions – one that uses the GRUB bootloader and the other using LILO? Here’s a hands-on procedure that lets you do just that, without tweaking cryptic configuration files and messing with geeky commands.
When you power on a PC with multiple operating systems installed, software called a bootloader asks you what operating system to boot. A boot loader can be installed on the master boot record (MBR) of your hard disk, or you may install it on the root partition that a Linux distro uses. For x86 hardware, you have the choice of two popular bootloaders in the Linux world – the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) and the Linux Loader (LILO).
Most flavors of Linux use GRUB as their default bootloader, but many, such as Xandros and Mandriva, still use LILO. You can find lots of tutorials on the Web that explain how GRUB could be configured in different scenarios to boot multiple operating systems. With LILO, it is a different ballgame; such resources are scarce and hard to find.
One typical problem you encounter when you create multi-boot systems is making LILO and GRUB work in tandem. For this discussion, we will focus on creating a Xandros, Fedora, and Microsoft Windows triple-booting system as an example of creating multi-boot systems involving Windows, LILO-using, and GRUB-using distros.
Sometimes distros will automatically detect other Linux operating systems installed on a system, but often they don’t. Also, if the GRUB-using distro is the last operating system (out of the three) that you plan to install on your system, my method will save you hours of tedious geeky stuff.
**A practical solution **
With Xandros and LILO, I faced problems when I attempted to create a triple-booting system. Though you can easily configure GRUB by editing its configuration file /etc/grub.conf, editing the /etc/lilo.conf file for Xandros didn’t quite work. Xandros overwrote the modified file with the default values whenever I restarted the system. This prompted me to try using GRUB to boot the three operating systems, which proved to be a lot easier.
Your first step is to back up your data to whatever media you prefer. If you’re starting with a new hard drive and want your Linux distros to coexist with Windows, install Windows first.
You may partition your disk using a utility that comes with new hard disks, or with utilities such as fdisk, cfdisk, Disk Druid, or Ranish Partition. Create two partitions, then install Windows on one of them. You’ll use the other one later for the two flavors of Linux.
Once you are done installing Windows on one partition, proceed with installing Xandros. Do not let Xandros install LILO on the MBR. Instead, let LILO write to the root partition of the Xandros install.
For the complete Guide : Triple-booting with GRUB, LILO, and Windows XP