Hi I have searched for a while and can't find an answer to this.
What I want to do is be able to boot to Linux if I am in XP and then
be able to boot back to XP if I am in Linux but without any control
during reboot 'cos this will be over a vpn using VNC (don't ask).

I have Mandrake 10.1 and XP installed in different partitions on the
same disk on a Dell 4700.

Is what I want to do possible and if so could some kind soul tell me
how. I know I will probably have to provide more info but I don't
really know what will be required.

TIA

Andy

Andy Barron <andy@the-barrons.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi I have searched for a while and can't find an answer to this.
> What I want to do is be able to boot to Linux if I am in XP and then
> be able to boot back to XP if I am in Linux but without any control
> during reboot 'cos this will be over a vpn using VNC (don't ask).

You don't have any control then anyway. What's the problem?

Oh - are you trying to say "no keyboard input"? (funny way of saying
"control"!). Why would you need it? Set the default choice in your boot
manager before you reboot, and set a low timeout.

If you were using lilo as bootloader/manager, you would use something like

lilo -R "XP"
shutdown -r now "going to XPee".

> Is what I want to do possible and if so could some kind soul tell me

What you want to do is not clear. Why don't you use a serial or network
console if you want "control" at the bootmanager prompt (which is what
I think you mean). Serial console I can do. Network console might
require some hardware support (plus bootmanager support). But WHY
use the bootmanager prompt? You can set your boot manager to boot
whatever you like. The lilo method is useful becuase it doesn't alter
the default permanently, just changes it for one time only.

> how. I know I will probably have to provide more info but I don't
> really know what will be required.

Saying what you mean :-). Not dressing it up in vague abstractions like
"control"! Your purpose is to boot back into a previously designated
bootmanager configuration after giving the shutdown command on linux.

Peter

Peter T. Breuer wrote:
> Andy Barron <andy@the-barrons.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Hi I have searched for a while and can't find an answer to this.
>>What I want to do is be able to boot to Linux if I am in XP and then
>>be able to boot back to XP if I am in Linux but without any control
>>during reboot 'cos this will be over a vpn using VNC (don't ask).
>
>
> You don't have any control then anyway. What's the problem?
>
> Oh - are you trying to say "no keyboard input"? (funny way of saying
> "control"!). Why would you need it? Set the default choice in your boot
> manager before you reboot, and set a low timeout.
>
> If you were using lilo as bootloader/manager, you would use something like
>
> lilo -R "XP"
> shutdown -r now "going to XPee".
>
>
>>Is what I want to do possible and if so could some kind soul tell me
>
>
> What you want to do is not clear. Why don't you use a serial or network
> console if you want "control" at the bootmanager prompt (which is what
> I think you mean). Serial console I can do. Network console might
> require some hardware support (plus bootmanager support). But WHY
> use the bootmanager prompt? You can set your boot manager to boot
> whatever you like. The lilo method is useful becuase it doesn't alter
> the default permanently, just changes it for one time only.
>
>
>>how. I know I will probably have to provide more info but I don't
>>really know what will be required.
>
>
> Saying what you mean :-). Not dressing it up in vague abstractions like
> "control"! Your purpose is to boot back into a previously designated
> bootmanager configuration after giving the shutdown command on linux.
>
> Peter
i understand issuing reboot command over ssh or vnc to a linux machine
and booting xp(by setting the default in the bootloader), but once you
are in XP, you have no access to the bootloader conf file, hence you
can't change the default OS(because of the windows' won't recognize any
other partition than NTFS and FAT).

--
Jayachandran Kamaraj Registered Linux User :341946
Registered Machine :230996

Do not dig so deep to find the
reasons for the defeat that nothing comes out.--Vajpayee

http://jaya.homelinux.org

Andy Barron wrote:
> Hi I have searched for a while and can't find an answer to this.
> What I want to do is be able to boot to Linux if I am in XP and then
> be able to boot back to XP if I am in Linux but without any control
> during reboot 'cos this will be over a vpn using VNC (don't ask).
>
> I have Mandrake 10.1 and XP installed in different partitions on the
> same disk on a Dell 4700.
>
> Is what I want to do possible and if so could some kind soul tell me
> how. I know I will probably have to provide more info but I don't
> really know what will be required.
>
> TIA
>
> Andy

From linux to windows, you can just update your lilo.conf file, run
lilo so it now boots to windows by default, then reboot. For windows,
you won't be able to do it. Maybe you can run one of those programs that
are used to boot linux from windows. IRC loadlin is what you're looking
for. The problem with this though, is that you are updating the mbr of
your drive a lot of times. Not sure if this will cause problems for you.

jayachandran kamaraj wrote:

> i understand issuing reboot command over ssh or vnc to a linux machine
> and booting xp(by setting the default in the bootloader), but once you
> are in XP, you have no access to the bootloader conf file, hence you
> can't change the default OS(because of the windows' won't recognize any
> other partition than NTFS and FAT).

Please read the lilo man page. The -R switch sets the default for the
next boot only.

--
Andy.

jayachandran kamaraj <jc@jaya.homelinux.org> wrote:
> > If you were using lilo as bootloader/manager, you would use something like
> >
> > lilo -R "XP"
> > shutdown -r now "going to XPee".
> >
> > The lilo method is useful becuase it doesn't alter
> > the default permanently, just changes it for one time only.
> >
> i understand issuing reboot command over ssh or vnc to a linux machine
> and booting xp(by setting the default in the bootloader), but once you
> are in XP, you have no access to the bootloader conf file, hence you
> can't change the default OS(because of the windows' won't recognize any
> other partition than NTFS and FAT).

Read what I said, not what you THINK I said.

Peter

Andy Barron wrote:

> Hi I have searched for a while and can't find an answer to this.
> What I want to do is be able to boot to Linux if I am in XP and then
> be able to boot back to XP if I am in Linux but without any control
> during reboot 'cos this will be over a vpn using VNC (don't ask).
>
> I have Mandrake 10.1 and XP installed in different partitions on the
> same disk on a Dell 4700.
>
> Is what I want to do possible and if so could some kind soul tell me
> how. I know I will probably have to provide more info but I don't
> really know what will be required.
>
> TIA
>
> Andy

You can probably do this with GRUB boot loader.

GRUB uses a text file /boot/grub/menu.lst to set the
boot file. If the /boot/grub/menu.lst file is stored
on a fat32 partition, then you can access it with windopes
and GNU/Linux. Create two menu.lst files (i.e. menu1.lst and
menu2.lst) and use a .bat file in windopes expeeh
to switch between them; likewise in GNU/Linux you can run
a shell script to do the same.
The only difference between menu1.lst and menu2.lst is the
first line which will read either
default 0
or
default 1
to switch the default menu option that grub boots into.
(please note I haven't tried installing GRUB into fat32
partition yet - so need someone else to verify this is possible)

Miguel De Anda wrote:

> From linux to windows, you can just update your lilo.conf file, run
> lilo so it now boots to windows by default, then reboot. For windows,
> you won't be able to do it. Maybe you can run one of those programs that
> are used to boot linux from windows. IRC loadlin is what you're looking
> for. The problem with this though, is that you are updating the mbr of
> your drive a lot of times. Not sure if this will cause problems for you.

NO! You just run lilo with the -R option and it sets what to boot for
the next boot only.
# lilo -R win2k
# reboot
The hard one is Windows to Windows, after a Windows boot it will always
go back to Linux. I don't know if this can be done with grub, nor any
reason not to use lilo.

--
-bill davidsen (davidsen@tmr.com)
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
last possible moment - but no longer" -me