Another way of booting Linux is by
using loadlin
, an MS-DOS program that can load a
Linux kernel. To load Linux, loadlin
relies on
MS-DOS rather than your system’s BIOS; therefore,
loadlin
can load a kernel stored beyond cylinder
1023. More generally, it can load a kernel from any filesystem or
location accessible to MS-DOS.
However, loadlin
cannot be run from a DOS Prompt
window within Windows 3.x or
9x. You must start your system in MS-DOS mode in
order for loadlin
to work. By making the proper
entries to your config.sys
file, you can create
a convenient boot menu that lets you boot MS-DOS, Windows, or Linux.
Because Windows 2000 does not provide an MS-DOS mode, you cannot use
loadlin
with Windows 2000.
The
loadlin
program is found in the
/dosutils
directory of the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM
(Disc 1) (obtain CD material online at http://examples.oreilly.com/redhat2). The loadlin
program must have access
to the file containing the Linux kernel you want to boot. The easiest
way to get this file onto your Windows system is to boot Linux, make
sure the Windows filesystem that corresponds to the Windows C: drive
is mounted, and copy the kernel file. The following commands assume
that your Windows filesystem is mounted as /mnt/c
and that you want to store the kernel in the directory
c:linux
:
mkdir /mnt/c/linux cp /boot/vmlinuz /mnt/c/linux/vmlinuz
The loadlin
program
needs to know the identity of your Linux root partition. To learn the
name of the root partition, issue the command:
mount
The command reports all the mounted devices:
/dev/hda2 on / type ext2 (rw) none on /proc type proc (rw) /dev/hda1 on /boot type ext2 (ro) none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0622) /dev/hdc on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro)
The root partition is the partition mounted as
/
. Here, it’s
/dev/hda2
. Make a note of the partition name.
Then, boot your Microsoft Windows system and copy the file
loadlin.exe
from the /dosutils
directory to a convenient location on your hard drive.
To
test loadlin
, restart your Windows system in
MS-DOS mode, by choosing Start → Shut Down, choosing Restart in
MS-DOS Mode from the Shut Down Windows dialog box that appears, and
clicking on OK. When the MS-DOS prompt appears, change to the
directory containing loadlin
and issue the
command:
loadlin c:linuxvmlinuz root=/dev/hdxn ro
where /dev/hdxn
is the root partition of your
Linux system, which you earlier recorded. If your Linux files are
stored in a directory other than linux
, you
must adjust the command’s first argument appropriately. Your
Linux system should boot. If it does not, check your work and try
again.
Once you’re satisfied that
loadlin
works with your system, you can
configure your system so that using loadlin
is
more convenient. Microsoft Windows supports a simple boot menu that
will let you decide whether to boot Linux or Windows. To create such
a boot menu, boot Windows and use Notepad
to add
the following lines to the top of your config.sys
file:
[menu] menuitem=Linux, Boot Linux menuitem=Win95, Boot Windows 95 menudefault=Linux, 15 [linux] shell=c:linuxloadlin.exe @c:linuxootopts.txt [win95]
If you’re using Windows 3.x
or Windows 98
rather than Windows 95, change the file accordingly.
The config.sys
file is located in the root
directory of the C:
drive. If your system has no
config.sys
file, create one using the lines
given.
Now, add the following lines to the top of your
autoexec.bat
file:
goto %config% :win95
The autoexec.bat
file is located in the root
directory of the C:
drive. If your system has no
autoexec.bat
file, create one using the lines
given.
Finally, use Notepad
to create the file
bootopts.txt
in the linux
directory. The file should have contents similar to the
following:
c:linuxvmlinuz root=/dev/hdxn
ro
Be sure to substitute the name of your Linux root partition for the
placeholder xn
. You can specify additional options
if you like. The next section introduces you to the most popular
ones.
Now when you boot your system, you’ll see a convenient menu that lets you type a digit to choose which operating system you want to boot.
Another convenient way to use
loadlin
with Windows 95 (but not Windows 98) is
to create a program shortcut that switches your system to MS-DOS mode
and runs loadlin
. Launch the dialog box for
creating the shortcut by right-clicking on the desktop and clicking
on New → Shortcut. The dialog box lets you specify the contents
of the autoexec.bat
and config.sys
files. The former should be empty, and the latter should
contain the line:
shell=c:linuxloadlin.exe @c:linuxootopts.txt