If you need the windows partition to stay running long enough that you expect to
need to reinstall it, keep windows on it's own hard drive, and chain it's native
bootloader off your linux drive.
That way, when you need to reinstall windows, you can just unplug all your other
hard drives, and then the windows installer won't trash your (real) bootloader.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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“Won't the second installation automatically configure the
bootloader to see the other Linux installation just like it detects the Windows
installation automatically?”
Yes, it will. Some
distributions (e.g., Slackware) will offer you the option of including these
other Operating Systems in their boot menus, or of leaving them out.
Also,
I'm not sure why you would “need the same boot loader on
both”; I have Ubuntu (GRUB2), Debian (GRUB Legacy), Mint (GRUB2), and
Slackware (LILO) on one computer, and they all boot just fine. I must say,
though, that I installed a separate GRUB Legacy copy on the MBR (which I plan on
upgrading to GRUB2 some day), and install the Boot Loader for each Operating
System on its own Root Partition; I simply let my MBR Boot Loader
“Chainload” to the Operating System-specific boot
loaders.
In other words, when I boot my computer, my MBR Boot Loader takes
control, and displays the list of Operating Systems that are available on the
computer. When I select an entry from the boot menu, control passes to the boot
sector of the appropriate disk partition—in other words, the Boot Loader
for the selected Operating System takes over, and will typically display its own
(“second-level,” so to speak) boot menu, from which I can
finally boot the Operating System.
Note that the MBR Boot Loader will not be
reconfigured automatically, and I will have to manually edit its configuration
file whenever I change anything to the set of Operating Systems installed.
However, all that the MBR Boot Loader specifies is: (1) The title for each
available Operating System entry in the menu, and (2) the partition to which the
entry will chainload. I can update each Operating System (which will update its
own private Boot Loader configuration) without having to worry about my MBR Boot
Loader. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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