LOADLIN+WIN95 MINI-HOWTO
Authored by: Chris Fischer <protek@brigadoon.com>
v1.3.4, Revised: September 15, 1997
_________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction:
This document describes how to easily use a combination of Windows
95's Boot Menu and Loadlin.exe to autoboot Linux using the F4 Function
Key. This procedure should work with Windows 95 versions 4.00.950 and
4.00.950a, and all versions of Linux that support Loadlin. If you
prefer to use the LILO boot manager, please consult the Linux+Win95
Mini-HOWTO.
This mini-HOWTO is posted first at The Linux+Windows 95 Reference
Page, so check there to make sure you have the most recent revision
of this mini-HOWTO.
_** A Special Note for Windows 95 OSR2 (version 4.00.950b) users: **_
Do _NOT_ attempt dual booting with Windows 95 without first consulting
the Windows 95 OSR2 FAQ. The FAQ also contains a great deal of
information regarding FAT32. In a nutshell, if you have OSR2 and are
using a FAT16 file system, you can still dual boot using the F4
Function Key.
_NOTE: If you have Windows 95 OSR2, and are using a FAT32 file system,
then the dual booting methods in this mini-HOWTO __will not work and
should not be attempted_.
However, there are a couple of alternate methods you can use to
automate booting Linux at startup, which are discussed in Section 9.
2. Things that are assumed:
A. You have successfully installed Windows 95.
B. Windows 95 is installed on Drive C.
C. You have successfully installed Linux.
D. You know what partition Linux is installed on.
E. LILO is NOT installed on your hard drive.
F. If you are using Windows 95 OSR2 (version 4.00.950b), you
have carefully read the Windows95 OSR2 FAQ.
3. Items you need before you start:
A. A bootable floppy disk with DOS 5.0 or DOS 6.x system files
(io.sys, msdos.sys, command.com) and a config.sys file. If you
are using a DOS 5.0 boot disk, you will also need an
autoexec.bat file. If you are using Windows 95 OSR2 (version
4.00.950b), you will also need to create a file called
Winboot.sys with a text editor and place it in the root
directory of Drive C. Winboot.sys can be an empty file, just so
long as you have the file.
_NOTE:_ If your hard drive already contains the autoexec.dos,
config.dos, io.dos, msdos.dos, and command.dos files, then you will
not need the floppy. You can check by typing: _dir __and__ dir /ah_ at
the root of Drive C. Also, if you installed the Upgrade version of
Windows 95, then it is likely that you have them.
B. The Loadlin.exe program file.
C. Your kernel image file, usually zImage or vmlinuz. (See the
FAQ for INFO).
D. A simple text editor, such as Notepad.
4. Getting Started:
A. Determine what version of Windows95 you have. Boot your
computer to Windows 95 and right click on the My Computer icon.
Now left click on Properties. On the General tab, look under
the "System:" line. There you will see the version number.
_NOTE:_ If you have Windows 95 version 4.00.950b, _make certain you
are __not__ using the FAT32 file system_. Double click the My Computer
icon, then right click the Drive C icon. Left click on Properties. On
the General tab, the "Type:" line will indicate whether or not you
have a FAT32 file system. _If you are using the FAT32 file system,
then go directly to _Section 9.Otherwise, continue with letter B.
B. Run the Windows Explorer file manager program.
C. On the Menu Bar, click on View, then click on Options. On
the View Tab, make sure that the "Show all files" radio button
is marked. Also, make sure that the line with "Hide MS-DOS file
extensions for file types that are registered" is unchecked.
Click on the OK button.
_NOTE:_ If your hard drive already contains the *.dos files mentioned
in the "NOTE:" of section 3A, then skip to the "NOTE:" between letters
F and G. Otherwise, continue with letter D.
D. Insert the DOS 5.0 or DOS 6.x bootable floppy into Drive A.
Click on the Drive A icon so you can see the contents on the
floppy disk.
E. Rename each file to a .dos file extension. You can do this
by single clicking on a file, pressing the F2 function key, and
typing in the new name. Do not worry if you need the bootable
floppy to work properly, just rename the files back after you
are finished with this procedure.
F. _EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:_ Make sure you rename the files on the
floppy _BEFORE_ you copy them to Drive C. Otherwise you will
overwrite your Windows 95 system files. _You have been warned_.
Now, copy all files to the root directory of Drive C. One
method is to click on the Drive A icon, press CTRL+A, press
CTRL+C, click on the Drive C icon, and press CTRL+V.
_NOTE:_ If you _do not_ have Windows 95 OSR2 (version 4.00.950b),
please skip Section G.
G. If (and only if) you have Windows95 version 4.00.950b, make
sure you have a file named Winboot.sys in the root directory of
Drive C, as stated in Section 3 above._Failure to have
Winboot.sys in the root directory of Drive C will result in a
system lockup should you attempt to boot to an earlier version
of DOS._
_NOTE:_ If you are using a DOS 6.x boot disk skip to section 5,
otherwise continue with letter H.
H. Open Notepad. On the Menu Bar, click on Open. Change "Files
of type" to "All files (*.*)". Change "Look in:" from Desktop
to Drive C. Now open Config.dos by double clicking on the
filename. Delete all the contents. This will create a 0K
file...I will explain later. Save the file.
I. Use Notepad to open and edit Autoexec.dos and type in the
Loadlin command. The Loadlin command must be in the following
syntax:
Loadlin DriveLetter:\LinuxKernelFile root=/dev/LinuxBootPartition ro
Here is my Autoexec.dos file as an example:
Loadlin f:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
_NOTE:_ The kernel, as well as the Loadlin.exe, file may be anywhere
on your hard drive as long as you reference the correct path. For
example, if your kernel file was located in the directory
e:\linux\kernels and Loadlin.exe was located in the directory
c:\utils, you would use:
c:\utils\loadlin e:\linux\kernels\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
Save the file.
_Please skip section 5 and go to _section 6_._
_________________________________________________________________
5. *** Use this section ONLY if you are using a DOS 6.x boot disk. ***
A. Open Notepad. On the Menu Bar, click on Open. Change "Files
of type" to "All files (*.*)". Change "Look in:" from Desktop
to Drive C. Now open Config.dos by double clicking on the
filename. Delete all the contents. Now, you will need to enter
the shell command with the following syntax:
shell=loadlin.exe LinuxKernelFile root=/dev/LinuxBootPartition ro
Here is my Config.dos file as an example:
shell=f:\loadlin.exe f:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
_NOTE:_ The loadlin and kernel file may be anywhere on your hard drive
as long as you reference the correct path. For example, if your
loadlin file was in the directory f:\utils and the kernel file was
located in the directory e:\linux\kernels you would use:
shell=f:\utils\loadlin.exe e:\linux\kernels\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
B. Save the file.
_________________________________________________________________
6. Almost Finished...
A. One last file to edit and then you are finished. Use Notepad
to open and edit Msdos.sys. Go to the [Options] section. Look
for a line that has BootMulti=. If you do not find one then add
it and set the value to 1. It should look something like:
[Options]
BootMulti=1
B. There may be other items listed. Just leave them. Now save
the file.
7. You are Finished!
Now all you have to do is reboot (Don't forget to remove the floppy
disk). When you see "Starting Windows 95...", press the F4 Function
Key and Linux should boot right up.
8. How It Works:
Windows 95 has a built in Boot Menu. By default you do not see it at
startup (although you can change that if you wish), but you can get to
it by pressing the F8 Function Key when you see "Starting Windows
95...". On the menu you will see several options. The last option is
"Previous version of MS-DOS". Instead of pressing F8 and then
selecting "Previous version of MS-DOS", you can use the F4 shortcut by
pressing F4 when "Starting Windows 95..." appears on the screen. When
Windows 95 boots to the previous version of MS-DOS, it uses the files
that end in the .dos file extension. This is why it is important to
have a 0K Config.dos file if you are initiating Linux from the
Autoexec.dos file. If Windows 95 does not find the files with a .dos
extension while trying to boot the previous operating system, it will
load the Windows 95 startup files. Therefore, if you do not have a
Config.dos file, Windows 95 will load all the drivers in your
Config.sys file. While this will not prevent Linux from loading, it
will take longer. Having a 0K Config.dos file prevents Windows 95 from
reading your Config.sys file while booting to the previous version of
MS-DOS.
9. Alternate Methods for Auto-Booting Linux, Especially for Users With a
FAT32 File System:
This section will work for all versions of Windows 95 to date,
regardless of whether you have a FAT32 file system. There are two
methods I will discuss in this section. First, I'll start with the
simplest.
Method 1
This method uses the Autoexec.bat file to call (or execute) another
batch file named Linux.bat, during boot up.
A. Creat a Linux.bat file using a simple text editor such as
EDIT or Notepad. The contents should be similar to the
following:
@echo off
cls
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
choice /t:y,5 "Do you wish to boot Linux? "
if errorlevel 2 goto End
c:\loadlin c:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
:End
This batch file script clears the screen, adds four blank
lines, displays the text in quotes + [Y,N], then waits 5
seconds for you to press a key. If you do not press a key
within 5 seconds, it defaults to Y and runs Linux. If you
select Y or N, the batch file determines what option you
selected, then executes the selected option. For example, if
you select 'N' then the batch file terminates and continues to
process your Autoexec.bat file, which loads Windows 95. If you
select Y, then of course Linux will load.
If you do not want four blank lines before the text, modify the
number of lines with _echo_. If you do not want the screen to
clear, then remove the line with _cls_. The _/t_ switch tells
the choice command to wait 5 seconds and, if no key is pressed,
to default to Y. Change the _y_ to an _n_ if you want Windows
95 to boot after the 5 second timeout: _choice /t:n,5_. Also,
you can change the amount of time to wait from 0 to 99 seconds.
For more information on the _choice_ command, change to the
c:\windows\command directory and type: _choice /?_ at the
command prompt.
_NOTE:_ You will have to modify the line that boots Linux to match
your configuration. Please see Section 4.I for examples of how to
configure Loadlin to boot to Linux.
B. Next, create an Autoexec.bat file (if you don't already have
one) with a simple text editor. Then, on the _first_ line, add
the following:
call c:\linux
If Linux.bat is in another directory you will have to reference
the correct path. For example if Linux.bat is in a directory
called C:\batch, you would add:
call c:\batch\linux
to the first line of your Autoexec.bat file. Save and exit the
file. Now all you need to do is reboot. You should be prompted
on whether you want to boot Linux.
Method 2
This method is a bit more involved, but offers the greatest
flexibility. What this method does it create your own custom boot
menu, though it does not replace the Windows 95 boot menu. You will
need a Config.sys and an Autoexec.bat file.
A. First you will need to define a Startup Menu in Config.sys
(my comments to you are in parenthesis):
[menu]
menuitem=Linux, Boot to Linux (This defines a Menu Block and gives it a descri
ption).
menuitem=Win95, Boot to Windows 95
menucolor=15,1 (This gives a blue background with bright white text)
menudefault=Linux, 15 (This sets the default menuitem and waits up to 15 secon
ds for input).
[linux]
shell=f:\loadlin.exe f:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro (Please see Section 5 for exa
mples and syntax).
[win95]
(Include the normal contents of your config.sys file here. If you did not have
a config.sys file before now, then leave this section blank).
Save and exit your Config.sys file. If you want, you can use
this Config.sys template to get started.
B. Next, edit your Autoexec.bat file (my comments to you are in
parenthesis):
goto %config%
:linux
(Leave this area blank. It's just here because it was defined in Config.sys).
:win95
(Include the normal contents of your autoexec.bat file here. If you did not hav
e
an autoexec.bat file before now, then leave this section blank).
Save and exit your Autoexec.bat file. If you want, you can use
this Autoexec.bat template to get started. That should do it.
The next time you reboot, you should get a Start Up menu with
the option to boot to Linux or Windows 95.
_________________________________________________________________
Frequently Asked Questions:
A. Q: Where can I find more information on using Loadlin?
_A:_ The Slackware 96 CD contains a file named loadlin.tgz in the
\slackware\A5 directory. Unarchive the file and look in the \docs
directory for a file named manual.txt. I do not know about earlier
versions of Slackware.
The RedHat 4.2 CD contains a file named loadlin16.tgz in the
\dosutils directory. Unarchive the file and look in the \docs
directory for a file named manual.txt. RedHat 4.1 does not seem to
have this archive. The manual.txt is also available for download at:
ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/p/praxis/manual.txt.
Additional info. is available at:
http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO-2.html#ss2.2
B. Q: I am not sure what partition Linux is installed on. How do I find
out?
_A:_ At a Linux shell prompt, run the fdisk utility and press "p".
From there you should be able to tell. If you need additional help
using fdisk, please consult the man pages.
C. Q: Where do I find the kernel image file and how do I copy it to my
MS-DOS partition?
_A:_ To find your linux kernel file type:
find / -name vmlinuz
at a Linux shell prompt. This will search all Linux partitions for
the vmlinuz file. If you have multiple vmlinuz files, then make sure
you use the correct one. If you are not sure, then the safest bet
would be to use the most recent one.
To copy your linux kernel file to your DOS partition, you need to
make your DOS partition visible to Linux, then mount the partition
if it is not already. Generally, this should have been set up when
you installed Linux. All you need to do next is change to the
directory the vmlinuz file is in and copy it over to DOS using the
cp command.
However, if Linux was not set up to recognize your DOS partition,
then copy vmlinuz to a floppy. Take any DOS formatted floppy (with
enough disk space to hold your kernel image file) and insert it into
your floppy drive. Type:
mount /dev/fd0 /tmp
at a Linux shell prompt. Then change to the directory your kernel
image file is in and type:
cp vmlinuz /tmp
This will copy vmlinuz to your floppy disk and it will be readable
by DOS. Shutdown Linux, boot to DOS, then copy vmlinuz to whichever
directory you choose. If you recompile your kernel, do not forget to
copy the new kernel image file to your DOS partition. This will
overwrite your old file, so it might be a good idea to rename the
old file first just in case the new one does not work properly.
D. Q: Does it matter if I install Linux or Windows 95 first?
_A:_ Technically no. However, it would be _much_ simpler to install
Win95 first. That way it is easier to setup Linux to recognize your
DOS partition(s) as you can usually do this during the Linux
installation..
E. Q: What if I already dual boot between Windows 95 and Windows 3.x, and I
want to boot to Linux using this method?
_A:_ Frankly, if you want to do this I would recommend using LILO.
However, if you really do not want to use LILO, you will have to
boot to Win 3.x first, then issue the Loadlin command. (Make sure
Windows 3.x is NOT running, but that you are in DOS 5.0 or 6.x).
F. Q: Is it possible to initiate Linux from the Windows 95 desktop?
_A:_ Yes. First create a batch file called linux.bat. For example,
edit the file to contain a Loadlin command such as:
loadlin f:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc2 ro
Now save the file in the \windows\desktop directory. Next, right
click on the Linux.bat icon, then left click on Properties. Now
click on the Program tab, then click on the Advanced button. Click
on the box next to MS-DOS mode and make sure the box next to "Warn
before entering MS-DOS mode is checked". Click OK, then click on OK
again. Now when you double click on the Linux icon, a warning box
will appear before going into MS-DOS mode. If you click on Yes, then
Windows enters MS-DOS mode and executes the Linux.bat file.
_NOTE:_ You must be in MS-DOS mode in order to use Loadlin. Please see
the manual.txt file mentioned in question A of this FAQ for more
information.
G. Q: Where do I get a plain text version of this document?
_A:_You can get a plain text version of this document at:
ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/p/praxis/loadlin.txt
_________________________________________________________________
Credits:
_A special thanks to Fred Harris and Norm Jacobowitz for helping me
sort out the Windows 95 OSR2 issues and for helping me improve this
mini-HOWTO._
_________________________________________________________________
Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
_Contact information:_
Chris Fischer
Protek Computer Solutions
protek@brigadoon.com or praxis@eskimo.com
_________________________________________________________________
Copyright � 1997 Protek Computer Solutions.