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3. How to install: WINDOWS NT first, LINUX after

3.1 If you have only one IDE hard disk

• First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of Windows NT 4.0 on your hard disk. I suppose that you already made a backup of your important data, so the NT installation shouldn't be a problem. During the NT installation, setup is not going to ask you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be placed into the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your hard disk. But, there is a possibility for a previous content of the MBR to remain within the MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would suggest you (before installation of NT) to boot the computer with a DOS floppy diskette having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\ just enter the command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again (without that floppy).
• After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk (depending on what you decided during the setup process). So, it is advisable to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will install your Linux. After you have your NT configured and running, you have to boot your computer using a floppy diskette with Partition Magic utility by Power Quest. It is a graphical tool able to see all partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is that you can make some changes with your partitions but not to destroy your existing data. One of the available changes is to make your existing partition(s) smaller, so to get some free space on the disk(s) for other purposes. Although you are advised to make a backup before you make any changes to the partitions, I usually practice to 'shrink' NT's partition(s) before I install anything else onto this NT (so, if needed, a repetitive NT re-installation wouldn't be a problem). Well, Partition Magic (or any other similar utility you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's partition (either NTFS or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to either the beginning or to the end of the previous measure. It means that you may choose to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at the beginning or at the end of your disk (I usually choose NT to be at the beginning, so the ending part of the disk will become a 'free space'). After the 'shrinking' is finished, you may re-boot your NT in order to check the new situation: you may use Windows Explorer or Disk Administrator for that.
• As it was said in Introduction, it might not be needed always to use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that this tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been running Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from 'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice. But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-formatting the disk, it might be suitable to get a blank floppy diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it: FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at A:\ prompt enter fdisk. There you'll find several options that allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.
• So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation, Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I would suggest to install a Workstation at first. This is good because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the (first) hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format them properly, make majority of options by default so you won't have much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either add missing components or re-install RedHat Linux as Custom over the existing linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR.
• Don't forget to make Linux boot floppy diskette. You'll never know when you may need it. If something goes wrong with the MBR, and you don't have boot floppy, your Linux might become not accessible, so you might have to re-install it again.
• After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with only one entry to boot: Linux (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in case your hardware is multi-processor one or so). But, don't panic! Your Windows NT is still there - where you had installed it before Linux. You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as possible, in order to be able to find and edit your new /etc/lilo.conf file. When you open this file for the first time, you'll see that there is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you should know the exact position (read: a partition) where Windows NT has been installed, so you could add an appropriate entry into /etc/lilo.conf file. After you make those changes, restart Lilo with a command: /sbin/lilo and, after the next re-boot, you will have both 'linux' and 'nt' (or 'dos' or similar) entries under Lilo menu.
• My added NT entry is:

        other=/dev/hda1
        label=nt
  

  So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:

        boot=/dev/hda
        timeout=50
        prompt
            default=linux
            vga=normal
            read-only
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
            label=linux
            root=/dev/hda3
        other=/dev/hda1
            label=nt
  

• Some more explanations regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf file: After I have installed Windows NT, I assigned the letter C: to that drive. Beside that, I wanted to have another NTFS partition in order to store and backup important files, case I have to re-install NT on C: for some reason in the future. That's why I've made another NT partition, that has been assigned as D: disk. Both NTFS partitions are approximatelly 3 GB each and Linux setup found them as /dev/hda1 and /dev/hda2 partitions. The rest free space on the disk was cca. 2 GB, where I have made the /root partition of near 1.9 GB and /swap part of cca. 100 MB (/dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4 respectively). Lilo went to the MBR and all has been running fine.

  For your information, I wanted to make these linux partitions that time. Later, I found that it was not needed, so now I let Linux setup to make partitions from the free space in a way it likes to do that. I trust it :-)

3.2 If you have more than one (SCSI) hard disk

Notice: Folks, you see, at my place, one of computers has several SCSI disks. That's why I put the word 'SCSI' in parentheses. There I have a couple of SCSI controllers, a SCSI CD ROM drive and a SCSI Tape drive. That doesn't mean that *you* will be using SCSI parts at all. You'd rather handle more than one IDE disks, but I hope that install process shouldn't change too much, if any.

• First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of Windows NT 4.0 on your first hard disk. I suppose that you already made a backup of your important data, so the NT installation shouldn't be a problem. You can easily copy your data on your second hard disk or so. During the NT installation, setup is not going to ask you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be placed into the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your first hard disk. But, there is a possibility for a previous content of the MBR to remain within the MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would suggest you (before installation of NT) to boot the computer with a DOS floppy diskette having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\ just enter the command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again (without that floppy). If you want to be sure about your machine is 'clean', you may also delete any existing partition(s) on your other disks, during the Windows NT Setup in case you have *not* made any backup on other disks.
• After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk (depending on what you decided during the setup process). So, it is advisable to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will install your Linux. Well, you may also think of using other disk(s) you have for Linux (so did I). That case, you would start your linux installation and tried to use, for example, /dev/sdb (or sdc, or sdd, or else in case of SCSI system) or /dev/hdb (or hdc, or hdd, or else in case of IDE system). Looked that Linux installation accepted whatever I chose, but somehow after all was finished, when I did that, LILO was not able to do anything. Actually, it always stopped after 'LI' so it was not possible to start Linux at all. Finally, after pulling my hair out, I decided to make it all on the first disk. So, after I had NT configured and running, I had to boot my computer using a floppy diskette with Partition Magic utility by Power Quest. It is a graphical tool able to see all partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is that you can make some changes with your partitions but not to destroy your existing data. One of the available changes is to make your existing partition(s) smaller, so you can get some free space on the disk(s) for other purposes. Although you are advised to make a backup before you make any changes with your partitions, I usually practice to 'shrink' NT's partition before I install anything but NT itself (so, if needed, a repetitive re-installation wouldn't be a problem). Well, Partition Magic (or any other similar utility you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's partition (either NTFS or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to either the beginning or to the end of the previous measure. It means that you may choose to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at the beginning or at the end of your disk. I usually choose NT to be at the beginning, so the ending part of the disk will become a 'free space'. I discovered some problems if the 'free space' is made at the beginning of disk (later we'll talk about). So, after the 'shrinking' is finished, you may re-boot your NT in order to check the new situation: you may use Windows Explorer or Disk Administrator for that. You will also note how NT can 'see' all (other) disks you have in your machine (either partitioned or as 'free space' areas).
• Once again, as it was said earlier, it might not be needed always to use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that this tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been running Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from 'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice. But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-formatting the disk(s), it might be suitable to get a blank floppy diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it: FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at A:\ prompt enter fdisk. There you'll find several options that allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.
• So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation, Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I would suggest to install a Workstation at first. This is good because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the first hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format them properly, make majority of options by default so you won't have much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either add missing components or re-install Linux as Custom over the existing linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR of your first disk.
• After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with one Linux entry to boot (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in case your hardware is multi-processor one). But, don't panic! Your Windows NT is still there where you had installed it before Linux. You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as possible, in order to be able to find and edit your new /etc/lilo.conf file. When you open this file for the first time, you'll see that there is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you should know the exact position (read: a partition) where Windows NT has been installed, so you could add an appropriate entry into /etc/lilo.conf file. After you do that, restart Lilo and, after the next re-boot, you will have both 'linux' and 'nt' entries under Lilo menu.
• My added NT entry is:

        other=/dev/sda1
        label=nt
  

  So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:

        boot=/dev/sda
        map=/boot/map
        install=/boot/boot.b
        prompt
        timeout=50
        default=linux
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20smp
            label=linux-mp
            initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20smp.img
            read-only
            root=/dev/sda6
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
            label=linux-up
            initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
            read-only
            root=/dev/sda6
        other=/dev/hda1
            label=nt
  

• Some more explanation, regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf file: After I have installed Windows NT on the first disk, I assigned the letter C: to that drive. After I made enough free space after the NTFS partition, I let Linux setup to handle further partitioning. Although Linux should support as far as four primary partitions per disk, it seems that Linux setup is likely to make an extended partition, whenever it recognizes that there is already a primary partition on the disk. Considering that those 'virtual' primary partitions would be numbered from /dev/sda1 to /dev/sda4 (including an extended one, of course), the extended one should become /dev/sda4. Following that idea, the first one logical partition within the extended one was numbered as /dev/sda5 (in my case, it was the /boot partition that physically was the first from the beginning of the first hard disk). So, the /root and /swap partitions are /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 respectively. You may see a line "root=/dev/sda6" telling you that. Once again, Lilo went to the MBR and all has been running fine.
• Well, you may ask me: OK, but what in a case I have several hard disks installed in the machine? Good question. You see, I myself have four SCSI disks and, of course, I tried to install Linux on the 2nd one, next the 3rd and, finally, on the 4th disk. Whatever I did (Linux setup haven't complained at all), when I was about to finish the installation and after performing the final automatic re-boot, my Lilo would stop after 'LI' so the computer had to be re-started. Finally, I realized that there must be a problem with disks that are too "far" from the MBR that is located at the beginning of the first hard disk. That's why I suggest you to make them all (both NT and Linux) on your first disk. After having all of them running OK, there is no problem to make other disks visible (and usable) by both operating system. I hope your first disk is large enough to carry both operating systems (NT needs at least cca. 150 MB for itself, Linux depends on what you want to get: Gnome or KDE Workstations are about 580 MB, but the Custom wants more than 1.4 GB). That means the first hard disk of cca. 2.4 GB should fit.
• You may also ask me: OK, but, could I 'shrink' my NT partition in a way the 'free space' is made at the beginning of the disk? Well, I remember I tried to do so and to install, at first, Gnome Workstation (395 packages, 570 MB) there. During the setup, everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not installed, nor the boot floppy was made. You bet, Linux was not functional. Then I tried to install KDE Workstation (377 packages, 582 MB) on the same place. Once again, everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not installed, nor the boot floppy was made. Investigating that, I studied the structure of all existing partitions. I was surprised when recognized that new born logical partitions (within the new born extended one) were numbered as if they were physically positioned after the NT partition! In the other words, there I have got a 'funny' order: /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, /dev/sda7 and, finally, /dev/sda1. Looked like the system was a bit confused. So I considered that it is advisable to make the 'free space' after already existing NT partition(s).
• Regarding two similar Linux images (differ in 'smp'). It is a server hardware with a multi-processor support. The "intelligent" setup has inspected the hardware and offered me to have both 'multi' and 'uni' processor functionality. Nevertheless, I still have only one CPU there.