Project: Lappy - Part 2 of 3

In Part 1, Windows was installed on the primary partition and this meant the MBR was occupied by the Windows Bootloader. This effectively means only Windows loads at startup.

So how do we get Kubuntu to load instead? The answer is dual boot! This is where you configure the system so that either of the operating systems can be selected upon startup.

Part 2 - Seting up Dual Boot

There are three possible configurations in setting this up:

1. make Kubuntu bootable using the Windows Bootloader
   
2. make Windows bootable using GRUB (Kubuntu's Bootloader)
   
3. make Windows and Kubuntu bootable using a 3rd party Bootloader

Option 1 requires the boot sector data from the Kubuntu partition to be copied to a file the Windows bootloader can use for booting Kubuntu.

Option 2 requires simple editing of a configuration file on Kubuntu.

Option 3 ... well, I never went any further than the 2nd option.

With the aid of the Super GRUB Disk (SGD) I restored GRUB (Kubuntu's bootloader) by installing GRUB's IPL to MBR.

Now only Kubuntu loads at startup.

Then I edited /boot/grub/menu.lst to include an entry for the option of loading Windows. This entry has to be made after the divider at the bottom of the automagic kernels list ie after this line,
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST.

# This entry manually added by me for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

After saving the changes and rebooting, I was now presented with the option of loading Kubuntu or Windows XP at startup.

I found the resources at the Illustrated Dual Boot Site to be invaluable and highly recommend this to anyone who is considering on setting up a dual boot Linux and Windows system or if you simply need help with Linux bootloaders.