Windows XP and Linux

[Sal_Minella]

I am going to be installing the Mandrake 8.1 distro this week and running a dual boot configuration. I will also be upgrading to XP (this is evil, I know but ME is killing me) on the Windows side, so my questions are:

1) What are the potential problems of performing the windows upgrade after I install Linux?
2) Should I wait to install Linux after the upgrade?
3) Are there any known conflicts between XP and Linux which would prohibit this configuration? :confused:

[Sweede]

install XP first, then install Linux. do NOT WRITE LILO TO THE MASTER BOOT RECORD ! (/dev/hda)

write lilo to the root partition of your linux install (say, /dev/hda5)

THEN, edit the lilo.conf and make the BOOT and ROOT optoins the same
boot = /dev/hda5
root = /dev/hda5

run lilo

Now, type
dd if=/dev/hda5 of=/bootsect.lnx count=1 bs=512

that will make a file named bootsect.lnx
copy that file to a floppy that windows can read (a fat12 formated floppy, you need to figure that part out yourself)

then boot into Windows XP (MNAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LINUX BOOT DISK AND YOU DID NOT WRITE LILO TO THE MBR )

copy the bootsect.lnx file to the C:\ drive

edit the c:\boot.ini and add..

C:\bootsect.lnx = "Linux 0wnZ j00 !"

or whatever

there MUST be a empty line after the last one.

reboot windows and you should see the XP bootup screen and have an option of XP and Linux.