LILO loader from NT bootmenu

Description

This programme searches all primary partitions of all harddisks available, according to the PC BIOS, for LILO. If LILO is found, it loads and starts it. It only looks in partitions of the type 0x05, 0x0f, 0x83, and 0x85. Type 0x83 means "Linux native", the other types are used for extended partitions. Starting with version 1.8, this programme also searches the boot sectors of the logical partitions for a LILO signature.

BEWARE: this programme only works with partitions that start on a cylinder below 1024!

It is intended to be used to boot LILO through the boot menu of Windows NT. You just have to make sure to install LILO in the boot sector of a random partition, and not in the MBR of the harddisk.

The search order is: harddisk 1 - partition 1 through 4, then harddisk 2 - partition 1 through 4, and so on.

The advantage

After installing this programme in your NT bootmenu, you never have to change anything about it again. You can move LILO to any partition (starting below cylinder 1024) on any harddisk you want, this programme will find it.

Building the programme

Build the programme by typing make, it shouldn't be necessary to edit the Makefile. The resulting programme is called liloload.b. Normally you won't need Makefile-debug. You will need gcc and the bin86 utilities though.

You can use the prebuilt binary, called bootsect.lnx, as well.

This programme is placed under the GPL, see the file COPYING in the archive for details.

Usage

To use this in the boot menu of Windows NT, follow these steps:

Take liloload.b or the prebuilt bootsect.lnx and name it C:\BOOTSECT.LNX in Windows NT. Make it at least a read-only system file.
Edit C:\BOOT.INI and add the following line at the bottom of section [operating systems]:
```
	C:\BOOTSECT.LNX="Linux"
	
```

Download

You can download the LILO loader on these places:

Via HTTP: liloload-1.8.tar.gz on this site.

You can download the bin86 utilities on these places:

Via HTTP: bin86-0.4.tar.gz on this site.
Via FTP: bin86-0.4.tar.gz on tsx-11.mit.edu.

Contact information

If you find bugs, or want to comment on the programme, I can be reached via e-mail.