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Thread ID: 21228	2002-06-20 23:45:00	LILO and moved partitions	Shroeder (492)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
55616	2002-06-20 23:45:00	I am about to change some partitions on my dual boot machine (shrinking windoze and enlarging linux) using parted. I originally loaded Redhat 7.3 and let it install LILO as my boot manager. As I am going to be changing where my ext2 partitions start do I need to make any changes to LILO or will the LILO that came with RH7.3 automatically find the altered partition (the partition number hda6, I think, will not alter) ?:| If I do need to change LILO, how do I do this (from the basic boot disk I have made to use parted) TIA	Shroeder (492)
55617	2002-06-21 04:40:00	Ummm . This is something I have not tried . I tend to install and leave alone . But you have backed up, and you should be OK . You are right, the Linux partitions are recognised by their names . But, LILO is fussy . If the kernel has moved, as is likely, you MUST run the lilo (lowercase) programme so that it knows where to find the kernel, etc . The tricky part is how to run lilo . You probably won't be to do a normal LILO boot after you have done the deed . How did you make your parted boot disk? If it is not the "same" as your RedHat 7 . 3, it bight be a bit dangerous . I'd suggest a rescue floppy made by your running system . (Or the bootable installation CD, if it has a "rescue" startup mode) . Your rescue floppy might not have /dev/hdaX as "/", so you might have troubles . It *is* possible, but the details are fiddly . I think one command is "chroot" , do a "man" on it . But I'm pretty sure you can do it with lilo options . Do a "man lilo" to see all the options . . . and make a *legible* copy of the ones you need . What might be a simpler way is my standard *non rescue* floppy . You can make one by: (1) locate your kernel . It will be in "/boot" , these days . . . It will be the approximately 500kB file, and might even be called something recongisable . It might be called bzImage . Whatever . (2) "cd /boot" . Then "dd if=whatever_the_kernel_is_called of=/dev/fd0 bs=72k" . Of course, have a good, formatted (DOS) floppy in the drive . Wait for the drive to stop . This disk is now bootable, and should know about your /dev/hda6 . (3) Test it . Shutdown . Start up with the floppy in the drive . That should behave like a "normal" boot, *except* that it has not gone through LILO . If it works now, it will *probably* work after the repartitioning . Good luck .	Graham L (2)
55618	2002-06-21 04:50:00	Thanks Graham I'll give it a go and report back Yes, I have backed up all important stuff ;)	Shroeder (492)
55619	2002-06-23 21:47:00	Hi again Graham. Well I did my changes on the weekend and happily for me, LILO recognised the changes automatically (I suspect because I made sure the partition numbers did not change). Out of interest, I didn't manage to find the file you suggested?? to make a *non-rescue* boot, but as I was using a boot disk with *parted* I knew I could always get back in and access LILO to make changes anyway... BTW, I must say that *parted* was easy to use and makes for a great non-destructive partitioning tool. I didn't even have to do a defrag on my windows partition as *parted* automatically moves any data that needs moving :^) Thanks for your hep again Shroeder	Shroeder (492)
55620	2002-06-24 04:44:00	Nice to hear that it worked. How does it feel to live dangerously --- and survive? Parted should be good ... it's from GNU, who made most to the basic stuff which made Linux possible. Linux is actually only the kernel . I'm surprised you couldn't find the kernel in /boot. Try the "file *" command in that directory. It should describe one as "compressed " and might even say that it's self-extracting, possibly that it is the kernel. It is the biggest file there. The name : vmlinuz, bzImage, zImage etc, depends on what it was called in the Makefile when it was created, and which compression utility was used on it. Of course, I should have told you to have a look at /etc/lilo.conf : that has the name and path in it. That's how LILO knows what to load.	Graham L (2)
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