win2k (NTFS) + linux dual boot ?

[blakelock]

hello all,
I've got win2k server formatted as NTFS on the first partition of the first hard drive and SuSE 7.3 linux on a second hard drive. I'm thinking of installing lilo (or grub) on the MBR of the first hard drive to use as a boot manager. However, I seem to remember reading somewhere that if the MBR is changed in any way in an NTFS system, that partition will no longer boot (security reasons). Is this true? Can I install a boot manager like lilo or grub to the MBR safely even if it's formatted as NTFS?

[nomo_green]

i have win2k (ntfs) and redhat 7.2 (ext3) dual booting with grub on mbr. no probs. 2k was installed first then installed redhat, grub is nice, much better than lilo.

make sure you have a boot disk for 2k just in case.

i cannot mount ntfs partitions though, although i do believe i can recompile the kernel to get ntfs support so i can mount an ntfs drive.

:D

[blakelock]

thanks for the info. That convinces me that it's allright.

I'm able to view my ntfs partition with SuSE but I think that capability was included by default. There is a fs directory somewhere that has information on the supported filesystem types. I'm not sure if you need to recompile your kernel or if you can just recompile one module or just "enable" a certain file system support with the click of a mouse. Of course writing to an ntfs partition can cause severe problems.