Syslinux - Dec 2005 - Any way to boot Windows NT (specifically Win2K) directly?

I decided to install Win2K on my "retrogaming/htpc" system to take
advantage of the dual processors in the thing when I'm multitasking a
lot, but, it's kind of annoying having to use first one bootloader to
chainload my Windows 98 partition, then, via NTLDR, selection Windows
2000 to get to Win2k.  I tried using the recovery console to try to
force it to write a boot sector to that partition, then chainloading
it, but, the chainloader just informs me the partition doesn't exist. 
Obviously it doesn't help that the Win2k partition not only passes
that 1024 boundary, but, is on a logical partition and everything (I
wanted to use FAT32 so I could get to that partition thanks to free
space concerns.  I won't be running any servers on there anyway and I
doubt I'll ever forward any non-lan ports it's way, so I'm not too
worried about file system security issues.)  Specifically, it's on
hda8 in linux terms.

Since the chainloader doesn't seem to accept this for whatever reason,
I'm wondering if there isn't a better way anyway.  It occurs to me to
wonder if there isn't some means to directly boot a NT windows.  Say,
perhaps some way you can boot a binary file as if it were a kernel?  I
don't like having to rely on NTLDR (if it gets messed up, I have to
drag out my old win2k disc to make repairs -- assuming I can find it,)
and I think it's silly having multiple bootloaders in a row anyway.

BTW, I've switched from syslinux to extlinux just now if it has any
significance.  Somehow the hidden fat16 partition I used for syslinux
got currupted so badly I had to wipe it out and I decided I may just
as well use extlinux while I'm at it since I have to use a linux
rescue disc to make modifications anyway.  I'm kind of hoping it will
be less likely to get currupted too.  As far as I know extlinux has
every bit of functionality syslinux has, it just works on a different
filesystem.  I can still switch back if need be easily enough as I
haven't done much with it yet.

Nazo schreef:
> Since the chainloader doesn't seem to accept this for whatever reason,
> I'm wondering if there isn't a better way anyway.  It occurs to me
to
> wonder if there isn't some means to directly boot a NT windows.  Say,
> perhaps some way you can boot a binary file as if it were a kernel?  I
> don't like having to rely on NTLDR (if it gets messed up, I have to
> drag out my old win2k disc to make repairs -- assuming I can find it,)
> and I think it's silly having multiple bootloaders in a row anyway.
>   
there's no direct way. You could try FreeLoader (FreeLDR), from the 
ReactOS project.
If I remember correctly it has been modified to not only support booting 
ReactOS,  but also boot Windows.


-- 
Efficiency is intelligent lazyness

Nazo wrote:
> I decided to install Win2K on my "retrogaming/htpc" system to
take
> advantage of the dual processors in the thing when I'm multitasking a
> lot, but, it's kind of annoying having to use first one bootloader to
> chainload my Windows 98 partition, then, via NTLDR, selection Windows
> 2000 to get to Win2k.  I tried using the recovery console to try to
> force it to write a boot sector to that partition, then chainloading
> it, but, the chainloader just informs me the partition doesn't exist. 
> Obviously it doesn't help that the Win2k partition not only passes
> that 1024 boundary, but, is on a logical partition and everything (I
> wanted to use FAT32 so I could get to that partition thanks to free
> space concerns.  I won't be running any servers on there anyway and I
> doubt I'll ever forward any non-lan ports it's way, so I'm not
too
> worried about file system security issues.)  Specifically, it's on
> hda8 in linux terms.
> 
> Since the chainloader doesn't seem to accept this for whatever reason,
> I'm wondering if there isn't a better way anyway.  It occurs to me
to
> wonder if there isn't some means to directly boot a NT windows.  Say,
> perhaps some way you can boot a binary file as if it were a kernel?  I
> don't like having to rely on NTLDR (if it gets messed up, I have to
> drag out my old win2k disc to make repairs -- assuming I can find it,)
> and I think it's silly having multiple bootloaders in a row anyway.
> 
What do you mean it doesn't seem to accept it?  There might be a bug 
with using the chainloader on logical partitions, but it's supposed to work.

	-hpa