I am attempting to make this as simple as possible considering it is. One of my friends asked me at work if I could create a Dual boot system for him. I said no promblem. So I decided to write a tutorial on how I did this step by step. I am going to be using a new PC with no Operating System installed it. For this demostration I will be using Windows 2000 Professional and Red Hat Linux 9.0. This is a two part set.

First thing you want do is boot the PC into the BIOS. You can do this by hitting F1, F2, DEL key. Once your in side the BIOS, Change the First Boot Device to CDROM. You can usually find this under the BOOT option at the 'top'. This tells the system to boot from the CD drive before trying to boot from the Floppy, hard drive etc... heres how it was setup:

[list=1][*] First Boot Device: CDROM[*]Second Boot Device: Floppy[*]Third Boot Device: HDD-1[*]Fourth Boot Decice: Removable Devices[*]Boot Other Device: Enabled [/list=1]

Once the changes have been made make sure to save the changes and exit. Now insert the Windows 2000 Professional CD and reboot the computer. Since we made changes to the BIOS you will see this message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' when you see this message hit "any" key. The system will now load off the CD. You will see Setup is Loading Files (all these files) then You will see a Non GUI (Graphical User Interface) Welcome to Setup screen. Follow the prompts until you get to the partition part. Now here you tell Windows 2000 how you want configure the disk you have 3 different options:

[list=1][*]Start Windows 2000 Professional by pressing enter.[*]Repair Windows 2000 by pressing R.[*]To quit installing Windows 2000 Professional press F3 to quit. [/list=1]

Press the enter Key to start Windows 2000. Next screen you will see the EULA (End User License Agreement) press F8 to agree to it. Now you will see where you are going to put Windows 2000 on. Select "unpartitioned" then press enter. Now it will prompt you to Format the following partition either by using FAT file system or NTFS File System. choose NTFS File System. Why you ask? Cause its a lot more secure than FAT File System. After you choose NTFS, press enter. Windows will now start the Format Process after the format process comes copying files process. Depending on the size of your hard drive this can be time consuming. from this point its ok to leave the computer for 20 - 30 miutes. Unless you want to watch the format process. When its done the system will reboot itself and here it will finish installing Windows 2000 devices like keyboards, mouse, applications etc... Finally it will load into the GUI screen, 'Regional and Language,' options just hit next at the bottom. Now you will see a form field prompt to create a name and organization fill out the fields and click next. Next you will see the 5 boxes to enter your 25 digit product key code enter your 25 digit key code
press next when done, here it will finish creating the name you made but you also must rename the computer yourself or have Windows suggest a computer name for your system. Then at the bottom you must type an an Administrator password when you need full access to your system. Click next when done. Here it will "display time and settings," adjust the proper settings depending on your time zone. Click next when done. Now it will start installing Network componets, when it done it begins "Performing the final task," after 20 - 30 minutes of the final process you must create a username(s) of who will use the system. The computer will reboot and Windows is now completely installed from scratch.

Part 2 Installing Linux Red Hat 9.0

Since we already have Windows 2000 installed now we need to setup a second partition for Linux Red Hat 9.0 to use. If your at the desktop insert the Linux Red Hat Installation cd 1 in the CDROM drive then restart your computer you will see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' once you do this it will run the CD. When done you will see three choices install Linux:

[list=1][*] GUI [*] Linux text [*] Linux rescue [/list=1]

at the console type: linux text press enter. When Linux is done loading it will take you to a "Welcome to Red Hat Linux," screen here you cannot use your mouse you have to switch between the elements using your "alt" and "tab" key. Hit OK button. Next you will select language, keyboard, mouse after you do this click OK. After you hit OK RedHat Linux will search for previous installation versions on your hard drive when done it will ask "What type of system would you like to install?" Four options, Desktop, servers, workstation, custom I choose desktop for my friend since thats what he wanted. But you choose your personal setting you wish. Hit OK when done. Now youwill see Dish Partitioning Setup you will see three different options: Autopartiton, disk druid, and back Select disk druid then hit OK. Now you will see The Auto Partition Table. Choose free space from the table, then hit edit button at the bottom. A box will be prompted that says "add new partition" Under mount point type / or /dev/hda2 Choose file system ext3 hit OK. Now it should prompt for "turn on swap space immediately," hit OK. Now it will prompt you for a boot loader you can either choose GRUB or LILO or no boot loader at all. Choose LILO. Next is "Boot Loader Configuration" if you have to pass options to the kernel now is the time to this. Hit OK when done. Now you will see:

boot label: dos device: /dev/hda1

boot label:Linux device:/dev/hda2


Choose Linux as default. Pressing F2 will make it default. Hit OK. Now you have to select which
one gets the boot loader /dev/hda Master Boot record. (MBR)/dev/hda1 First sector of boot partition.
Choose Master Boot record. The MBR is a special area on your hard drive that is automatically loaded by your computers BIOS, and is the earliest point at which the boot loader can take control of the boot process.
After you Choose Master Boot record. If your on Broadband like me ETH0 should come up to be configured (if you don't have an ethernet card don't worry about it) cause you wont see it. Make your settings if you need to then hit OK when done. Here it will ask for "firewall configuration," choose one out of the 3 settings for security level:
high, medium, no firewall I choose mine in medium then I hit OK. Next you will see "Language Settings," select your country hit OK. Here is where you select your "Time Zone" hit OK when done. Next it will display the Root Password prompt you need a root password for full access to your Linux box. Type it in and hit OK. Linux will start the installation of packages where this allows you to customize the selected applications, or you can choose default installation packages which is all applications. I choosed all applications then I hit OK. Next you will see a screen that says "installation to begin" you can check out a full detail report of the installation at /root/install.log hit OK. Next you will see the format file system will format when done applications will be installed. After complete installation you will be prompted at the main screen asking to enter root password to enter desktop or you can reboot the PC. If you choose to reboot PC BIOS will load then you will see select an option "Linux Red Hat or DOS" select your option and boot into that operating system you want to run. This concludes make tutorial on how to create a dual boot system from scratch. Heres a pic to prove this works Hope this helps, Computernerd22