Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition
by Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, Stephen Figgins
LILO: The Linux Loader
Once you’ve made the decision to install LILO, you still need to decide how it should be configured. If you want your system to dual boot Linux and Windows 95/98, you can install LILO on the master boot record (MBR) and set it up to let you select the system to boot. Dual booting Linux and Windows NT is not quite as straightforward, because Windows NT has its own loader on the MBR, and it expects to be the one in charge. Therefore, you need to make Linux an option in the NT loader and install LILO in the Linux partition as a secondary boot loader. The result is that the Windows NT loader transfers control to LILO, which then boots Linux. The same applies to Windows 2000, which uses the NT loader. See Section 4.4 later in this chapter for more information.
In addition to booting Linux, LILO can boot other operating systems, such as MS-DOS, Windows 95/98, or OS/2. During installation, the major Linux distributions provide the opportunity to install LILO; it can also be installed later if necessary. LILO can be installed on the master boot record (MBR) of your hard drive or as a secondary boot loader on the Linux partition. LILO consists of several pieces, including the boot loader itself, a configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf), a map file (/boot/map) containing the location of the kernel, and the lilo command (/sbin/lilo), which reads the configuration file and uses the information to create or update the map file and to install the files LILO needs.
If LILO ...
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