Best directions for dual-booting with Vista?

[Derek Broughton]

D. R. Evans wrote:

>> Me too, me too (I absolutely refuse to post just to say "Me too").
> 
> The problem with any virtualization solution (apart from the issue of a
> possible inability to access hardware, which probably is unlikely to
> affect me) is that I would have to use the pre-installed Vista as the host
> OS. Right there, that's enough for me not to consider it any more.

Actually, probably no.  If you have to use a pre-installed OS, it's probably
an OEM version and can't be run in a virtual machine.
 
> If the computer had shipped with real Vista CDs, I probably would have
> tried a virtualization solution, but since I have only those silly
> "restore" discs, I wouldn't be able to have Kubuntu be the host OS and
> Vista the guest.

Computers never ship with "real Vista [or any other Windows] CDs" these
days.  If you get CDs, they'll still be OEM-licensed - which means they
test the hardware, and you can't even run it on a machine where you've
upgraded the motherboard. 
...

> 1. Using knoppix to save the MBR
> 2. Repartitioning
> 3. Installing the distro
> 4. Restoring the saved MBR
> 5. Editing a Windows file called boot.ini
> 
> One mis-step and one easily ended up with a box that could no longer boot

It's never that hard - and never was, imo, and I've been dual-booting since
the 90s.  Repartitioning could be awkward if you wanted to save an existing
Windows, but for a clean install it's:

- partition
- install Windows on partition 1
- install other OS on partition X
- if it doesn't cleanly build a Grub boot config, start with a live CD and
run "grub-install" (but that isn't necessary on any simple configuration)

Even when I installed Corel Linux 1.0, it was able to detect a Windows
partition and install LILO with the correct options.  Your option (5) above
indicates you were using the NT boot loader, which is just asking for
trouble (btw, afaict, you can't edit boot.ini anymore unless you have
the "Professional" edition of Vista)
-- 
derek