Problem is very simple

I have a hard disk partitioned:

PRIMARY Windows XP .../sda1
LOGICAL Extended:
-Linux .../sda5
-Linux Swap .../sda6
-Linux Extended .../sda7
-NTFS Data /sda8

So in the partition manager i set .../sda5 bootable.

Then i used the manual installer and set knoppmyth to install on .../sda5 and LILO in MBR No problem, but while the install is in progress. Something about /dev/hda3 not able to mount appears, but installation continues anyways. Finishes with succes.

But when I reboot following message appears:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

How can I make this work or do I absolutely need a Microsoft-free harddrive to make knoppmyth install successfully?

Are you just experimenting with Knoppmyth or are you planning on using it for a dedicated machine? If you are using it for a dedicated km machine, then wipe the drive and start from scratch.

If you are getting an error about /dev/hda3 not being able to be mounted and you are installing to an sata drive, then you may want to check the boot loader config to be sure it's pointing to the right partition.

I'm not sure but there may also be an issue with booting off a non-primary partition (you can have 3) and it looks like yours is on a logical partition.

You can multiboot, however there is no support for this as the idea is a dedicated box. There are several post on the forum on how to do this... Please search.

Hi,

To save a lot of grief, use gparted live cd and resize the windows ntfs partition to give yourself ~6 gig of space. Install ubuntu into that partition. Once that is done, you can add the windows boot partition and the myth partitions so they are a menu selection at boot time. Unless you have a "need" for windows don't waste the space.

To get myth to boot at this stage, you would have to jump through some hoops, edit lilo.conf and reinstall it. There are a few posts on the topic.

You left out a lot of details.

Mike