From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org Received: from sender1.zohomail.com ([72.5.230.95]:51789 "EHLO sender1.zohomail.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753426Ab3A1Ufe (ORCPT ); Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:35:34 -0500 Message-ID: <5106E09D.5010708@zoho.com> Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:33:33 +0100 From: =?UTF-8?B?w4FuZ2VsIEdvbnrDoWxleg==?= MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Ulf Zibis CC: util-linux@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: sfdisk man page bug References: <51068D38.3040708@gmx.de> In-Reply-To: <51068D38.3040708@gmx.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On 28/01/13 15:37, Ulf Zibis wrote: > Hi, > > from the Manual page sfdisk(8): > "... For example, when there are several primary DOS partitions, DOS > assigns C: to the first among these that is bootable.)" > > This seems to be wrong. I'm not 100 % sure about DOS, but about modern > Windows, above statement is definitely wrong. Correct is: > "... Windows/DOS assigns C: to the first among these that is visible > (=not hidden).)" > "... Windows/DOS typical generic MBR boot code loads and executes the > bootloader found on the first among these that is bootable.)" > > to be sure, I tested following: > - having old WinXP installation on sda1, labelled "WIN_OLD" > - copy this partition by GParted to sda2 > - newly install WinXP on sda1, labelled "WIN_NEW" > - set sda2 to active > - boot > --> result: > 1. in effect, WinXP from sda1 becomes booted > 2. sda1 is named C:, cd1 is named D:, "bootable" sda2 is named E: > > As today Windows is the more interesting use case, at least please add > correct info for the Windows case. > > Many thanks for your attention and hopefully answer, > > -Ulf Well, DOS assigns drive letters only to partitions it can read (although obvious, this is not explained in the main page). When a partition is hidden, it appears as having a different type, so it's skipped and thus not taken into account. In the Windows NT family (ie. all modern windows versions) it is possible to assign fixed letters to a drive, so you no longer get the letter-dancing that happened before.