Dual-boot Windows XP and FreeBSD using gpart

I know Windows XP will not boot from GPT, but can I have my FreeBSD slice partitioned using gpart and still be able to dual-boot Windows and FreeBSD? If I can, would I still use the FreeBSD boot loader like I am using now or would I have to use GRUB/GRUB2/Windows boot loader?
 
ahavatar said:
As far as I know, you can't mix MBR and GPT on the same hard disk. XP is MBR only.
That is what I thought. I did not expect to be able to boot from a GPT partition but with support for MBR I was hoping to be able to keep my Windows and use a boot-loader to start either system. Anyway, I decided to wipe Windows from my system and dive into FreeBSD-CURRENT and have it as the only OS on that computer. If I truly need Windows then I will just have to max out the RAM (4GB) and buy Windows 7, then install FreeBSD AMD64 and learn ZFS.
 
troberts said:
I know Windows XP will not boot from GPT, but can I have my FreeBSD slice partitioned using gpart and still be able to dual-boot Windows and FreeBSD? If I can, would I still use the FreeBSD boot loader like I am using now or would I have to use GRUB/GRUB2/Windows boot loader?

You can use gpart tool to create MBR, slices, and use boot0 loader to boot both WindowsXP and FreeBSD.
Not sure if that's what your asking for.
 
bbzz said:
You can use gpart tool to create MBR, slices, and use boot0 loader to boot both WindowsXP and FreeBSD.
Not sure if that's what your asking for.
I was running Windows and FreeBSD8-STABLE without a problem but after I saw the du command get mentioned I used it to look at my system and decided to reinstall with a different filesystem layout. Since I could not use fdisk/bsdlabel to create all the partitions I wanted on one slice, I either had to create two, or use gpart. I decided it would be easier to use gpart which is why I posted my question. Windows came with the computer and I only kept it as a fallback option, but now it is gone.
 
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