As far as Linux ands XP cohabiting on the same disk, I have been doing just that for about 6 or 7 years. There's really no trick involved, it's a matter of following a procedure thart delivers what you want.
Here's my working model, a simple one hard-drive configuration:
Make sure the drive is bight enough. I wouldn't recommend anything smaller than 60 Gigabytes, preferably more.
The first thing you should do is decide how to partition up the disk. The following scheme I have used is based on the ideas that (1) There will be one partition for Windows, and roughly 3 for a simple home desktop Linux installation, and (2) the bootloader "grub" is going to be used every time the machine powers up. Grub comes with Redhat/Fedora. It is the first post-BIOS.program to run. In Nick's case, grub will easily boot ether Linux or Windows XP with no trouble. I'm sure there are other bootloaders out there, but grub is the one I know.
First, you will partition the disk. In this sample partition scheme I am using a 100 Gighabyte disk as an example.
Partitions:
1. Linux "/boot" - roughky 128 Megabytes.
2. An NTFS partition reserved for Windows XP. Size depends on on needs, I would use about 40% of the disk, so let's say it will be 40 Gigabytes.
3. A "Swap" partition for Linux. (1.5 top two times the amount of physical memory (RAM) in the machine. If your system has 512 Megabytes of RAM, you'd want to make this about 768 Megabytes.
4. The remainder of the disk, perhaps something like 58 Gigabytes should be allocated for the Linux root partition "/".
Frankly, now that your disk are partitioned, it doesn't matter whether Windows or Linux gets installed first. I tend to do Linux first, for the reason that that has been my main desktop OS for years.
Any Linux distro will have a graphical utility in which you explicitly tell the setup program what partitions it is supposed to use for what purpose. The setup program will format the Linux partitions, "/boot", "/" and the swap partition.
Continue installing Linux until it is done.Fedora core (for example) sets up the grub loader that you can choose either system.
OK, Linux is good to go, now set up Windows XP. Surprisingly enough, Windows will live quite happily on the second partition, as my scheme places it. This will be obvious when you startup your computer with the XP setup disk.
Now, setup Windows X.P. Here's the catch: It is true that the Windows setup program will nuke your MBR, where Linux installs the grub boot loader by default. This is easy to overcome.
Here's what I do. I put in my Fedora Core Linux installation DVD and choose to boot into "Rescue Mode". It is easy to "chroot" top your linux installation from this. The Fedora setup program tells you - it is really simple.
Then, as soon as you Linux filesystem is "root", to reinstall grub you do this:
# grub
grub> root (hd0,0) [ This io grub slang for the first
disk, first partition: we made
that the "/boot" partition.]
grub> setup (hd0)
And that's all there is too it. You know have a dual-boot, heterogeneous system.
Good luck,
Baz
Bryan A. Zimmer
4.
----- Original Message -----
From: Joey Rockhold
To: Dwayne Kaelberer
Cc: tclug-list at mn-linux.org ; Nick
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Need info
I never allow one operating system use it's boot loader to boot other operating systems, I always use a 3rd party boot manager, such as GAG (super easy) or XOSL (full featured, more setup work). This way you don't go through the hassle of over-writing the master boot record from one operating system to the next. And, it's always best to install your Windows OS's first since they automatically take over the master boot record, where with every Linix distro I've tried, you always get the option of where to install the boot loader.
- Joey
On 4/5/07, Dwayne Kaelberer <dpkhobby at earthlink.net> wrote:
Nick wrote:
>
> I would like to do a dual boot ( XP & Linux ) on my computer. Where
> can I take my computer for help? I live in Chaska. I'm 68 yrs old , so
> please be patient with me.
>
> Thanks, Nick
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
> tclug-list at mn-linux.org
> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list
>
Hey Nick
I am running Gentoo Linux dual boot with XP right now. It is a bit
tricky but with a bit of work and reading and understanding Linux , it's
not too bad. What I did with help from some good people on the Gentoo
IRC channel , was to make a FAT32 partition for Win when I partitioned
for Linux. and then useing the Grub boot loader got Gentoo up and
running . Then you just install XP and it wipes out Grub(Yikes!!)and
your Linux partitions from the mbr. I did use the Knoppix live-cd to do
most of the install , that way being able to be on IRC to ask questions.
Once XP was installed I booted up the Knoppix live-cd , and then used a
small program called Testdisk to then look at and write the Linux
partitions back , and then go in and reset Grub boot loader and Wala!
you have Linux and XP as daul boot . This all is very simple now that I
went through a few hair pulling sessions , but can be done pretty nice .
I am not a very seasoned Linux guy yet but its a great learning
experience. You cna email me direct if you like and we can talk . I'm
just out west in Young America. Sorry guys for getting a bit long
Dwayne
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