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Linux and Windows XP

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9 replies

by luther

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Well I bought a new computer and had to get Windows XP on it. I would like to partition the disk so that I can put Linux on one partition and Windows XP on the other (I am new to Linux). Is this a reasonable thing to do? How can this be done with Windows XP? Is there a particular Linux flavor that I should used for this purpose?
Luther

9 replies

by thechas

Yes it can be done.

If you do not want to re-install XP, you will need to use a partition utility such as Partition Magic to change the drive partitioning.

There are several TechRepublic articles on setting up dual boot systems with Linux and W2K.
The tips in these articles should apply to XP also.
Search the archive with the terms linux and dual boot in the search box.

Also, check out the dual boot section at www.system internals.com
And, search Microsoft on the terms boot.ini and bootcfg
From the results, you will get details on using and editing the boot.ini file.

You will need to manually edit boot.ini to set up your system for dual boot after the fact.

Also, you might want to subscribe to the Linux e-mail from TechRepublic.

For info on Linux;
www.linuxdoc.org
www.linuxdevices.com
www.linuxorbit.com

Chas

by djaburg

If you're new to Linux, SuSE Linux has the easiest method for setting up a dual boot configuration. Purchase (I know, I know) either edition (personal or professional) and run the installation using their quick start guide. I have a laptop that was running Windows XP Pro on it and I was able to easily install Linux and the default boot loader automatically recognized that I had an OS and provided the option on the boot screen. The install program that they use also allows you to resize your Windows XP Partition during the install process. Please keep in mind that it's handy if you already understand how to resize the partition just in case you have a problem.

**One thing to note is the command presented at the end of the installation. It allows you to recover your original MBR. The command is:
lilo -u /dev/hda

I've used that command (as a test) and it restores you MBR to the state prior to installing Linux.

Good luck.

by kmuirdic

Whichever flavour you use (most have good installation and partitioning tools), remember to defrag your disk before using either PartitionMagic or the partitioning tolls included in the Linux distro. Red Hat, Mandrake and Suse (I haven't used any others) all have very good installation tools.

by jacobus_kriek

I have a 20g harddrive. I made one primary partition of 4000mb The rest as extention.In the extention I made logical partions 400 for xp 3500 twice for free window fat partions.Two partions left to make just make the partion but did not formate it and let linux install do that for me
So I have win M.E winXphome Linuxredhat7.2 and mandrake8.2 Some times I swap it for freebsd.
The boot.ini in xp allow to write extra lines to put in. See page 1115 in book "Using ms win xp professionals"

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