Desktop

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Installing Windows, keeping Linux?

0 helpful
8 replies

by francois.dumaresq

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I need a solution to install WindowsXP on a system already having Linux. My first choice is to install System Commander and to make a partition for Windows with Partition Magic but if something else are possible, just tell me! Thx

8 replies

by hal 9000

Wouldn't it just be easier to add another HDD and load XP onto that and setup a dual boot option on startup?

After all IDE HDD's are not expensive nowdays and XP doesn't need to be on the C drive to boot I know it will cost more but you would need Windows installed to creat the partitions with the programs listed as they are both Windows programs and I don't know how well they work with NFS partitions. So while it might cost a bit more initially it probably would save money as you would have to install XP over the existing Linux and then create the required patitiions and reinstall Linux. Remember Linux installs at least 3 partitions for it to work on a small drive and these would have to be deleted before you could consider loading Windows so by the time you add your labout in it would likely be cheaper just to use another HDD.

by francois.dumaresq

Thanx for your interest but i've try my solution with partition magic and system commander an it works fine... (no need to buy a second hard drive...)

by francois.dumaresq

Sorry but you forgot that I've already linux installed and I really dont want to delete it... I just want to install WinXP as an extra OS after Linux...

by mitgat

First do you have DOS partitions if so, Try booting to the WNT disk and follow the prompts.

by jvian10

One of the earlier comments mentioned adding another drive.

I regularly set up dual boot machines with XP and Linux. My scenario usually is that they already have XP installed and want Linux as a second option. The hardest part about this scenario is that the Windows boot loader realy does not like it when it is called from another boot loader. Thus there are a few considerations.

First: you need to make sute your boot sector for linux is on the boot partition of the Linux drive. Then copy the first 512 bytes of that partition to a file on a floppy that can later be put on the XP boot partition (c:\). I usually use the name 'linux.img' for that for consistency.

Second: install XP as usual on an open partition and allow it to set everything up as desired, including the fact that it will overwrite the MBR with its own boot loader.

Third: Copy the file created in step 1 to c:\ and modify the boot.ini file to include a line such as 'c:\linux.img = "Linux" '. Now when you boot it will come up with the XP boot loader and will have the choice of booting to XP or to Linux.

There are a few gotcha's that can cause the system to not boot so some care in following these steps and being prepared for the "what if" scenario is prudent.

I got my information to do this the first time back when Windows NT 4.0 was in use and both XP and 2000 use the same steps in my experience.

For a step-by-step guide see http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

This discussion is closed to new replies.