Hardware

Ask something
Question Locked

Windows XP + Linux? Help with dual booting...

0 helpful
7 replies

by riannon

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have PCLinuxOS right now on my hard drive, and I just got another hard drive that I want to put XP on. How best can I set up this new hard drive with XP so I can dual boot between the two? And once I get it set up, what can I expect? All I know is that it is possible; I have never actually seen it done. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

7 replies

by clarkd038

What you could do is install the second hard drive, under Win XP. Then on that harddrive you would install a Virtual Machine Player. Which you can get free.

Then download a Linux Virtual machine and you could simutaneously run both operating systems at the same time.

If you have any questions on this let me know

-Darren

by riannon

I took a look on that White Paper the gentleman above you linked me to and got a little info on the "virtual machine" you spoke of. I don't think I understand it very well... If I install this hard drive and slave my now-Linux-operated drive, I cannot start my computer with that drive until I reverse the 2 drives' roles, correct? I am not sure, now, that what I want to do is possible... I want to be able to choose which drive to boot from without having to change the master/slave option. I have my Linux set up just how I like it, and it took a while to do. So, while a virtual machine option sounds interesting, I am not sure it would accomplish what I want to do. LoL I feel like I am not explaining this very well >.< I am sorry. Thank you so much for your response; if it's not too much trouble, could I beg some more input of you please? Thank you so much.

by nepenthe0

Chad Perrin contributed the following Aug'06:

http://i.t.com.com/i/tr/downloads/home/perrin_knoppix_part.pdf

This is a creature called [i]Knoppix[/i] which contains Linux and a partition manager.

I'm not sure you will find the documentation much clearer than the Global Knowledge White Paper, but at least you have the software to set up a dual booting system.

Rick/Portland, OR

by Former member

1. install XP on the drive with the linux drive removed and then edit grub or lilo or whatever you use as a boot manager.

2. Install XP on the second drive in place but with the cable disconnected to the first drive. Edit grub, etc as above.

3. Use the XP drive as the first drive and The linux drive as the second. get "dd for windows" and copy the first 512 bytes of your linux drive to a file called linux.boot and edit windows boot.ini to point to this file as the boot entry for linux. Edit Grub,etc. to indicate that the linux drive is now the second HD.

4. Set one drive or the other as active to boot from it when you want the OS on it active.

5. Use a virtual machine such as VMware.

6. Since you are a Linux user, use the howto to research the issue and visit the forums because this information has been gone over many times. In short, you are asking others to do the work for you. If you do some of the basic work, then others will be more willing to help you.

This discussion is closed to new replies.