Installing Windows and maintaining linux

[Titaniumwolf]

I think I need to have a dual boot seeing as how I need sometime to get the hang of this. I was wondering, how would I get a dual boot if I install windows on the open partition? Because I know it won't see the linux partition and won't let me dual boot. It'll go straight to windows, so is there some sort of LILO disk to solve this?

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

See this How-To:

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

Go ahead and install Windows XP.
It will overwrite the MBR with its own bootloader code, NTLDR.
Then re-install GRUB to the MBR using root (hdw,z) -- setup (hd0) --quit
(if you are using just one hard drive and it is hd0 where all this is happening)

Then edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst to include a boot entry for Windows, like

title Windows XP or whatever
root (hdx,y)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Where (hdx,y) is the partition you put Windows on.
Counting starts at zero, so hd0 is the first hard drive, hd1, is the second hard drive, . . .etc; y=0 for partition 1, y=1 for partition 2, . . .etc.

That's just the outline. The How-To will show you. See also the second post under that topic on editing menu.lst.

Should be quite easy, doable, workable -- no problems!
Lots of us here can help if you get stuck.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

That all assumes Windows is on the same, first hard drive, as it sounds it will be from what you said. (If not, scroll down the posts in the How-To to installing Windows to a non-first hard drive.)

[Titaniumwolf]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

Thank you for the information! Unfortunatly, I seem to have gotten myself in another pickle before I can even do that. When I was reading this I opened a consule and typed in "sudo grub" just to see what would happen. The prompt popped up and I said ok and exited. Now I turned off my computer. Later, as in 10 minutes ago when I went to turn it on, it got to the Kubuntu loading screen (just the bar), then ended up at a black screen with a blinking little "_". That's it. So I tried to reinstall grub like you said, I did, but still nothing happening. So I seem to be stuck on my live disk. Could you help me out again please?

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

Sounds like it’s the X-thing:

xserver-org How to get started with no GUI, Blank Screen in Linux, first time
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3085112.0

Bigpond, sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg: http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p7.html

As for GRUB, you can just as wll work from a Live CD, get Konsole, sudo grub, and go from there. But it sounds like you have a video issue (driver).

[opie]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

It sounds like you have never been able to boot this installation of kubuntu correct? In other words you didn't have a bootable install and then changed the graphics drivers?

I agree it probably is a video driver problem.
Boot the machine into recovery mode, which should be one of the options in your boot menu. Then use the

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

instructions as the links show. You shouldn't have to fool with alt-f1 console and logging in when you boot into recovery mode. You can go straight to the running of the xorg configuration.

Also don't "sudo" anything just to see what happens .
sudo allows you to execute the command that follows it as superuser. As superuser you can commit much more mischief to your system.

[Titaniumwolf]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

Thank you!, I finally got it working, and now it works *almost* perfectly It keeps doing this weird thing when I play a game it goes back out of it as though I'm in a virtual window to big for my screen, but at 1280 x786 resolution instead of 1440 x900 which it is on all other times. but I can live with that.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

And so you got the dual boot working, too?

[Titaniumwolf]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

Ah, no. I finally just said **** it, I'm going for a trial by fire. If I do find something I absolutly must do, then I'll install windows. but by keeping it off it forces me to learn. kind of. I may still just do it anyways.

[dibl]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

If you have a legal Windows XP installation CD, you can just install VMWare Player (free, in the repos), and then you need a "virtual machine" .vmx file, which I can point you to, and then you install your Windows license on it and VOILA you have Windows if you need it, all on your Linux platform, and keeps those nasty viruses more or less separated from your hardware.

[ponygirldefiance]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

if you don't mind could you explain how to add VM Ware and the .vmx file i am working on getting another copy of windows as mine has a built in recovery in the cds. but i would like to learn how to add windows to linux this way.
thanks

[dibl]

Re: Installing Windows and maintaining linux

The basic routine is:

1. Install the VMWare Player package from the repo

2. open it and then open your virtual machine file

3. You might need to edit the virutal machine file if the CD ROM designation in it is not a match to your system (i.e. it maybe dev/hd1 but your system maybe be /dev/scd0)

4. When the CD ROM drive is available, stick your Windows installation CD in and do just like you do with a new hard drive.

Here's a link: http://www.penguin.ch/dokuwiki/doku....l:vmware:model

On that page are 3 downloadable virtual machines, that are "close" to correct. You can open the one that is applicable, after it is downloaded and extracted, and it is fairly obvious how the CD ROM, floppy, sound, USB, etc. are called out, and you can edit with a text editor.

Hope this gets you started.