SOLVED side by side installation with XP

[Clawinus]

I read the default side by side installation as described in:

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_w...rst.htm?page=4

It assumes that XP occupies the whole drive.
In my case I have a C partition for XP, a D partition (the recovery partition of XP) and maybe a boot partition (I do not know).

If I choose the default side by side installation, will the D partition be preserved?
How much of the C partition will be assigned to Kubuntu?
Will the boot partition be overwritten by Grub?

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

I looked at that page and I really think the writer left out a bunch of steps. The best way IMO to do this is to use Gparted Live to setup your hard disks before installing, and then selecting the correct partitions using manual partitioning during the install. This will give you the best chance to preserve your data and retain your windows install.

Why don't you detail your current hard drive setup (partitions, sizes, etc) and let one of us suggest some options?

There are ways to control where grub installs and the other aspects of your questions, but I'd rather hear back from you and then we'll proceed.

Why don't you download the latest Gparted Live image and burn a CD or USB thumb drive and report back your hard drive details and we'll go from there.

[Clawinus]

Re: side by side installation with XP

Thanks for your help.

Here is my system information:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name HP_XP
System Manufacturer HP Pavilion 061
System Model EX276AA-ABA a1540n
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 75 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2204 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.07, 8/2/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name HP_XP\Helmut_Admin
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 766.18 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.35 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

I created the partition Table with Gparted and have it as a picture in PGN format, but I do not know how to include it, attach it to this reply.

file:///media/disk/partition-table.png

[Clawinus]

Re: side by side installation with XP

I hope you can get the picture.

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

In order to attach a picture file to a post click on the "Additional Options" below the posting window and click on the Choose File button.

However, since you're using windows a general description will be good enough. I.e. "Drive C is 120 GB and has only one partition and Drive D is 250 GB and has two partition 125GB each..." like that.

If you want to get started with linux, you could boot to a liveCD and open a terminal (aka Konsole) and type this command and post the results:

sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list

This little command will produce a nice full list with all your partition/drive data.

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

Sorry, we were typing at the same time. That tells me what I need to know. BRB...

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

That's only drive C:, do it again for drive D: aka /dev/sdb (the pull down list on the upper right of the Gparted window with the picture of the disk and /dev/sda next to it - change that to /dev/sdb)

Also - Is your intention to just "try out" linux or are you looking to convert in the near term?

[Clawinus]

Re: side by side installation with XP

About the second drive; actually I have only one drive; sda. I probably used imprecise definitions.
Geparted lists two partitions on sda: sda1 Windows and sda2 Recovery. That is all I have, apart from
external drives.
I am using PartitionMagic 6.7 which contains Geparted but also a screen snapshot application allowing to copy the image to a USB stick and then to include it into the forum.

I have been using Linux for over two years now,another distribution though: PCLinuxOS on my laptop as single boot. This laptop has a Broadcom wireless and ethernet card. Two years ago, this was the only distribution I could find supporting these cards. My experience has been very good. I never had a system crash. Updating the system and the applications is a breeze with Synaptics.

Actually I am writing this answer on the Linux machine, because I had diificulties with the Kubuntu Forum on the Windows machine:when signed in to the forum I try to access a topic the forum throws me off and makes me a guest again. This is obviously a problem with the browser, Firefox. Here I am using Konqueror and no problem.

I have used the LiveCD Kubuntu 11.10 on the Windows machine and am very impressed and would like to install it. There are a couple of applications which induce me to try to keep Windows as alternate boot: Quicken, Savingsbond wizard etc.
I would very much like to have your advise on setting up the dual boot.

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

Sorry, my fault - I assumed two drives. I've been away from windows long enough I've forgotten how to speak MS.

Any way: Since you're using XP, it's usually not too hard. Yes- grub will overwrite your Master Boot record, but windows will still be bootable. If you are concerned, there's a post on this forum about backing up your MBR.

You need to shrink your current sda1 as much as you want to reserve for linux, then move sda2 over so it's next to sda1 (Gparted Live can do this easily) then I usually recommend re-booting into windows once or twice to make sure all is well.

Then (again - I recommend) create an extended partition and then three to five logical partitions for linux depending on your desires.

3 partitions = swap, OS, home,
4 partitions = swap, OS, home, backup OS
5 partitions = swap, OS, home, backup OS, spare OS (for testing or trying another distro)

Sizes of these partitions are usually 12GB +/- 4GB for OS, swap=RAM size, home=everything left over.

If you have the room, the extra OS partitions are nice for experimenting or backups of your OS. All up to you obviously.

Assuming the basic setup, you'll have:
/dev/sda5 = swap
/dev/sda6 = / (the OS)
/dev/sda7 = /home

Pre-format them with Gparted and then select Manual Partitioning during the install. This will speed up the install and make it less likely you'll accidentally wipe out windows.

[oshunluvr]

Re: side by side installation with XP

Thanks Teunis and good tip yourself. I always keep a little pad handy when I'm re-doing a hard drive. I usually run 3 or 4 drives so it's real important to take notes!

I think it's 1000x easier to create partitions pre-install and newer users often want to experiment with other distros. So, why not make room now?

No doubt you been down this path a time or two as have I.

Clawinus: Several of the regular posters on here have come from PClinuxOS including myself. The debian/ubuntu based distros are a different from RPM distros like PCLinuxOS in many ways - some subtle, some obvious. Welcome to Kubuntu!

If you like to "tinker" with some settings directly rather than using GUI tools you'll find some files in different locations. Another real obvious difference is "su" vs. "sudo." Back when I used PCLOS (2007-8) it allowed su log in. By default, debian systems do not, preferring instead the use of sudo. PCLOS was a great beginners distro, but I had out-grown it's capabilities and RPM package management is not as robust as DEB. I also wanted 64bit performance.

The final straw for me was the culture developing in the forum where you couldn't even type the name of another distro without getting censored. I believe in the First Amendment so I looked elsewhere for a distro. You won't find much of that kind of attitude here.

[Clawinus]

Re: side by side installation with XP

Thanks very much for all the good posts.
What an education!

[dibl]

Re: SOLVED side by side installation with XP

If you're going to use GParted to shrink the Win XP partition, first run Disk Cleanup, and then Disk Defragmenter.

[oshunluvr]

Re: SOLVED side by side installation with XP

Good catch dibl - I should always add that to gparted advice