What are the steps to install windows xp and linux on desktop

[thefuture2522]

Hi,

I am looking to install windows xp and linux onto my desktop. And would like to know what are the step by step directions to doing this.

Thank you

 

[TonyGroves]

You seem to be talking about dual-booting. A web search for "dual boot windows linux" will turn up plenty of material on the subject.

 

[thefuture2522]

thank you

 

[stevexff]

Are you starting from a empty box, or one that already has XP occupying the whole disk? This affects what you neeed to do next. I've only done the latter, I don't know what the XP installer does if the disk already has partitions on it...

In any case, you need to install XP first. M$ always overwrites the MBR during install. When you install Linux, it will overwrite the MBR with GRUB, which will give you the choice of OSs at boot time.

Steve

[small]"Every program can be reduced by one instruction, and every program has at least one bug. Therefore, any program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." (Object:erlDesignPatterns)[/small]

 

[dragonforce]

If it is a clean box then boot up with the linux cd and redo the partitions. You'll need the following:

linux OS(/dev/hda1)
Linux swap(/dev/hda2)
Xp partition which XP will create when you install it.

You'll create the first 2 with the linux command fdisk; there is a gui for it on the installation cd. Remember to leave space for the xp partition. Ounce you've saved the partitions; You can reboot and install XP; ounce XP is installed install the linux now. It'll automatically detect the windows Partition and install it in the bootloader. and thats it. Just remember to leave space for your windows partition.

/*******************************

DragonForce
-Is it wrong to be strong
*******************************/

 

[pentode]

I assume you understand this, but just in case - you can have Linux and Windows on the same machine, but only one can function at a time. When you boot up the system, you must select either Linux OR Windows. To switch, you must re-boot. So you will not really have Linux AND Windows "on your desktop". You will have one or the other.

 

[theniteowl]

Hey, not to hijack the thread but this might prove important to him as he sets this up.
I had installed XP on a newly formatted drive then installed Ubuntu, went through the partitioning and all, got it up and working.
I then added a new SATA drive to the system and allowed XP to set it up as a dynamic drive and format it NTFS. When I next tried to get into Linux it crashed on me at a command prompt just shortly after selecting to boot into Linux. I do not know the error msg offhand but it seems to have corrupted Grub's settings. I tried a repair install but it still failed.
As a test I disconnected the SATA drive, re-partitioned the drives and re-installed Ubuntu. I then added the SATA drive again and Linux crashed in the same way.

Is XP trying to take over the boot record? Or did the addition of another drive throw off Grub's setup so it did not know where to point?
I would not think that all drives would have to be installed prior to installing Linux but is it possible that Linux has to recognize the new drive before letting XP do anything with it?


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[dragonforce]

I had the exact problem; I had a SuSe9.2 hard drive and then I put in a new hard drive to test my remastering knoppix and then when I plugged in the SuSe9.2; got the message saying the root partition is in read mode and needs to be remounted. I did a repair with the install cd and it worked. It did it again so I replaced the hard drive and havnt had the problem since. This was with grub. I think we might be getting off the point here.

/*******************************

DragonForce
-Is it wrong to be strong
*******************************/

 

[Kozusnik]

I don't think Ubuntu has great support for SATA drives. Don't get me wrong, I recently switched to Kubuntu and I love it. But I was trying to install on a newer pc at work and the hard drive seemed to work fine, but once the installer was attempting to read from the cd/dvd at some point, it stopped. The dvd burner is also SATA (LightScribe). I haven't got around that yet.

As for the actual thread. Load XP first on a partition, then load Linux. Choose MBR for GRUB. Now you have a dual boot.

What I've done is... Give Linux the entire drive and only run XP in VMWare. I'm finding that I never use Windows anyway.

I still have XP on another drive, but like I said, I never use it.

Mark

 

[theniteowl]

I think this issue though not directly addressing the question is an important consideration for him and so not off topic.

I have been told that the issue is likely in Grub and would require booting from CD then manually modifying Grub's data to correct for the change in drive information.
I am somewhat of a newbie myself so could not say how this is done but will be figuring it out myself in the near future.

In any event thefuture2522, I would suggest that you have all drives setup and working in the system prior to beginning your Linux install. Follow the methods others have described above for preparing your XP system first then installing Linux. Just keep in mind that if you do add/remove a drive you may end up with the issue described above and may have to seek a resolution to that particular issue. Forewarned is forearmed, it's just a detail to remember in case.

One of these days I will get my own system working again, just have not had time.
If anyone has more detailed information on correcting or even preventing this boot issue I would love to find out more so I can deal with my own system.


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[dragonforce]

The booting issue is correctable. I find it easier and quicker sing the distro installation cd to redo all the configs for the system again. You could log in when it gives you the shell prompt; you have to try and unmount your root partition so you can remount it with read/write mode but that is trickier then it sounds. If your distro doesnt have a repair option then boot up with Knoppix and fsck the drives and check the grub config files; It might sort the problem out but as I said I use the repair option that comes on SuSe9.2

/*******************************

DragonForce
-Is it wrong to be strong
*******************************/

 

[theniteowl]

I have found lots of other people having similar problems and they all seem to relate back to the drive designations somehow being altered. Either faulty hardware detection or the OS (usually Windows) adding/changing drive assignments resulting in Grub pointing to the wrong locations.
As you said, reinstalling Grub should do the trick and the easiest way is through the installation CD. I think I am going to try my hand at a manual modification as I will learn more for future reference.

It seems a lot of people run into these problems but I have read nothing that definitively states the actual cause so that we might anticipate or prevent it in the future.

thefuture2522 has not responded back to the thread so hopefully his question was answered. For lack of other data we can assume he is happy and working fine right?


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.