Windows XP and Linux

[yatish]

Hello everbody,


I have got a few question . I want to load 2 OS's on my 8 GB

harddisk.The 2 OS's are Linux and WinXp.

1.What is the procedure that I shoudl follow?
2.My harddisk is got not partition?
3.How should I go about loading the two operating systems?

I will use the Linux environment only for my college purposes.

So should i make 2 partitions ( I think that will be required, right) of 6

Gb and 2 Gb for windows Xp and Linux respectively.


4.Which OS shoudl i load first Linux or WINXP.I ask this because somebody

told me that loading linux after winXP may cause winxp to get corrupt.

5.Can i partition my harddisk without going through the complete procedure

of formatting the disk etc.......( i.e. I would like to do it having Windows

already loaded).If so what is the software.If its not possible then FDISK in

DOS will be good enough ,right)


6.What is the maximum space a linux environment requires.I want to keep

maximum for windows.


7.Are there any complexities involved when loading it.



Also If i consider upgrading my HDD then which one should i go in for

samsung /seagate.Please tell me the prices of both 40 and 80 GB of the 2

companies.

Thanks a lot for spending you precious time in answering my questions

[rajesh]

Hi Yatish, Welcome to the forum.

Yup, U need to make 2 partitions. 6 and 2 should be ok.

Install WindowsXP first and then Linux.

If installed in the reverse order, XP rewrites the boot records and you will not be able to boot into linux.

If u r upgarding go for 80GB HDD. I am not sure which to recommend though. Both are equally good.

[NikhilVerma]

[EDIT] Sorry wrong thread...

[yatish]

You mean I should load linux in the windows environment OR in DOS.

Also you have not told me about the partition . Please do tell me about the partitoning also.


@ NikhilVerma What do you mean by this error when do you get it .

[whistler]

which ver of linux....
and what s/w's u need on xp?

[pradeep_chauhan]

Linux installer works off the boot it need not be run from dos or windows. See what you do is
1. put in the win XP CD
2. format the drive
3. load xp
4. reboot with linux installer CD
5. PC boots with the Linux installer running
6. install Linux in remaing free space let the installer handel every thing i.e. auto partition install boot loader etc.

These days it is easer to install linux compared to windows.

[yatish]

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

Linux installer works off the boot it need not be run from dos or windows. See what you do is
1. put in the win XP CD
2. format the drive
3. load xp
4. reboot with linux installer CD
5. PC boots with the Linux installer running
6. install Linux in remaing free space let the installer handel every thing i.e. auto partition install boot loader etc.

These days it is easer to install linux compared to windows.

Correct me If i understood you wrongly.



You are trying to say that after I load windows xp I just shutdown insert the linux CD and then Linux will do the rest that is partition etc......


Will it partition the drive giving Liux the bareest minimum as I cannot afford to waste space in that section.

I was thinking of 6 and 2 GB for Windows and Linux respectively.
So just now i do not have any partition on my 8GB HDD and windows is laoded on the default C: so should i just load it directly .

Will it do the rest . Please let me know.

Have i understood what you said correctly.

Also Please tell me the exact time as to when I should insert the linux CD

--> when the comp is ON and in the WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT or


--> when it is OFF I insert the linux CD and say boot from CD..

Thanks a lot

[yatish]

one more thing whioch linux is the best

Red hat

Fedora

or anyother which ever you all say......

[godsownman]

Yatish, since you have an 8GB HDD you should try to allot minimum space to the linux partiton.

Pradeep has posted something in this thread where I think i understood it as linux requiring only about around 105 MB so if thats possible use that method.I think that should be possible using the auto partition method which he has mentioned here and in the thread below.

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18596

[pradeep_chauhan]

The partition of the disk into two is done by windows installer. when you load winxp it will ask where to load and show the whole disk there you partition the disk into 6:2 or i would recommend 5:3 so now format the 5 partition using ntfs load win xp in it. once xp is fully loaded and running then reboot the system with the linux cd. Now linux will install in the free space of 3GB and here it will make the two or three partitions it requires automatically. This is handled by the installer in auto format option. I would firstly recommend you to go ahead with PCQlinux as its good for starters and has a lot of options available.

[yatish]

So that means that you have to initially when loading windows create 2 partitions .

That is necessary right.

Then load windows in C: and after that is doen load linux in d:

Thanks a lot.

I hope i have got it right this time.

[busyanuj]

yatish,

firstly, you have an 8 GB hard drive, so i'll suggest that you create a C drive of about 5 GB and install Windows there.

after you are done with it, insert your Linux installation cd and boot from it.
during installation of linux, linux will ask you to create two partitions:
1. is the swap partition (which is roughly twice the size of your RAM)
2. is the linux partition (ext3 partition where linux will be extracted and installed)

So, create a swap partition of twice the size of your RAM i.e. if you have 256 MB RAM, then create swap partition of 256 x 2 = 512 MB.

The empty space that is left, use that space to create an ext3 partition with mount point / (which will be your linux partition) and follow the remaining on-screen instructions for installing linux...... and you're done.

when your computer asks you to install Grub, install it on the mbr of your hard drive.