Dual Boot Winxp And Ubuntu

[rob86 2]

I have Windows XP, an Ubuntu cd, one internal 160GB hard drive, one internal 20gb hard drive, and one 500gb External USB drive. I want to install Ubuntu, but I want to keep XP installed. I don't know much about partitions, but I want to keep XP installed where it is (on the primary 160gb drive). I don't care where Ubuntu is, as long as I can boot to XP when I want. How do I go about doing this? I have very little experience installing OS's and since I lost my XP CD and have no clue where it is, I'd rather not have to reinstall XP so I'm being quite cautious about the whole thing.

[mahesh2k 0]

As you've no access to your XP cd. i guess it is worth to install other operating systems under virtual machines software. You can install either VMware, Virtualbox or Microsoft virtual pc. Vmware player, virtualbox are available for free of cose. and old version of microsoft virtual pc is also freely available. Just google the names and you'll find out the download locations. again the reason i'm recommending you to use virtual machine instead of dual booting on real hardware is because you've no access to your XP CD. and there are some chances (again depending upon situations and installation experience) that you need to reinstall XP. So to avoid that trouble you've to install them on virtual machine for time being.

Besides, advantage of virtual machine software is that you can install multiple OS( provided that you've sufficient RAM and Hard disk space) and you can boot into multiple operating systems simultaneously. and as you're newbie to linux and less care about partition and stuff, it is better to use linux in virtual machine. You can use linux+internet inside virtual machine software, so you've nothing to lose. Try installing Operating system on virtual machine. Have fun with ubuntu!!

[rvalkass 5]

If XP is already installed then you can install Ubuntu without affecting your XP installation. The Ubuntu installer should allow you to choose which hard drive you install on, and offer some default automatic partitions so you don't need to worry about them. Installing on the 20GB drive is probably not a good idea, as you would likely fill it up fairly quickly if you regularly use Ubuntu. Installing to the external USB drive is a possibility if your motherboard and BIOS support it. If they do, your external drive will show up in the Ubuntu installer as an option to install to.

 

Your best bet will be to install to the drive where Windows is already installed, then use the external drive for storing large files such as music and movies. The steps below are for this scenario.

 

Boot into Windows XP. Back up anything important (copy it all to your external HDD) just in case.

Run the disk defragmenter on the drive XP is installed on.

Insert the Ubuntu CD into your CD drive and restart your computer.

If XP comes up again when you reboot, you need to change your BIOS to boot from the CD first. If this happens, let us know and we'll tell you how to change it.

On the Ubuntu boot screen choose the option to check the installation media, to make sure the CD burned OK.

When that finishes, choose the option to install Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu desktop should appear, with an icon to install Ubuntu. Double-click that.

Go through the installation until you reach the partitioning stage. You want the option that says something like "Resize IDE1 master, partition #1 (hda1) and use freed space". If you don't see an option worded like that then cancel the installation and let us know what options you were presented with.

Let the installation finish, then reboot.

Now, when your computer boots you will be presented with a menu that lets you select which operating system you want to boot into. Use the arrows on the keyboard to move up and down through the options, then hit Enter when you've picked the OS you want to boot into that time. Every time you boot that menu will be displayed so you can easily switch between Ubuntu and XP.

[The Simpleton 2]

Hey rob there's a simple solution to your case - it's very simple to do and you won't lose any data.Here's how it's done:

 

1. Log into XP and empty a drive of your choice (i.e. move all the data of that drive to another drive). Make sure that the drive you choose is of adequate size for installing Ubuntu (30-50GB wouldn't be a bad idea)

 

2. After you're sure that the drive is empty, use the run command (Start--->Run) and in the box type the command 'diskmgmt.msc' and press enter.

 

this command brings up the partitioner where you can see all the drives installed on your system and any free space that is left.

 

3.Now select the drive that you just emptied, right-click on it and choose 'delete'. Yes, just delete that drive (or rather, partition). Now you should see some "free space" in the list. Close the window and restart the system.

 

3. Insert the Ubuntu CD into your CD drive and restart your computer.

4. If XP comes up again when you reboot, you need to change your BIOS to boot from the CD first. If this happens, let us know and we'll tell you how to change it.

4. follow the above steps - boot from the Ubuntu CD.

 

5. In the menu that comes up, select "Install Ubuntu"

 

6. When that finishes, choose the option to install Ubuntu.

7. The Ubuntu desktop should appear, with an icon to install Ubuntu. Double-click that.

@rvalkass and rob: I used the Ubuntu CD to install on many systems and if I'm not wrong, the Ubuntu desktop appears only if you select the first option in the menu, i.e. "Try ubuntu without any change" or something like that. But it's a time-taking process, so selecting the second option, "Install Ubuntu" is much more convenient.

 

6. So, after selecting the second option, wait till a window appears - from here there are 2-3 simple steps such as language selection and time zone. Just fill up those.

 

7. Then the part comes where you're asked how you want to install Ubuntu. You should see an option called "Manual" (In all the Ubuntu CDs I've used, this option was present so if you get anything different better cancel the setup and report here) Select the "Manual" option.

 

8. In the next step, you should see a list of the partitions on your system. Notice that there aren't any letters like C,D,E,F that Windows uses. But don't get confused because you should see the "free space" that we created earlier. It may be called "free space" or "unpartitioned space" I dont remember exactly but you should be able to sort it out. Select that and click "forward" - and that's it the setup should go on smoothly without any other problem.

Note I used this procedure to install Ubuntu using the 9.04 version CD and I did it over 5 times on various systems so I'm sure it'll work. However with older versions there may be a slight variation. If you're using an older version of Ubuntu, better google the installation procedure for that version. FOr 9.04, the one I've given should work perfectly Do ask if there's any problem!

[xpress 0]

Which version of ubuntu you are using? If it is 8.04 or later (9.04 is latest one) it has an option Install Inside Windows. It doesn't need any dedicated partition to install ubuntu. You can install it very easily like other windows programs, then you can boot your system to windows or ubuntu just like dual booting. And it is very safe option since you are new to installing linux.

 

To install it inside windows,

1. Just put your CD while running in XP and click on Install Inside Windows.

2. Then select the Installation Drive where you want to install ubuntu (nothing will be deleted from that partition, just ubuntu creates a new folder to insall there) ..

3. Specify the installation size (usually you can go with the default, it is enough)

4. Enter some username and password of your choice and then click install...

 

and just follow the simple steps... thats it.. It is very very easy and safe to install. just try...

[rob86 2]

I have Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition. I'll print all of the replies and try later. So 20GB is inadequate? I just have the 20GB and 160GB for internal hdds plus the bigger external one which I'm not sure would work yet. If I installed it on the 20GB drive, are you (rvalkass) saying I wouldn't be able to access the other drive in Ubuntu? I was thinking I could install Ubuntu on the small drive, and install software on another drive.So if the 20GB is too small to use, I won't be be able to erase the 160gb drive because Windows is installed there. I'll have to make Ubuntu share that drive which looks like what rvalkass was saying.

[truefusion 3]

So 20GB is inadequate? I just have the 20GB and 160GB for internal hdds plus the bigger external one which I'm not sure would work yet. If I installed it on the 20GB drive, are you (rvalkass) saying I wouldn't be able to access the other drive in Ubuntu? I was thinking I could install Ubuntu on the small drive, and install software on another drive.
So if the 20GB is too small to use, I won't be be able to erase the 160gb drive because Windows is installed there. I'll have to make Ubuntu share that drive which looks like what rvalkass was saying.

10GB is enough for an average Linux installation. You can install many, many programs and not even pass 8GB. However, this is only concerning system files. 10GB is not enough for normal, user files—neither is 20GB; that is, if you're planning on being active on your Ubuntu installation. You can have Ubuntu pick up another Linux installation and modify or create files on there (assuming you have the permission to do so). It's not necessarily a safe thing to edit files stored on a NTFS partition from Ubuntu. Unless you're planning on using your Ubuntu as a secondary operating system where you would barely be creating any files, then 20GB is not practical.

[rob86 2]

This partitioning stuff is kind of confusing. What kind of file system does Linux use? ext4? What about this external HDD I have, it is completely FAT32. Does that mean the stuff like videos, pictures and mp3s couldn't be opened in Ubuntu safely (or at all) and I would have to make a partition on that to be able to use it to store data created on ubuntu? Just trying to understand this because I need to know how much deleting I'm going to have to do.. all of my hdd's are full.

[truefusion 3]

This partitioning stuff is kind of confusing. What kind of file system does Linux use? ext4? What about this external HDD I have, it is completely FAT32. Does that mean the stuff like videos, pictures and mp3s couldn't be opened in Ubuntu safely (or at all) and I would have to make a partition on that to be able to use it to store data created on ubuntu? Just trying to understand this because I need to know how much deleting I'm going to have to do.. all of my hdd's are full.

Ubuntu (i.e. Linux) can read any kind of file (with the exception of Windows exe and other Windows-specific files) from a NTFS or FAT32 file system no problem. However, it is uncertain how writing to a NTFS partition would turn out; writing to FAT32 is fully supported under Linux. Linux uses whatever file system is available from the list of file systems that you are provided with (and probably more). Ext4 is currently the latest de facto standard. As mentioned earlier, unless you're planning to be as active in Ubuntu as you are in your Windows set up, you're not going to need much space for Ubuntu.

 

The external uses a file system that is fully supported under Linux; however, that file system is pretty old to be using for practical use, and i do not know if that external HDD can be partitioned and (re)formatted.

[Spyke Jones 0]

There's not much to get confused about if you can follow a few good instructions...like a few posts above.Besides, Ubuntu makes it pretty simple now to do this...just take a deep breath anddo one thing at a time....just back everything up first!!!!Kind of like the old 'measure twice, cut once' deal.

[rob86 2]

Welllll, I tried installing Ubuntu. Good news and bad news. Good news - It was surprisingly easy, quite different from my horrifying experience with Tiny Linux where I had a page of commands to type in by hand. I didn't expect it to be that simple as just clicking next a couple times. ;)Bad news, it appears that the disk must have had some corrupted files, because the installation failed at 60% and said something about a bad file. I suppose this isn't colossal bad news, but it does mean I'm going to have to spend the next 70 hours downloading it and lagging because of it :PI should have checked out what file was corrupt, maybe I could have just replaced that individual file and remade the .iso.

[truefusion 3]

Bad news, it appears that the disk must have had some corrupted files, because the installation failed at 60% and said something about a bad file. I suppose this isn't colossal bad news, but it does mean I'm going to have to spend the next 70 hours downloading it and lagging because of it

Ubuntu provides an md5 checksum (assumes Ubuntu 9.04) that you can use to verify if the ISO you downloaded has been modified. If the checksum matches, then it could be that the CD may be too scratched up or some other reason.

[rvalkass 5]

There is also an option when you first put the CD in the drive and restart your computer, when the menu appears, to check the installation media for defects. Run that before you install next time to make sure the CD burned correctly. The ISO file you downloaded may well be fine - it could just be a dodgy disk.

[The Simpleton 2]

Sad to hear that you didn't get through the installation. That's the risk with downloading such large files from the net. I would suggest that you request for a cd from shipit.ubuntu.com - if you request a single cd it usually comes soon and it's clean. you can save a lot of time this way. if you think you can't wait then try borrowing a cd from someone and even if that doesn't work then the only way is to download another copy

[rob86 2]

I didn't download it, that's where I got the CD - shipit.ubuntu.com! It looks okay, no scratches, I was surprised the installation failed. I would think they'd check the cd before shipping. I checked the filesystem squashfs file's md5sum manually and it appears to match up but I'll try the check installation thing in the menu later. Maybe something weird happened and it will work if I try again.... Hmm...