qwijibow 0 Report post Posted February 20, 2005 okay.. ive given up on Linux's professional dvd authoring software... i cant get my head round it.its too powerfull for my basic needs, and im not an AV expert.. all the multiplexing is driving me mad.i got a simple tool that got bundles with my dvd-writer, its very simple.. but it does what i need.the free version of wine is having troubkle running it.so.... i need to install windows.my partiton table looks like so....Partiton1: Type = Linux, Filesystem=reiserfs size=60GB mount point = /Partiton2: Type = Linux Swap, Filesystem=swapFS, size=1GB, mount point = nonePartiton3: Type = Linux, Filesystem=reiserfs, size=7Gb, mount point / home/chrisPartition4: Type = fat32 Filesystem=not yet formatted, size=13GBhowever windowsXP detect only the last one correctly, all other as "unknown" which is to be expected.ANYWAYS....i boot the windows XP install disk, and select to install windows to partiton4.Windows then tells me, that in order to install to partiton4, it needs to format partiton1 (my 60Gb, linux root partiton !!!)why ?? i have no idea !!!partiton 2 is just swap space, i dont mind formating that.it also wouldnt kill me to backup partiton3 (my home directory)but backing up my root partiton will be very very very annoying !!!first off.. why does winows need to uninstall linux before it can install to a completely seperate partiton ?and how do i get around this ???there is no real need to format an unrelated partiton,, smells like ms is just trying to destroy the competition to me!after this failed attempt (when i quit out before doing anything) windows had corruptedthe boot loader, AND my partiton table. knoppix to the rescue :Panyways.. before i rant too much about you know what... does anyone have any idea's ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted February 20, 2005 Ok.. here's what's happening to you most likely...1. For some reallllly weird reason Windows 2K/XP WILL NOT allow you to install on a partition that is located on the cylinders above 1000 and something (forgot, 1038 probably). It just reports in certain cases that the cylinders' location will not meet the booting constraints. 2. I'm assuming that those Linux Partitions are all Primary - is the last Fat32 also primary ? Coz windows will velhemently refuse to install itself on an extended partition. 3. Probable solution - try hiding all the other partitions - use qtparted or whatever and declare all of them hidden, temporarily at least and see if it fools windows into believing that the only existing partition is that FAT32 one...4. If step 3 doesn't work then there's no probable way out coz the root of the problem lies in rule 1. In that case only solution is to get yourself another hdd - windows will happily install itself on the second one, provided you do so within the first 1000 cylinders...I've faced these problem numerous times - and always found it much easier to install windows first and then linux.. but in this case there's no way out... or maybe someone else can come up with something better idea. All the best Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qwijibow 0 Report post Posted February 20, 2005 I do have an old very very slow 6gig disk i could install windows to, but od ather not use it. (its very noisy)even when i attempt to install windowsXP to a seperate hard disk (with no partitons) it STILL wants me to format linux first.. fortunatly i can get round this by un-plugging the linux disk untill windows is installed.seriously !!windows is such a b1tch !i cant believe that its not programmed to seek and desktroy all non MS OS'sif im installing to a 6gig unformated disk... why on earth would it need to format my spererate 80gig linux disk.anyways, thanks for the idea, i will try qt-parted.someone else sursted using grub to hide the linux partitons, then boot the windows install CD.but the patches for grub booting a cd are labeled extremely experimental... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qwijibow 0 Report post Posted February 20, 2005 I gave up and installed a second hard disk.i will try to move the filesystem from the old slow disk onto partiton 4 with knoppix.ive never liked windows, but im very suprised at how poorly it handles partitons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinSquare 0 Report post Posted February 22, 2005 IN my case, i would of tried to get a copy of a older version of windows, try to see if it will install on that partion, and try to upgrade that OS to xp. not guarenting it would work, but in all sences, it should've. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
