Dual Booting Linux ... or is it dual booting windows?

[kevlar557 0]

I just picked up a copy of SUSE enterprise server (at least I think it's called that). Anyway, I want to put it on my nice machine, which happens to have a installation of windows XP kind of buried in it. What I want to do is to be able to have the linux on a seperate partition as my windows, but be able to boot either or at start-up. Also, I need to be able to re-partition the partion that I have now, without reformatting it.

[qwijibow 0]

Im not sure if SuSE can do this automatically i know mandrake doesl)... anyone else know ???

boot the suse install cd, and only go as far as the partiton settings.
is there any options to re-size the windows partiton ???

if so, do it

if not, then abort the install.

you need to resize (shrink) your windowsXP partiton before booting the suse install cd.

You can either do this with partiton magic for windowsXP,
or with linux-ntfs for linux. http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

partition magic is not free, (dont know if you can get a trial version)

if not, then boot knoppix, and use linux-ntfs or qtparted to resize.

[jonypawks 0]

I would heavily recommend not using Partition Magic. Myself and many of my friends have had problems when resizing NTFS partitions with it. If you're not using NTFS then go ahead with it if you're more comfortable with it. I would recommend using qtparted, it's worked great for us in the past.

[vhortex 1]

Im not sure if SuSE can do this automatically i know mandrake doesl)... anyone else know ???

 

boot the suse install cd, and only go as far as the partiton settings.

is there any options to re-size the windows partiton ???

 

if so, do it

 

if not, then abort the install.

 

you need to resize (shrink) your windowsXP partiton before booting the suse install cd.

 

You can either do this with partiton magic for windowsXP,

or with linux-ntfs for linux. http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

 

partition magic is not free, (dont know if you can get a trial version)

 

if not, then boot knoppix, and use linux-ntfs or qtparted to resize.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

this can be done with any linux OS..

 

first install the windows OS since microsoft has a very high reputation in ruining a linux or unix systems boot loader.

 

aftet the windows OS system is installed [which is the case for you] you can then install the linux or unix OS..

 

NOTE: dont use OEM versions since they tend to search for specific chips on the pcs. red hat linux is a good smple of non OEM linux.

 

if your harddisk have partitions then good, use the remaining partition for the linux / unix install.

 

if not follow the suggestion above regarding partition magic..

 

aftet the partition have been setp up properly you can install the linux / unix OS and they all have a multi boot software which is GRub for red hat linux.

 

I won explain how to install the linux/unix OS since they all have different ways of instalation.

[qwijibow 0]

this can be done with any linux OS..

but like i said, not with any distro installer.

ive never seen a distro other than mandrake that had an ntfs-linux fronend build into the install program.

[marijnnn 0]

most of the distro's have a bootloader though. would be installes on your linux disk.basicly: you need: a windows partitionat least... let's say 3gig of spacethen during setup, make a swap partition of about the size of your memory. the rest of the free space, you make ext3 partition, mounting point /if you install windows after you installed linux, you can boot from your cd and most of the times, type "rescue" as boot command.that'll give you the option to reinstall your bootloader.my 2 cents

[qwijibow 0]

his porblem is resizing the ntfs partiton

[vhortex 1]

but like i said, not with any distro installer.

 

ive never seen a distro other than mandrake that had an ntfs-linux fronend build into the install program.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your right about that ntfs thingy, even linux dont have a built-in support for ntfs. I still need to patch it to load ntfs partitions.

 

most of the time, I use some more software before I install linux/unix just to repartition the harddrive.

 

Guess linux/unix must have support in their installers..

[marijnnn 0]

aw, overread that. maybe this might help, but i guess you'll need a knoppix copy or another live cd (like ubuntu, which has apt-get, which is great)

otherwise: partition magic, it's the easiest way i guess.

[qwijibow 0]

just so you dont get any more confused than u need to be, you only need that link if you are using an old version of linux. the ntfs driver is built into modern kernels.

[Zageyiff 0]

The easiest way to do that is using the partition magicIf one guy had troubles resizing the ntfs partition, then maybe it should have damage some clusters on his hard disk.So before trying to resizing it, make a scandisk.And maybe if you defragment your hard disk, the resizing could take less time.I have make the resizing of ntfs partitions, and have no problems with the partition magic. And if you are going to install linux, i recommend you to don't overwrite the MBR sector of your hard disk.I think it's better if you install the GRUB or LILO on the beggining of your linux partitionAnd use the boot.ini that the XP/2003/NT windows have (if you have on of those SO's)Any questions on this, you may ask...

[organicbmx 0]

your goning to have to take the plunge though. There can be no insurance against losing data with a resize but its pretty unlikely. I would personally backup any important files but the system should be fine - ive never heard of anyone destoying windows by partitioning.You could always do what im going to do for my main computer - buy a new seperate harddrive an install linux on that and leave your windows one alone. Someone please tell me if that not going to work - im sure it will.I used QTparted on Knoppix a while ago to resize a fat32 partition and it worked perfectly. I think if you were to do the partitioning on knoppix then run the install program for your distro it should find the partitions and all you would have to do it select them - dont quote me on that though, i use non gui gentoo.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

SuSE has an automatic detector and pre-configure NTFS partition to read.xboxrulz

[patchcr 0]

xboxrulz, when you say that NTFS is built in to all modern kernels what kind of functionality does that give you. I have Novell Desktop 9 installed (which is basically SuSe). When I manage to find the "windows" drives, I could read any kind of data, but not change or create data on the drive.Is there a distro, package or kernel I can install that will allow me to access my files from an NTFS drive and treat them like I would if I was in a Windows environment. For example. I would love to be able to change the ID3 tags on my mp3's. This was the sole purpose I had to quit using Novell on a regular basis. I was learning a lot about installing packages and navigating the OS but if I can't actively improve my music collection then there was no point in using linux.-PatchCR

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

According the Linux-NTFS, you can recompile your kernel to allow to only write (w/ out rename) but it is extremely not recommended as you may screw-up those files just by writing.

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/ for more info

xboxrulz