Windows XP & Fedora on one computer

Jerry Feldman gaf at blu.org
Thu Oct 2 19:17:26 UTC 2008


I've been doing Linux installfests for about 15 years. With only one 
exception I've been able to shring the Windows partition and install 
various Linux distros in a dual boot. However, I try to be overly safe 
since we work with other peoples' systems. Here are the steps:
1. Defragment Windows. There can be errors if you fail to do this.
2. Boot a Live CD such as Gparted or Knoppix.
3. Shrink the Windows partitions (C drive should be /dev/sda, and there 
might be a D: drive).
   You can do this in Vista with the Vista resize tool.
4. Reboot windows. This is just a sanity check, because resizing does 
not destroy data. If you fail to boot restore the partition table.
5. Install Linux. Fedora 9 and other distros recognize that a Windows 
system is installed and should set up GRUB properly.
6. When rebooting, reboot into Windows just to check that it boots. If 
it doesn't, then there are other more complicated things you can try to 
do that I won't go into.

I currently run Ubuntu on my laptop with Virtualbox and Windows XP as 
the guest OS. My home system is a Fedora 9 system also with Virtualbox.


Another way that you can do things is to install virtualbox under 
Windows (XP or Vista), and run Linux as a guestOS. Linux is my preferred 
host OS for a number of reasons, but the Linux file systems tend to be 
more robust and faster than the the Windows file systems, but the 
advantage to a person who is just getting into the Linux experience is 
that it is non-destructive.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846


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