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win xp and linux dual boot ?

N

Nab

Senior member
I have two hard drives on my computer. The first one has Win XP Pro on it (what i'm running now) and the other harddrive is partitioned into two different drive letters. What i was wondering was, if I install Linux onto one of the other two partitions, how will XP respond to that? When i reboot my computer will I have the option of booting up xp or linux? (linux is actually a program called "lindows', i figured that'd be a good step in learning before i go to linux). I was concerned b/c in the WIN XP help it said :

Windows XP supports multiple booting with MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000.


does that mean that i'lll have problems if I install Lindows? Thanks in advance.
 
If you're new to linux, try checking out Knoppix... it's basically Debian, but it runs straight from a CD... you won't have to worry about messing with your hard drives. I'm haven't used Lindows personally, but you might as well learn a "real" linux distro... and you can't really mess too much up using Knoppix!

(No offense to anyone who uses/supports Lindows... I just don't quite what to think of it at this point... anyone out there using it?)
 
Lindows -bah hiss. From what I see it's a attempt to make linux into a crappy shareware version of windows. Maybe I am being hard on it. I'll have to check it out one of these days...
 
What I've been doing is booting from floppy.
When I install Linux, I choose not to install any boot manager, but create a boot floppy.
That way,
1. I don't mess up with boot record, zero risk
2. I don't have to wait for powerup/reboot to make a selection -- just
insert the floppy and powerup/reboot, come back in 2 minutes.
3. Install Linux to any disk and ONLY that disk, when reinstall/uninstall,
no need to update/remove boot manager, just create a new floppy (reinstall) or
remove the linux partition/disk (uninstall).
 
To add to what thesix just said, you can then create a bootable cd in Nero from that floppy. No chance of it being erased. This works well for me. By the way, I'm new to the forum. Hi
 
Originally posted by: saftyhawk
To add to what thesix just said, you can then create a bootable cd in Nero from that floppy. No chance of it being erased. This works well for me. By the way, I'm new to the forum. Hi
Click to expand...


welcome to the forums!! I think i'm gonna get a real version of linux first, and then try it out. thanks for the help.
 
since i already had lindows i went ahead and installed it to my new partition. In the installation process there is no place to make a boot disk, but on my desktop after installation there is a icon "Boot WinLinux 2000" so i double click that...and get this error message:

CPU is in V86-mode
You need pure 386/486 real mode or a VCPI server to boot linux
Warning: Not enough free memory <load buffer size>

there was stuff inbetween the stuff above, but i think what i wrote above are the important parts. Can anyone help me with the problem?
 
Originally posted by: NaughtyusMaximus
What about when you reboot, is there any prompt asking you to choose what OS?
Click to expand...

there is no prompt...winXP pro boots up like normal
 
What I've been doing is booting from floppy.
When I install Linux, I choose not to install any boot manager, but create a boot floppy.
That way,
1. I don't mess up with boot record, zero risk
2. I don't have to wait for powerup/reboot to make a selection -- just
insert the floppy and powerup/reboot, come back in 2 minutes.
3. Install Linux to any disk and ONLY that disk, when reinstall/uninstall,
no need to update/remove boot manager, just create a new floppy (reinstall) or
remove the linux partition/disk (uninstall).
Click to expand...

1. Any way to do this if I dont have a floppy drive?
2. Can I use a generic linux boot disc made from another machine?
3. does xp even recognize (read files ) in the linux partition? or is it totally invisible in xp

peace

Using MAndrake by the way
 
ive only dual booted 2k and red hat linux.

it was easy, i made 3 partitions, installed 2k into the first. installed redhat into the second and used GRUB boot manager. it pretty much did everything for me. now when i boot, GRUB boot loader gives me the option of booting between Linux kernel 2.4.x.x and Dos (2k). on the third partition, i made it fat32 so i can share files between the 2 operating systems (mounting a vfat partition in linux).

but thats redhat... i dont know anything about lindows.
 
if you experts can't help me...nobody can....i'm just going to get red hat linux and try it out.....
 
I have zero experience with lindows, so can't help. When you install Redhat, there's a screen to choose boot manager, you can choose GRUB/LILO or no boot manager If you choose not to install boot manager, it will give you an warning message but you can move on, before install finishes, it will ask you to make a bootable floppy. If you don't have a floppy driver, then you have to install a boot mananger.
 
mandrake....i'mgonna try and get that...know where i can get that from? linux is suppose to be for free, right? so should i be able to get it for free?
 
i went to the mandrake website and they have a free download there....too bad for me 🙁 i have 56k....
 
a redhat download would take forever on a 56k... its 3 discs. your better off finding a friend with cablem/dsl and downloading from there. and yes, linux is free.

out of curiousity, why are you dual booting linux? if youre doing this to learn linux, i would suggest going with redhat. its pretty beginner friendly and at the same time powerful and robust. debian and mandrake are great as well, many like slackware but my experience has been mostly redhat. redhat is also the most widely enterprise used (i think).
 
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