Win XP / Linux

[rOuLdpH]

does any one know how to Make a dual boot system with windows xp and a verson of linux?

I know i have to partition my Hard drive and thats about all i know,

i have a 160gb drive and windows xp already installed and i need to know how many GB i sould use for linux.

are there any extra steps becides partitioning and instaling linux?


Thanks, i'll take any advice i can get

 

[Crusty]

Most linux distrobutions will setup the dual booting for you automatically, but if it doesn't work out of the box be sure to have some sort of recovery CD available. Preferably a Linux Live CD like Knoppix 🙂. If it doesn't work then post and ask for help.

As for space, I would recommend having at least a 10gb partition, if not 20gb. My current setup is WinXP on 18gb 10k scsi drive and Debian on a different one, with a 40gb and 120gb EIDE drive for storage.

 

[drag]

Yep. You install WinXP and leave 20gigs of unpartitioned and unformated space. Then you install Linux and it should take care of the dual booting and partitioning pretty much automaticly.

Be aware of the x86 partitioning limitations, though. You have a maximum of 4 real partitions. If you want more then that you have to plan ahead and make the 4th partition into a extended partitoin. Then you divide the extended partition into logical partitions. You can only have one extended partition, but as many logical partitions as you want.

 

[jst0ney]

Yeah what everyone else said. Use seperate partitions and install xp first. Then let Linux do its a thing.

 

[330Pilot]

Or you can just install XP, then let Linux do its thing. Distros like Debian\Mandrake come with excellent partitioning tools that work at install time, and will not kill your XP install.