XP / Linux dual boot partitioning issue

[Dooling37]

hey all,

just trying to do a basic Linux (RH 9) / XP Pro dual boot install. Installed RH first, with /boot, /, and swap partitions. Now, when I try to start the XP in the remaining unpartitioned space (~50GB), it gives me the error message:

"Setup cannot create a new partition in the space you selected because the maximum number of partitions already exists on the disk."

?? Never run into this before. Am I going to have to re-partition the RH install with some 3rd party software to make room for another partition? Or reinstall entirely (and if so, how can I use less than 3 partitions)?

thanks much for help...

 

[Robor]

I think you can only have a max of 4 (EDITED: so it's not 3? ah, thanks for the correction) primary partitions and I'm pretty sure only root ( mounted at / ) needs to be a primary. Windows will have to be primary as well of course. Also, I think installing Windows after Linux will wipe your Linux boot loader. You might want to start over by installing WinXP first.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I think it's 4 primary partitions, and I'm not sure if that really affects Linux (I know BSD can have up to 16 partitions). But anyhow:

1. Don't use RedHat 9. It died and was buried YEARS ago. Use Fedora Core 4 or 5.
2. Install Windows first. It's the stupider of the two installations.

 

[Smilin]

The limitation you are bumping into isn't really OS specific.

There are only four lines in the partition table.

You get four primary partitions and that's it. If you want more you have to make one of the partitions and extended partition. In this situation the partition entry points out on the disk to where your partition plus an extended boot record is. This record will then point to another and so on like a linked list. Extended partitions have no limit other than the number of sectors on the disk.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I think it's 4 primary partitions, and I'm not sure if that really affects Linux (I know BSD can have up to 16 partitions). But anyhow:

1. Don't use RedHat 9. It died and was buried YEARS ago. Use Fedora Core 4 or 5.
2. Install Windows first. It's the stupider of the two installations.

:roll:

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I think it's 4 primary partitions, and I'm not sure if that really affects Linux (I know BSD can have up to 16 partitions). But anyhow:

1. Don't use RedHat 9. It died and was buried YEARS ago. Use Fedora Core 4 or 5.
2. Install Windows first. It's the stupider of the two installations.

:roll:

RH9is dead. It's a fact.
Maybe there is some secret voodoo to it, but I haven't seen in XP's installation the installation options I have in RH. Want to link to some documentation on how to access these things?

 

[Dooling37]

hmm, ok... I thought I'd always installed Linux first, followed by Windows, but it's been awhile.

I'll start over with XP, then install FC 4.


Thanks for the guidance...

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Dooling37
hmm, ok... I thought I'd always installed Linux first, followed by Windows, but it's been awhile.

I'll start over with XP, then install FC 4.


Thanks for the guidance...

Be careful!

I loaded FC4 on a system with an existing install of Win2003 server. I had planned to dual boot it but after I got FC4 loaded and patched I rebooted it and it booted to Windows instead of FC4 (I guess this is default?). Anyway, I wasn't paying attention and on reboot Windows did a chkdsk on C and borked my Fedora Core 4 install. This forced me to reinstall FC4 and during the reinstall I blew away the Windows partitions out of spite. 😉

 

[pkme2]

Our university system has Windows 2000 and FC4 on dual boot without problems. When dual booting with Windows XP and FC4, we find that the Windows XP kernel eventually overpowers the Linux kernel.
I've have Linux on 2 computers, Ubuntu and FC4, sharing 1 monitor etc, by KVM.
You can build a inexpensive Linux computer (a P2 up to Athlon x64, your choice) very easily without any compatibilty problems, instead of a dual boot. There's too many problems with windows to try for that kind of economics.
So build a cheap Linux system and use a KVM switch and flip between Windows and Linux at the same time.