Laptop Dual boot with WinXP

[H.S.]

Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-07-11 at 12:33 -0400, Mike - EMAIL IGNORED wrote:
>> Where can I get the best information on
>> how to install FC7 as dual boot with
>> WinXP on a Compaq laptop?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mike.
>>
> The good news is that it is easy to do. You should install WinXP first
> in the first partition on the disk, Then install f7   and tell the
> installer to leave the XP partition alone. Once it is installed f7 , XP
> will show up in grub.conf as Other and choosing that option will boot
> XP.
> 
> Now the bad news. Compaq has traditionally installed a special partition
> as the first partition if you buy the machine with XP installed. Dell
> does the same thing. This partition is used to restore XP.

I don't think that is really a problem. One approach is to use a live CD 
(Fedora's or, my preference, Ubuntu's) to boot up from that CD and 
resize the hard disk such that you reduce the size of Windows partition 
and leave the other initial partition (Compaq's or Dells' or another 
manufacturer's) as it is. Then, you may install Linux in the space you 
freed up by resizing Window's partition.

Note: It is very important to back up all important data you may have in 
Windows partition before trying this.

Also, a few friends of mine tries this with a Ubuntu live CD it worked 
out okay for them.

->HS

> So it is best thing is to have a copy of XP. Start the installation of
> Linux up to the partitioning step and repartition the disk to remove
> this partition. Then abort the Linux install and install the WinXP in
> the first partition. Continue as described above.
>