Laptop Dual boot with WinXP

pgaltieri at cox.net pgaltieri at cox.net
Thu Jul 12 14:42:24 UTC 2007


---- Aaron Konstam <akonstam at sbcglobal.net> wrote: 
> On Wed, 2007-07-11 at 23:44 -0400, H.S. wrote:
> > 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.
> Although I agree with you in principle, in practice this is what I have
> found. The local Linux User Group runs install fests. We have had a hell
> of a time with the Compaq's secret partition, which turns out to be
> formatted something odd like FAT12. But what you propose might work.
> --
> =======================================================================
> Because I do, Because I do not hope, Because I do not hope to survive
> Injustice from the Palace, death from the air, Because I do, only do, I
> continue... -- T.S. Pynchon
> =======================================================================
> Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam at sbcglobal.net
> 
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I have a Dell that came with XP installed.  I loaded partition magic on XP, used it to repartition the drive and create the Linux partition.  Worked great. FWIW, Here's my partition information:

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           7       56196   de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *           8        5106    40957717+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            5107       12161    56669287+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5            5107        7019    15366141    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6            7020        7032      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda7            7033       12161    41198661   8e  Linux LVM

Paolo




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