Dual Boot Linspire and Windows XP
( Lindows )

How to setup a computer to dual boot
XP and Linspire 4.5. These instructions assume
that you have configured your computer
to be able to boot from CDs. This is not
step by step, please fill in the gaps.

You will lose all data on your drive!!!
Use at your own risk.

This is what I did:

STEP A.
1. Insert and load XP bootable CD
2. Remove all existing partitions
3. Create at least 2 new partitions

Take a note of the size of the partitions.
Example: If you have a 60000MB hard drive,
make 1 partition 32000MB and the other 28000MB.
This will help you to identify which partition
XP is installed on later.

4. Format 1st partition as your C: drive for XP
5. Format 2nd partition
6. Proceed with installing XP on the C: partition
-----Take note of the partition size
-----example: 32000MB
7. XP installation completed

STEP B.
1. Insert and load Linspire bootable CD
2. Choose ADVANCED installation
3. Select (highlight) the partition that is not the same size as the XP partition
-----example: 28000MB

When you are on this screen, you should see for “example”:
-----DISK 1 SIZE 60000MB
----------Primary 1 NTFS SIZE 32000MB
----------Primary 2 NTFS SIZE 28000MB
Size will be listed in GB not MB

Obviously if your XP partition is the 32000MB one, don’t use that.
You would use the 28000MB partition.
There may also be a smaller partition about 1KB in size,
don't use that either.

4. Yes to "Take over disk partition"

5. Continue through naming your computer and setting
a password and continue with installation.

6. After the installation is complete it will ask you
to remove the installation CD, then restart the
computer

The boot loader automatically allows you to start XP
or Linspire. Now was that EASY or what?

Hi,

Linspire provides good soultion with FAQ's style. You should visit the following FAQ link to check how to make dual boot with Ms windows OS.

http://www.linspire.com/faq.php?faq=faq15

http://www.linspire.com/faq.php?faq=faq821

http://www.linspire.com/installhelp

Hope this helps.

--Hitesh

Good links hitesh_linux
Thank you

You welcome !

--Hitesh
------------------
Be a Part of Open source !!

I changed my instructions above
because I did this with a 2nd machine
and my results were slightly different,
due to having an older hard drive.

If in doubt, try the official Linspire FAQ.

Hi.

I just downloaded Linspire 4.5 and am trying to install. I'm running XP on a 50gb partition of a 120gb drive. I want to put Linspire on another partition. I've read the specs on Linspire and they say

* Linspire doesn't support NTFS
* LInspire doesn't support a drive greater than 10gb.

So... I created a FAT32 partition on my drive using Windows XP disk management. I created it as a primary partition.

When I rebooted with the Linspire CD it didn't see that partition. Do I need to make that partition bootable for Linspire to see it? If so, how do I go about doing that?

Also, any idea as to why the heck Linspire can take over and reformat an entire hard drive but can't partition and format 10gb of unpartitioned space to install too? Seems to me that this would be a good way to make it so you don't need to be a PC expert to install Linspire.

I have a newer 120GB drive for these instructions.
The reason I used the XP installer disk to partition
my drive is that I did not have any other partitioning
software available.

As I stated above, I made 2 partitions.
Both partitions were then fully formated using NTFS.
(Please be aware that both partitions had to be
formatted for Linspire to even recognize them)

Once you get to the Advanced Linspire screen
for setting up the partitions, it will allow you
to replace your alternate NTFS partition with it's own
partition and format it as ReiserFS. I have not tried
this with FAT32.

You should also be able to use other partitioning
programs to setup your partitions, but I did it
the cheap way.

Thanks for your post gamer. It led me to the problem... Linspire doesn't support SATA drives.

Actually, what I discovered was that Linspire was never recognizing my SATA drive but was seeing my secondary IDE drive. Stupid me... I was too dumb to notice the size of the partition it was finding (38gb instead of 53gb) or I would have known it never saw the SATA drive.

So my next step is to split that drive and partition it for Linspire ...And I thought this would be a quick and dirty install. What concerns me now is that, having a new machine, what else on this motherboard is not supported by Linspire. When I run Diagnostics on the Linspire install CD I get errors out the wazoo! I'm having visions of that Buggs Bunny cartoon where Elmer Fudd turns in to a donkey and the sign reading "Jack A$$" pops up.

gamer & Jump,

Linspire do not NTFS partitions. you can install on free space or FAT 32 partition. Yes, Linspire do not SATA, RAID HDD.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LInspire doesn't support a drive greater than 10gb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
No, Linspire supports more then 10GB partitions or drive.

Jump, can u put ur new machines hardware details (with make and model number of each products)here. so we can give the exact details which supports, which not.

Also, did you check my previously suggested link about installation help in the same thread.

-/Hitesh

Correct, Linspire won't use NTFS, but it recognizes an NTFS partition
when you are in advanced mode for installation. I have done this
on 3 different machines and the only way that Linspire will see
the partitions (using my method) is to format the partitions
using NTFS first. Then Linspire will recognize the partitions
and you can then reformat one of them using ReiserFS.

I have only tried this with IDE drives

Thanks for all the replies. Here's where I stand at 11:30PM tonight.

I freed up 10gb on my secondary IDE drive and ran the Lindows install. Since I have a SATA drive and it's at the top of my boot priority I haven't yet booted from the IDE. I'm going to have to look at my bios and see how to swap the order. Anyway... until I reboot I won't know if it installed properly.

I just wanted to update you all. I'll let you know as soon as I get something.

Oh... is there anything I can use from XP... some third party app... to see the lindows partition? XP doesn't recognize the format and neither does Partition Magic.

Again, thanks for all the advice... you know, two heads and all.

HJ

I use XP Pro and I can see the partition
by going into the Control Panel, Click Administrative Tools,
click Computer Management, under storage click Disk Management.

I can see the parition, but I doubt that I can access the partition/files/etc.
from Windows XP.

As a side note:
If you need to use Windows programs, there are several
ways to do that using either
$39 http://codeweavers.com
$69-$89 http://www.linspire.com/lindows_prod....php?q=win4lin
$200+ http://www.vmware.com/

Codeweavers and win4lin run on Linspire, but I am not sure about VMware.
I prefer Codeweavers, its cheap and runs like butter on Linspire.

I have created additional partitions using Partition Magic... ver5 and ver 7.

Before reading the instructions that come with Lindows/Linspire I always formatted Ext2 because it is a Linux file system. It always worked
Then I read the instructions. Yeah, I know, "when all else fails, read the instructions" lol. So I formatted the new partition FAT-32. That also worked. So I guess as long as the installer can read there are exisiting partitions, it will identify them in the Advanced install screen.
Qt-PartEd comes on the Knoppix LiveCD and does a good job. However, be careful if you use Qt-PartEd. A very experienced network administrator friend of mind warned me that sometimes using non-Microsoft tools will result in a partition failing to be recognised correctly by Microsoft Windows. That even applies to Partition Magic, and I have been caught that way.

Windows can usually be restored if you end up in strife by using FDISK and its /MBR switch, but be careful.

Linspire cannot pickup my PCMCIA CARD. Utterly disappointed.

There is no proper control panel for the computer hardware.
If u change the time you will have to log off for the changes to be effective. Not good at all.

I will be working on it and try to find out more about it.

Hitesh!!! whats your answer.

I installed Linspire due to technical complications with Windows XP. replacing it to make Linspire the main OS. I would like to get rid of Linspire, because I can't do anything with it, It's completely worthless to me. How can I go about removing Linspire and re-installing Windows XP? Please get back to me as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your time.