Install windows Xp AFTER linux...
 

Hi everyone
i have an ugly problem, i need to install windows xp on my laptop AFTER i already installed ubuntu edgy (that works wonderfully)
well if i put the xp boot cd it hangs after trying to boot, probably because doesnt like the reiserfs and ext3 partitions i have there, but i have no way the will to delete my linux partitions to install win xp.
Anyway i need xp to be there for some testing purposes (and also because no touchscreen driver for linux) so i wish there was a way to go around that..
I already have an old installation of Xp there, but is slow and crappy and i wish i could start a new one (also smaller because i have only a 40gb hdd and i don't want to waste 20gb for win xp).
I tried to set the partitions to "hidden" and boot xp cd with no luck, the only effect i got was that my grub mbr was destroyed and i had to set again...
Any suggestion how to go around this bothersome problem?
Thanks in advance!
Agostino

Hi. I dont quite understand what you already have. You say you have Ubuntu but you also mention an old installation of XP. If this is the case XP must be on the first partition or it will not boot. If your XP is u.s and/or you need to scrub Ubuntu to reinstall XP, and Linux I hope, then I think 'gparted live cd' is your answer.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Burn it to cd and then you can boot off it and repartition to your hearts content.

BashTin

bashtin
Thanks for your answer
i explain better what i have:
i have an old installation of Xp on hd0,0
a linux swap on hd0,1
ext 3 root on hd0,2
reiserfs home on hd0,3
the problem is that i DONT want to wash off my ubuntu, i want only to reinstall windows Xp on a smaller partition in order to have more space for ubuntu
i need to reinstall because the old Xp is pretty screwed up..
and i dont want to wash off ubuntu because i compiled a few drivers i needed to make my acpi work and i don't want to find what did i do (which i forgot)
Thanks

No problem. Go with gparted and you can just format hd0,0, reinstall XP which will over write you Master Boot Record (MBR) so then you will need to boot off your ubuntu rescue/installation disk and re-install lilo so you can boot both os's.

BashTin.

bashtin, but my windows boot cd doesn't boot while there are linux partitions...what can i do about that?

I dont understand why not. Having Liunx partitions should make no difference to booting off a cd, Windows or otherwise. The only thing I could imagine is if it does not like the parition table or something, I dont know, I am not familiar with such detail. But if it was me and as your XP is useless anyway I would run gparted and this will write the new partition table to disk and this just MAY get around the problem if indeed XP does not like something about the table or poss MBR?

That is about all the advise I can offer. Perhaps someone with better knowledge may like to offer some advise.

Good luck.

BashTin.

bashtin, i tried to use partition magic, paragon partition magic, and gparted via a bootdisk, nothing works, windows doesnt like linux..
i was wondering if there is a way to backup partition table, put a partition table with only a windows partition, install windows, then restore partition table..

You could check and see if your Bios has your rom booting before your hard disk. Also, try another bootable disk to see if the problem is in your winXP disk.

Yes as cellaright says have you set it up in the bios to boot off the cdrom?? They cant all not boot. As the system is booting you need to press a key to get into the bois to set it to boot off the cdrom (F2 on my machine).

BashTin.

PS you mean by 'nothing works' nothing boots or XP will still not boot after running these tools???

well seems the only way to do that is this (thanks to bill gates which put this neat linux checker)
make (if you don't have already) a fat-ntfs partition via gparted o partition magic
reboot with a boot disk
backup your partition table
delete ALL linux partitions BUT the windows one
reboot and install winzoze
once winzoze runs reboot with bootcd and restore the partition table backup
TADA
working system.
however ubuntu doesn't mount automagically windows anymore..