I've just hold of a HP Compaq 6910p and I've been trying to install Linux on it.

I've tried installing both Fedora and Debian, but every time it comes to Partitioning, The installers can't see the windows partition.

Unfortunately I need to keep windows on their for work as they use in house developed programs.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Windows machines usually use all the hard-disk space without leaving any unformatted space. You can free some space using Windows' native disk resizing tool. I am talking about Windows 7 because earlier Windows versions don't have that tool. I suggest you use Windows to free space to avoid corrupting the Windows installation although usually this does not occur. Then, when you have free unformatted space, you can start your Linux installation.

That's pretty vague. Are you selecting Create Custom Layout in Fedora? If not which option? Same for Debian. More detailed information on what exactly happens and at what point you have the problem would be helpful. Can you boot either Fedora or Debian and login to a terminal as root and get partition information: fdisk -l output?

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You should use the gparted live cd and resize your windows partition, then try your Linux install again. As always, make sure you backup your Windows partition in case you make mistakes. If you want to do this with a linux live cd, Knoppix has gparted installed on it. It will also detect and mount your NTFS partition in the live cd environment.

On fedora I get to the stage where it asks me what types of devices my installation will involve to Which I select Basic Storage devices. The installer then examines the the hard drive and comes up with the following error box:

Debian also gets to the stage where it ask's me how want to partition the drive, but always detect a empty drive when I choose guided or manual partitioning.

I've even created a ext3 partition using windows to see if that would help but it made no difference.

I've attached the result of fdisk -l as an image to the post.

I will try to download to download gparted later and try partition with that.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Based on the Warning entry in the image you posted, using GParted might be helpful although your fdisk output shows two windows and one Linux partition. Strange that fdisk sees them and your OS installer doesn't.

For anyone trying out GNU/Linux for the first time, I suggest they first resize their Windows (>=7) using the Windows' native tool. This avoids corrupting the ntfs file system. Yes, gparted works, but Windows still complains on the next boot invoking its disk scanning and repairing tool.

So, my advice goes like this:
a) shrink the Windows partition using Windows
b) install a linux distribution in the free unformatted space.