Hello Everyone, as my name says I'm new here as well as to linux. Played a little with it and have a little knowledge. I have a question, I managed to install RHEL5 on my laptop and now I'm trying to install windows on top of it and make it a dual boot system. I tried to install WindowsXP by making CD-ROM as the primary booting device with Win XP OS CD in it, but after the first prompt which says something like "Press any key to boot from CD" all I see is a blank screen and it doesn't proceed any further.

Following is the information pertaining to my system.

[root@localhost ~]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup01-LogVol00
221G 2.1G 208G 1% /
/dev/sda1 99M 12M 82M 13% /boot
tmpfs 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /dev/shm
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 30401 244091610 8e Linux LVM
[root@localhost ~]# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Tue Aug 18 15:51:54 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

Please advise. Appreciate the help in advance.

Sincerely,
Max

If you want to dual boot you would be advised to install Windows FIRST and then Linux, as Linux (Well, OK, Grub) will provide the dual boot mechanism.
Windows doesn't acknowledge any other OS' installed on a system.

My

Play Bonny!

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Yeah windows first, then Linux


Couple of points

Windows XP support runs out April 2014

RHEL 5 is old !

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Why not run XP as a "virtual machine" inside of Linux? Since Windows XP is about to go "end of life" it is not safe to use as a primary operating system. However, if you run it as a virtual "guest" inside of Linux, isolated from the network, then you can use safe, secure Linux for most tasks, and only use Windows for those applications that absolutely require it. Furthermore, you can take a "snapshot" to easily roll XP back to a restore point if it gets hosed.

These instructions are for Ubuntu linux, but the same concept applies for Red Hat as well: http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Windo...ith-VirtualBox

As for Red Hat... I hope that you are not using RHEL 5.0 (released in 2007) without a subscription or updates. I recommend you contact Red Hat for help upgrading to the current version.

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before you go TOO FAR

the old RHEL5 is not a good choice for a laptop
and is it the very VERY old rhel5.0 or the current 5.10
( the CURRENT in the older legacy rhel5 is RHEL5.10 )


with the CURRENT redhat offering is RHEL 6.5 and RHEL 7.0 is in TESTING

Redhat is primarily a SEVER operating system
there is no real laptop support

it is a "well it ALSO might run on " support

there are a ton of things MISSING that laptops DO NEED
like -wireless support
multimedia support -- it is not there

so
do you REALLY NEED redhat ?
and do you REALLY !!! need ( as in it is a MUST 100% MUST use) the older RHEL5 ????

and if you DO NEED it
you do need to BUY the REQUIRED support contract !
RHEL is not really free
you NEED to buy the mandatory support contract
a 1 year standard workstation license it $299 per YEAR

or

there are FREE clones
CentOS 5.10 -- the OLD legacy version 5
CentOS 6.5 the current
ScientificLinux 5.10 -- the OLD legacy version 5
ScientificLinux 6.5 -- the current

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi, Thanks everyone (Soadyheid, Firerat, snowpine, John VV).. Snowpine.. I was thinking of installing Win XP as virtual machine but was concerned of the load on the laptop.

John VV ... I'm using RHEL 5.4, and I'm using RHEL not as a need but want to learn and make it build career in Linux. Are CentOS and scientificlinux both close to REHL? I tried Ubuntu but it is a little different from RHEL. If I want to remove RHEL OS that I installed on my laptop ..is there a specific way to do it. I'm unable to clean it off and install Win XP. I also tried DBAN(Darik's Boot And Nook) hard disk wiping software but still it didn't work. I'm unable to install Windows back on my laptop. Please advise. Thanks in advance.

CentOS, Scientific Linux, and Springdale Linux are indeed closely based on Red Hat. CentOS is now sponsored by Red Hat, so it should stay the closest.

You should be able to run a Windows installation disk just as you ran the Red Hat one. Exactly what happens when you try to install XP?

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When I insert the Windows disk into the the tray and try to boot it from the disk.. I see a prompt something like "press any key to boot from cd" and when I do that, all I see is a blank screen and nothing else. I waited for a long time, it does nothing. I tried it couple of times, its the same every time.

the windows XP install cd can NOT !!! read non Microsoft owned/patented/and copyrighted drive formats

the drive needs to be ether a blank unformatted drive
or formatted to NTFS ( GpartedLiveCD is a GREAT TOOL !!! )
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/


so

install XP
install the CURRENT CentOS 6.5

start with a BLANK or NTFS formatted drive

install xp on the first half of the drive
------
hidden deep in one of the menus ( and i do mean hidden ) is a check box that you need to UNCHECK
it is pre checked for your convenience to use the WHOLE drive

install CentOS 6.5 on the second half
and install grub on the FIRST!!!! non Microsoft partition
a 500 meg /boot partition
then a 2 gig SWAP partition
then make an EXTENDED!!! partition
then about 30 gig for /
and about 20 or so gig for /home

and SET!!!! the "boot flag" on the cent /boot partition
( very important on older hardware )
use "gparted live cd" to do that , it is the easiest way and you have a GUI to do it with.