Problems with creating LVM in dual boot (CentOS/Win7) system
 

Hi everyone,

I am currently setting dual boot on a laptop (Thinkpad T60p if it matters - will be buying a T520 soon though :D). I installed Win7 without a hitch and then I started to install CentOS 5.5 (32-bit).

On systems that I only install CentOS, I am able to create an LVM that takes the majority of the hard disk without a problem. However, when I try to do that in a system with dual boot, I can't maximize the size of the LVM, or at least it doesn't seem like I can do that without creating additional logical volumes which doesn't seem to make sense.

For example:
I have a 500GB disk - I partitioned it so that I have about 260GB for Windows and the rest for CentOS. I go through the CentOS installer and create the LVM.

Even though the partition manager knows I have enough space to do this, it seems like I can only create one that's a small fraction of the remaining free space.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can solve this?

Please note: I know that I can buy a hard disk and avoid this problem, but I am sure there has to be a solution somewhere.

Thanks!

@ Reply
 

Hi there,

How many partitions do you have in your Windows installation. As you know on a single disk you can have only 4 primary partitions and that is the reason I would like to know about windows partitions in place and their type.

I faced similar kind of issue during CentOS install on my netbook and finally I have to make changes in my windows partitions to get things going. During the time of install how many partitions does it show up.

Could you please let us know how you are trying to setup partitions in CentOS?

RE: Problems with creating LVM in dual boot (CentOS/Win7) system
 

Hi there,

Thanks for the fast reply!

My answers to your question are below:

I have two NTFS partitions in Windows - 160GB (/dev/sda2 C: drive and 100GB D: drive (/dev/sda3).

When I first installed CentOS, I took the remaining unformatted space (200GB or so) and then used the Anaconda installer to create the boot partition (100MB), took the remaining space and created /dev/sda4, trying to create the other partitions inside that LVM. I am able to create a few with the "right" size (totaling to about 50GB), but when I try to create a large one with the remaining space (150GB), I can't do it.

I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know.

Thanks!

@ Reply
 

Alright. That made things pretty clear.

You said that you have two Windows partitions. I am assuming there is no OS recovery or any such partition of the system like it usually comes with laptop.

I would suggest you to create a primary partition for /boot and give it 100 or 200 MB and then create extended partition from rest of the space. Under extended partition you can create LVM partitions for /root /home etc.

I hope this helps.

Jeff -

Dude, check out Acronis: http://www.acronis.com/

With that program, you can change primary drives to logical drives. You should only need one primary for Win7 so, using Acronis, change the other drives to logical. When you install Linux, create a /boot partition and make your LVM however large/small you want.

Acronis costs 50 bucks, but I know there's another free program out there somewhere that does a comparable job. My advice: Use Acronis and partition your face off.