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dual boot by windows xp along with fedora

please any one advise how to boot fedora ie dual boot on my computer already with xp installed. i have 3 primary partitions 12.4gb each.i tried manual partitioning with fedora in the computer but i got confused so opted for automatic which altered my whole partition of xp in disk c

To install Linux on existing filesystem you need at least two free partitions, one for the root file system, and one for the swap (which should be from one through two your RAM size).
To dual boot Linux and Windows install Linux Grub boot loader in the MBR when installing Linux. Fedora Core installation will automatically detect other OS'es, and add them to load list.

Since you have installed Fedora in automatic mode, you will now need to re-install Windows.

There are two ways to go:

Easy:

Reinstall Windows--during install, tell it to make 1 partition of ~10-15GB. Leave the rest of the disk empty.
Install Fedora. During install, choose manual partioning, and create the two partitions needed. For /, use ~8GB, and ~1GB for swap. Again, leave the rest of the disk empty.
The Fedora installer will see the Windows install and automatically install and setup the bootloader. (If you are asked, tell it to put GRUB in the mbr of Drive 1.)

A bit harder:

Somehow, create empty space on the drive. Since you let Fedora take the whole disk, you will need a bootable CD to resize the Fedora partition. Options include GParted (Stand-alone utility) and QtParted (On--eg--the Knoppix Live CD)
(optional) From Fedora--or the live CD--make a GRUB boot floppy
Install Windows on a new partition--leaving the Fedora install untouched
Go back to Linux (live CD or boot floppy if you made one in step 2) and install GRUB and edit the crub configuration file to include Windows.

If you are very new to Linux, choose the first option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany

Since you have installed Fedora in automatic mode, you will now need to re-install Windows.<snip>

Not always true. When I installed FC6 on this laptop in automatic mode, the installer divided my 80Gb HD into two partitions: A 40GB NTFS one with XP on it, and another 40GB partition for the Fedora logical volume. (O.K., it was actually 4 partitions: hda1 for XP, a small hda2 FAT for the Gateway "recovery" miniNT, a small hda3 for /boot and hda5 for the logical volume. (hda4 if the "extended" partition, overlapping hda5.) It looks like this:

Code:

$ sudo /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hda

Password:



Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes



  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/hda1  *        894        5730    38853202+  7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/hda2              1        893    7172991    b  W95 FAT32

/dev/hda3            5731        5743      104422+  83  Linux

/dev/hda4            5744        9729    32017545    5  Extended

/dev/hda5            5744        9729    32017513+  8e  Linux LVM



Partition table entries are not in disk order

The point is that the NTFS resizing was done as part of the automatic process, without loosing any XP functionality.

You may note that the active partition is hda1, so XP is booted. That's because Gateway, in its infinite wisdom, had the BIOS written so that the miniNT partition (not even active) is booted first, and the miniNT checks for XP on the HD before booting hda1. If it doesn't find XP there, it starts a "recovery" process, which is a pain. If it find it there, it boots to it.

So I had to set up the XP boot.ini to boot into Fedora for me. Unless you've got one of these "brain-dead BIOS" system, you should be fine as you are. For those who're interested, here's what my boot.ini looks like:

Code:

$ cat /mnt/WinXP/c/boot.ini

[boot loader]

timeout=5

default=C:\linux.bin



[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

C:\linux.bin="Fedora"

The "linux.bin" file was created by installing GRUB on hda3, and then doing a dd of the first 512 bytes of hda3 to a file on hda2, which was then copied (using XP) to XP's C: drive. This process is described in more detail elsewhere in these forums.

I have not installed any RedHat or Fedora systems in a while. I guess I inferred from the OP that Windows was no longer there.

The typical RedHat/Fedora installer does (did) have an option which would take over the whole drive.

OP--where are you?

Dear Friends I Already Have Windows Xp In One Partition.three Partitions 12 Gb Each.so Would I Need A Partition Manager To Install Linux Ie Dual Boot Without Disturbing My Xp.please Give Step By Step Instructions,i Dont Know Much About Grubloader. Have Fedora Core4 With Me