[SOLVED] installing linux to second drive on a windows machine

Joerg · 06-19-2010, 07:20 AM

Hi all .
New to this OS
I have a duo core HP machine with two (2) physical hard drives.
Drive C has the win Vista Media center version installed.
The second drive has 2 partitions of 500gb each
One has all my windows data files on it and the second partition I have reserverd for the installation of Linux.
How to install Linux on the second partition (SDB1) without loosing the ability to use windows when i need.
In other words i want to establish a dual boot system and not disturb the existing windows installation by installing Linux and then be able to boot into a dual boot system that will let me select which OS to boot to.
How is the safe way to do that.
Will the installation wizard give me the appropriate choices during the install proceedure ??

Thank you Joerg

ronlau9 · 06-19-2010, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joerg

Hi all .
Will the installation wizard give me the appropriate choices during the install proceedure ??

Thank you Joerg

Most of the distros give you the options you wanted.

yancek · 06-19-2010, 01:10 PM

As stated above, you should get options with almost any distro you choose. You may need to choose 'manual' or 'expert' installation to be able to select a partition. Every distro I have installed will tell which partitions if will use for what purpose before beginning the actual install. Obviously, you will need to know which partition is the one you have selected. There are no 'C', 'D' letters for drives/partitions in Linux and I would suggest your familiarize yourself with the basics of Linux partitions.

If you begin the installation, it's always a good idea if you are new to it to keep a record. If you run into a problem, write down what it was and/or any error message you get.

saikee · 06-19-2010, 02:06 PM

To install Linux and keep Windows untouched like a virgin

Its section A is for the users with two physical drives.

The Thread was written for Grub1. If you use Grub2 the switching of the disk order is done by

Code:

# Windows XP on sdb1 (= (hd1,1)
menuentry “Windows XP on sdb1, by chainloader”  {
drivemap (hd0) (hd1)
drivemap (hd1) (hd0)
set root=(hd0)
chainloader  (hd1,1)+1
 }