At the moment I have SuSE 9.2 pro as my only OS. I would love to keep SuSE as my only operating system, but you see, my parents have something else in mind. They are too "busy" to learn how to use a new email client/word processing program etc. So I have to re-install Windows. I have done a lot of work on updating, installing programs etc on Linux to have to format it and start all over again. I have heard that there are some ways to install Windows after Linux, but I have searched to no prevail. If any of you out there know how, please let me know.


Thanks a lot,

Jimmi

Just use what ever you want to delete your partitions and start fresh with your Windows installation disk.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. I wan't to keep Linux and install Windows over Linux.

Actually , u can do it..install Wine i Linux.Using wine u can execute windows executables ..thus u need not install windows for the sake of your parents wish to use MS word/Outlook if I am correct...

Yeah, I misunderstood what you are trying to do, and I might still be misunderstanding...

Anyway, if you don't have your partitions ready to go for a Windows install, you'll need to use a partitioning tool to get them ready. If they are ready to go, you can reinstall Windows, but then you'll need to reinstall GRUB because Windows will overwrite the MBR during installation. Once you've done that, you should be able to choose Win or Linux at boot time.

If you don't have a free partitition, yoy have to create one. I think it could be done with gparted or qtparted, but it depends on the current used filesystem. Another way is to use PowerQuest Partition Magic (tm) There are live CDs with that program, so you don't have to posses even working operation system.

It's your language that is confusing. If I'm understanding you correctly, you don't actually want to install Windows over Linux but rather install Windows along side of Linux. Big difference.

If the partitions are set up, just install the windows to the partition you reserved for it and then reinstall your bootloader. One note, windows likes to be on the first part of the drive as it has trouble booting if it's deep into the drive. Anything past sector 1054 (I think) will cause problems.

One solution would be to simply save everything you've customized (config files, etc) onto a CD, start fresh by creating an appropriate partioning scheme and then install windows first and then reinstall your Linux system. Afterwards you can copy the custom config files back to the system. It's a pain but if your partitioning scheme isn't right and you can't repartition correctly to make windows happy without destroying your Linux system, it's one way to go.

It wants to have fat32/ntfs partition to be the first, i.e. /dev/hda1 (not 2, 3...).
I was installing Windows after Linux. That's when I've known that it requires some space at the beginning of the disk (I gave 30M). The system itself can be installed anywhere deeper.
This "some space" is required to write MBR.
After installing Windows you can simply "upgrade" your system to install Linux loader.