Installing Windows XP after Mandrake Linux 9.2

.::deVil::..'o' · 11-05-2003, 02:04 PM

I have installed Mandrake Linux 9.2, and now I want to install Windows XP withought doing any harm to my Linux installation. I have read in a howto (Linux+Win9x+GrubHOWTO) that this is possible using grub. I have done all the steps that is described there and i can't get it to boot from cd. All the time I get this massage: Error while parsing number
It will boot properly from a floppy, but XP doesn't have a boot floppy, and the one from Win9x just won't do.
I don't know if this is of use, but here is what my partitions look like:
hda1 11 GB /
hda5 1 GB swap
hda6 31 GB /home
hda7 33 GB Win98 FAT32, LBA-mapped (this is where I want to install XP)

Thanks in advance

DavidPhillips · 11-05-2003, 05:15 PM

What's on your machine should not have anything to do with the cdrom booting. Check the bios settings for boot device and set it to cdrom.

Just be careful not to format the linux partitions.

.::deVil::..'o' · 11-06-2003, 12:55 AM

The thing is that i need to boot from CD after GRUB to fool windows that my 7th partition is the 1st. If I boot from bios then the stupid windows will destroy grub, and maybe my partition table.

ligne · 11-06-2003, 01:05 PM

i can't help in detail with the first part of your problem (having failed with that last time

), but last time i had to re-install windows 2k pro after mandrake, i used the mandrake control centre to write a copy of GRUB to a bootdisk. after windows over-wrote GRUB, i was able to use this to boot back into linux and use MCC to put GRUB back in its correct place!

i'm going to have to go through the same process as you myself soon, since 2k has destroyed itself. again. joy-oh-joy

hope this is of use to you anyway. good luck!

--matt

Nu-Bee · 11-06-2003, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by .::deVil::..'o'
I have installed Mandrake Linux 9.2, and now I want to install Windows XP withought doing any harm to my Linux installation.

Bad move!

Start over:

1) Install WinXP
2) Install Mandrake.

Windows should be installed first.

WinXP want to take over the whole drive, and refuses to acknowledge Linux.

This is not so the other way around.

DavidPhillips · 11-06-2003, 01:22 PM

If you create the windows partition in linux then you should be able to install to it without partitioning from the xp install. However there may be a problem if there is more than one primary partition.

You can boot a floppy to your system afterwards and reinstall the bootloader.