dual-boot with winxp
 

I want to have XP installed also for working on music.

Is it possible to dual-boot after installing linux first? I always hear about Windows being installed first, and THEN linux (write lilo to the MBR and it will see Windows).

Right now, I only have my linux swap partition and 1 linux partition (10 GB) where the rest of my linux system is. No other partitions for /home or anything (I'm still new, afterall).

I have almost 70 GB left on the drive... so if I boot from an XP CD, will it let me create a partition AFTER the linux partitions and install there? And if so, how do I get lilo to see the XP partition and allow me to choose to boot from it?

Thanks,
Seiken

In my experience, it's always best to install Windows first, followed by Linux, though I know it can be done in reverse. Use the search button and you'll find some valid examples of your situation.

I have searched and searched, but can't seem to find a situation where windows gets installed AFTER linux. I searched around google too and got the same results. Maybe I'm just not wording my search properly.

What will happen if I just go ahead and install Windows on a new partition? Will it screw everything up? Will lilo see it? Will I have to add it to lilo somehow?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me on this.

Windows needs to be on a primary partition, and it really *wants* to be in the first partition on the disk. ;) So be sure you install to a primary, not extended, partition.

Lilo will NOT see the new Windows installation. In fact, Lilo will be GONE! Windows will overwrite the MBR with its own. You will need to boot into your Linux via a boot disk of some kind (floppy or cdrom - I use knoppix for these situations). Once you are into your Linux system, you will need to edit your /etc/lilo.conf file to recognize the Windows partition, and then run lilo (as root) to install it to the MBR.

It is just generally easier to install WIndows first, then Linux & lilo can handle it all automatically. ;)

I just recently did this on my laptop. When WinXP installs it disables any other non-windows partitions on the hard drive, but it does tell you that you can reactivate them once Windows is installed. However the catch to this is that once you get into Windows, the option to reactivate them is greyed-out.

In order to get Windows and Linux installed and not encounter a GRUB stage 2 lockup, I installed Linux and gave it the primary partition, then installed Windows XP, then reinstalled Linux over the previous installation to reactivate the partitions. Now it works perfectly. I am sure there was an easier way to do it though, but I'm in college and have tons of free time lying around :)

I guess this part was a little overdone. It is sufficient to re-install the bootloader instead of the whole system. You can activate partitions using e.g. fdisk.

If this doesn't work, try to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst:

You may need to adjust this to match your actual partition table (in this example (hd0,1), Windows is on /dev/hda2)

Thanks for the directions :)

It's also possible to configure the Windows Boot Loader to boot into Linux. You copy the bootsector to a DOS formatted floopy in Linux then boot into Windows (after it's been installed) and copy the boot sector from the floppy to the hard drive. You then modify your Boot.INI settings (use msconfig from the run dialog) and put an entry in the points to the copied boot sector. I've done it this way on my machine because I was paranoid about overwriting the Windows bootloader and not yet professional enough to assume Linux full time. It works just fine and I can now boot back and forth between boot loaders sending the Windows boot loader to Linux and the Grub to Windows without ever even loading an OS. Let me know and I can post the configuration for BOOT.INI.

My boots are tired,

I'm a newbie but what I want to do is to boot both XP and Linux simultainously then just hot key from one to the other. You know, like virtual systems. Does anyone know of how this might be accomplished, or is it even possible ? Gosh, it has to be.

yes, it is possible... with 2 PCs and a KVM switch :)

Hi Seiken,

That's what I'm currently doing. Problem is my room is so full and I wanted to clear clutter. I just found out about VMWare but I'm not sure this is what I want (lotsa $$$). Maybe I will just keep on with two PCs and the KVM, it works well and I like everything when it works well.

I'm thinking of trying to move to two notebooks and the KVM to save space.

Ya gotta know I'm having a lot of fun learning about Linux and it's alternatives to that other OS.

Happy days are here again!