Arjun, until you have learned some Linux basics, I recommend you run Linux "inside of Windows" using VirtualBox (assuming your hardware specs are enough). This is very safe and there is no risk to your Windows install/data. Here is an easy guide to accomplish this with Ubuntu, but the concept is the same for all distros: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/virtualbox

Now that you have learned some partitioning basics and are ready to graduate from VirualBox to a "full" install, here are the warnings you aren't going to want to hear, but they are very important:

1. BACK UP all your data on ALL drives connected to the machine!!! This is very, very important, don't skip this step and then complain "help, Linux messed up my data, how do I get it back??"
2. PURCHASE A NEW HARD DRIVE. If your C: drive only has 15gb free space, then taking that free space away and giving it to Linux is going to KILL the performance of Windows. So I recommend to let Windows have its C: and install Linux to a completely separate hard drive or USB thumb drive.

Again getting error on selecting "Shrink Current System". I am insalling it through my USB.

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This is what i am getting after choosing "create custom layout" option. Since i am doing this first time, i am afraid of data not to get deleted. So, can somebody lead me further?

Thanks

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Please Arjun please read all our warnings!
You are going to do changes to your partitions without a single idea of what you're doing!
You will mess things up, you will lose your WinXP or you'll lose a data partition - and how are you going to repair that when you don't know what you've done, where it went wrong??

snowpine had a very good tip to run Stella in Virtualbox instead - that gives you a complete installation but you don't have to fiddle around with partitions. And you don't risk running out of space for Windows making it unusable.

I don't know why the installer didn't find a partition to resize - maybe it requires more space, maybe it can't handle ntfs, maybe it just couldn't find it.
"Create custom layout" - sorry, I will not help you further as you are on very, very thin ice. It's probably sdb1 you need to resize - but here comes next problem: you will install the system to something like /dev/sdb3, but when you remove usb-drive it will be renamed to /dev/sda3. How are you going to make that boot?

So you see, to install multiple systems without proper knowledge is likely to fail.
Go with Virtualbox to start with.

sdb1 may be the C: partition. I ran linux on vmware earlier but it becomes much slow. So i nowadays run it through my USB. sda1 seems to be my USB.

Ubuntu & ubuntu based systems provides us the option to automatically install it side by side.
http://www.linuxbsdos.com/wp-content...rt-600x425.png

Yes, but ONLY if you have free space OUTSIDE your windows partition - and you do NOT have that.

As the previous posts have explained, you will have to shrink the partition that is your C drive THEN Ubuntu can use the free space that will result from the shrinkage.

But as pointed out, this can cause a HIGH risk of losing data on your windows partition if you do not know what you are doing, or if you shrink the wrong partition.

So DO NOT simply follow any advice you read online. You really need to learn about partitioning, then be ABSOLUTELY SURE you are doing the right thing. Otherwise you WILL lose data!

I already mentioned, i am getting this error while shrinking the disk.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post5092692

Ubuntu automatically creates free space for itself from the C: drive partition. We dont need to created any partition for it.

I do not think that is true.

I think it will automatically USE available free space, but I do not think it will automatically create that free space - that would be EXTREMELY dangerous!

I do not know why you are getting the error on selecting the shrink option - but it is telling you something important. You really need to understand WHY that is before proceeding.

In Centos 6.5, I'm pretty sure you need to install ntfsprogs from the repository epel (which you need to enable first) in order to shrink a Windows partition.

In a live boot (from the usb or DVD) of a Centos based distribution, it is possible to enable epel and install ntfsprogs, the go to Applications / System Tools / Disk Utility and shrink the partition (apparently sdb1 is C:).

If your install media does not support live boot, you should download some other Linux liveCD image, preferably one that already includes support for shrinking NTFS partitions. Last time I tried, Mepis included support for shrinking NTFS partitions in its liveCD. I have a very old Medis CD that I often use for modifying Windows partitions. IIRC, Ubuntu also includes support for shrinking NTFS.

It seems very strange to me that Centos does not include that by default. From a Centos liveDVD, I needed to enable epel and then install ntfsprogs before I could shrink an NTFS partition. I almost think I was doing it wrong and there was a simpler way. But I didn't find any simpler way.

Many distros have the ability to shrink a Windows partition to create free space for installation. I've done it twice on OpenSUSE without error. It is, however, dangerous, and the OP needs to make sure he has a backup if things go wrong.

However, like I said before, if I only had 15GB available space, installing a new distro would be the last thing on my mind.

Ok

Is it possible to install centos based stella in C: drive partition without touching D:,E: & F:, partition. In this way, i will completely remove windows because C: partition contains only windows OS, not any other data. So that my data in other drives(partitions) will remain safe & i will be able to access them through Stella Linux.

Thanks

Yes that would be easy, you would just delete the sdx1 partition and then install in the newly-created free space. You would of course lose everything on C:, installed programs, settings, etc.

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No problem. I said only windows OS is present in C: partition. All other data is present in other D:,E:,F: partitions. I will install linux in C: partition, but want to access other partitions made by windows through Stella.

That is probably easy, but is a bad idea. You don't know Linux. You don't know whether you will be able to learn it well enough for your purposes.

You are much safer with a dual boot: switching between Windows and Linux until you are sure you can use Linux.

The way to do what you requested, which I still advise you not do, is with the "create custom layout" option. You can select sdb1 and then select delete. From there I'm not 100% certain whether you can complete the deletion and then back out to restart with the simpler "Use Free Space" option, or whether having started with custom layout you need to finish that way. The simplest custom layout is just selecting all the unpartitioned space from deleting sdb1 to create a new sdb1 of type ext3 or ext4 with a mount point of /

That is simpler partitioning than a typical Linux install, but not wrong.

What you should do instead is download another .iso image for some Linux liveCD. Boot into that and figure out how to use the Disk Manager or whatever it is called in that distribution to shrink your sdb1 partition. If that is difficult, think how much harder it would be to jump into Linux for all the activities you want on that computer.

Awesome link, pingu! I have book marked this page. I need to understand partitioning better.