problems installing linux with windows xp
 

hi i had tried using partition magic 8.0 to partition my hard drive and it does nothing im trying to install linux on my windows xp system where i can choose a dual boot menu where i can click on linux to learn and choose windows xp to continue my work sessions hellllllllllllllllllpppppppppppppppppp =-) D

when you install mandrake 9.1, a great partitioner pops up that you can use... its pretty self-explanatory... later in the install, it will do something called a bootloader... let it do its thing.
Now when you start your computer, lilo boot will pop up and you can choose between windows and linux

Do you have any UNpartitioned space on your hard drive? If not, you will need to use Parition Magic to resize your windows parition to give you some free space. Back up important data before doing this (PM never gave me any prbs, but...).

Once you have some free space, just boot from the Mandrake cd and use it to partition the free space and you're in. Lilo will be installed automatically and will allow you to choose between windows and linux.

This is my own personal opinion, but after trying to get XP and linux to work with dual boot, here is what I finally decided: reformat the entire drive(s) and make a clean install. the entire reason i installed linux is because of the security advantages. no reason to have leftover holes in my system from a previous installation of XP.

just mho.

There really isn't any trying to get it to dual boot. Just install linux. It practicaly does everything itself. When his internet connection doesn't work right away, or he can't play dvd's or some other config issue he'll need windows to get through it.

I read it's highly recommended to defrag and do a scandisk on your HD. I installed Linux on a HD with WinXP too. I used PartitionMagic to resize the partition, leaving 5GB for Linux. then I installed Linux in this free space. The boot is made with GRUB.

sorry, perhaps i wasn't clear. i meant reformat and do a clean install of both XP and linux for dual boot. make sure to install xp first.

Well, that too is an option unless you're not up for reconfiguring everything in Windows. Partition Magic 8 does an excellent job of resizing partitions. At least, it has always worked well for me. I have heard some horror stories, but they are few and far in between.

and Bruno is right. It is pretty much madatory to defrag first. You need to defrag to compress all your data to the beginning of the partition so there isn't any scattered about to get lost when you resize.

At the risk of repeating what has already been stated, it sounds like you just haven't created a partition to install Linux into. As scruff and bruno both indicate, by doing a defrag on your XP partition first you will maximize the amount of contiguous space available to be allocated to a Linux partition. As for me, the partitioning tool I really like is called BootIt NG, available here: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

-- J.W.