Im trying to install both windows xp and linux on the same machine.

My disk is 250 GB and ive made the following partitions:
46Gb Windows XP (NTFS)
85GB data (NTFS)
85Gb data (NTFS)
10GB (Fat32) (for exchanging files between the 2 OS)
19GB unallocated

Ive installed windows normally and im ready to install linux.
Ive tried the following distributions but i have problems:

SUSE9.3
It uses the unallocated space for swap and install.When install is complete everything seems right til I restart. Then i get the error: GRUB error 17
(ive also tried having all partitions in FAT32)

Fedora 4.0
I cant complete the installation
Ubuntu 5.10
I cant complete the installation

After this nothing works so i have to reinstall Windows!!

Do U have any suggestions??
What is wrong I have no idea..
Ive heard that i can boot using a bootcd but i dont know how to do it...
Thanx...

Which of these are Primary partitions and which are Logical partitions?

Any linux will require at least 2 partitions the "/" partition and <swap> partition.

Try leaving a 100MB partition free as a Primary partition and set that to be your "/boot" partition in the Linux installer. See if that works.

I believe the main problem is to force a Linux to be installed in Fat partitions as it will not work for most distros.

A Linux should be installed in a partition type 83 and swap in Type 82. You are better off to pre-partition the unallocated space with a Live CD first. In installing Suse just tell its installer to install into the partitions you have created. For Suse 9.3 a 5Gb partition and a 1Gb swap should do it. By pre-partition the disk yourself you will be able to know exactly which partition (in Linux notation) holding what system. Linux can be installed and booted from any logical partition.

The Fedora C4 and Ubuntu installation problems are likely due to the fact the unallocated space being at the end of your 250Gb disk. I believe FC4 and Ubuntu still have issues with crossing the 137Gb barrier, or rather some of its components have. I know for sure they have difficulties in mounting partitions at such position.

Suse 9.3 should have no such problem as it is more developed for large hard drives. Therefore your best bet is to make Suse workable first as it can be installed anywhere in a hard disk.

With that drive, I would have ~ 15-20 GB each for Windows and Linux OS and apps, and all of the rest in FAT32 partitions for sharing data. A partition just ofr EXCHANGING data is going to be a nuisance.

By default, I would put the OS partitions first, but--as Saikee says--at least SUSE should have no issue anywhere.

The simplest set up:
15GB NTFS Windows
15GB EXT3 Linux
1GB Linux swap
150 GB FAT32 shared date
Balance empty---reserve for future whatever

For more future flexibiliy, set up the 4th partition as "extended", and then put the data partition inside that. This allows many more partitions in the future