Hello everybody, I'm new to this forum, so please be patient with me ¿ok?.

Well, my problem is this:

I have a 40Gb hard drive and trying to install Red Hat Linux.
1) Created a 5Gb -fat32- partition to install WinXP
2) Created a 27Gb -fat32- partition to put mp3, games, etc., on it.
3) The remaining space (aprox 6gb) is the one that I'm trying to use to install linux.

When I get to the point where I have to manually make the linux partitions it gives me one error telling me that it can't continue.
I'm creating a)boot-100mb, b)swap-512mb, c)root(/)-remaining space.

¿What can I do to get my installation done without problems?

Try moving the 27gig partition to the end of the drive.
5gig - windows
6 gig - Linux (/boot, / and swap)
27 gig - storage

Already tried that, but after setting up linux partitions, Disk Druid shows up a message that can not create the last 27gb-vfat partition. I think it only wants to create partitions of 2gb max. and I want it 27gb.

Then I thought that I could (and actually did it) create only as you said my friend, the first 5gb fat32 partition and installed XP (and left all remaining space unpartitioned), then started RHL9 installer and created /boot, swap and / partitions. AGAIN, left the remaining 27gb(aprox) unpartitioned 'cause I want fat32 on it so this partition can be shared by xp and Linux. The installation continued and finished ok. At this point I knew I had the fat32 part., and the linux ones. Then went to win98 cd, started the pc with it and created the last partition (again 27gb aprox) and formated. Started xp and it could see drive 'c' and 'd'. Started linux and it showed messages that said someting like "there are several unknow partitions but maybe this is not a fatal error" or someting, but linux appeared to work ok. Went to Hardware Browser and showed 1mb part., then the 5gb part, then other 1mb part, then the linux ones, then another 1mb part and also the 27gb.

Started Linux rescue, then "parted" and showed me the same error "there are several partitions not recognized...." or someting.

Don't know what to do from here...

Go ahead and install Windows XP first. Then install Redhat to the amount of hard drive space you want to give it. Make sure you can dual-boot just fine between the two. Then get back into Windows XP and now create the FAT32 partition on the remaining hard drive space.

That's what I did... Please read carefully, maybe my post is very complicated to explain, but I did that. And xp and Linux worked, the only problem is that linux sees serveral weird 1mb partitions and alerts me every time I boot into linux.

Hmm, interesting. Get delpart from the 'net, run it off a bootable floppy, and see how many partitions you really have in there. The offending partitions should show up on delpart's list of partitions. With delpart you can wipe a whole hard drive clean and leave it ready to be partitioned again, too. Very odd issue, man. I'm thinking that maybe RedHat has created temporary swap partitions to that side of the hard drive, but not sure on that theory.

I'll show how I did it to get my two large fat32 partitions (the first ones) and installed RedHat Linux 9 in the remaining 6+Gb of my 40Gb hard drive...

a) In DOS I created a 5Gb and a 27Gb partition.
b) Formated both partitions (obviusly fat32)
c) First thing I did was to install WinXP in the 5Gb-fat32 part.
Once XP was installed, I stared Linux installer up to the point where is needed to manually partition the 6+Gb remaining space. BUT disk druid did'n allow to finish creating the partitions....

IN LINUX:

** First thing I tried: I told druid to create /boot *with 102mb*... First error, telling someting like "can not continue, loader will not encounter /boot". Can't continue from here. (I think it was trying to tell me that /boot should be created in the first 8Gb).

** Second thing I tried:

a)Created the swap (512mb) partition..ok,
b)Created /boot (102mb).. Error, but could continue ignoring it,
c)Created / (remaining 6000+mb).. ERROR, can't go further. I think (again) it was trying to tell me the loader were not be able to find /boot, ¿who knows?.

** Third thing I tried:

a)Delete all fat32-partitions (linux partitions does'n exist yet, don't forget it),
b)Created one 5Gb-fat32 partition and installed WinXP (didn'n create any other part.)
c)Started Linux installer to the point of manual partitioning,
c1)Created /boot (102mb part.)
c2)Created swap (512mb part.)
c3)Created / (6Gb part.)
c4)Created /mnt/win_d (remaining 27+Gb vfat).. ERROR: only wanted to create 2Gb-vfat partition. INSTALLATION STOPED (by me, what should I do?... I wanted my 5Gb-fat32 and my 27Gb-fat32 partitions besides the linux ones)

** Fourth thing I tried:

a)Created (in DOS) a 5Gb-fat32 partition and installed xp,
b)Created (in DOS) a 27Gb-fat32 partition to hold mp3, games, and all info.
c)In WindowsXP installed Partition Magic 7, created (in the remaining unpartitioned 6+Gb) a 102mb, a 512mb and a 6000+Mb partition in the remaining space. (((But I want to leave it clear: At the moment of creating this partitions, I seted them as logical and unformated)))
d)Started RH linux installer, in the manual partitioning part,
d1)I modified the 102mb part. to make it /boot (an error message showed up, but could continue anyway),
d2)Modified the 512mb part. to make it swap partition,
d3)Modified the 6000+mb part. to make it / (root)
e)Continued installation, restarted machine when installer finished its work...

and CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now I have what I wanted. AND NO PROBLEM TO BOOT LINUX, NOR XP, IT WORKS GREAT!!!


Here I show how linux sees the partitions now that everyting is working fine (in Hardware Browser):

Device Start End Size (MB) Write
----------- ------ ---- ----------- --------
/dev/hda
hda2 639 4998 34201 Extended
hda5 639 4081 27008 fat32
hda6 4082 4095 110 ext3
hda7 4096 4161 518 linux-swap
hda8 4162 4998 6566 ext3
hda1 1 638 5005 fat32

Man, that's awesome. It's still weird that you couldn't do it the way you described on the third try. That's the way I imagined it should be done. Great job and a great tinkering session.