hi im new to linux and never installed it on a pc before and im getting a bit confused about the partitioning bit, i curently have win xp installed with 66.5gb of space on it for family stuff etc and iv left 10000mb unpartitioned to try out linux. i understand everything up to the partitioning bit whare it wants to shrink or something the 66.5gb win xp bit. i dont want to do a lot on linux just muck about on it because i need the rest of the space for win xp and family etc. should i format the unpartitioned space to install linux or dose it need to do it its self?

I just did this almost exact same thing (with the exact same partition sizes you have) this weekend. When I was running the openSUSE install, it brought up the partitioning scheme, but it didn't want to "shrink" anything - what it did for me was simply take the unpartitioned space, create a swap partition, a "/" partition, and a "/home" partition, and then set up the windows xP (ntfs) partition as "/windows/C" - it never touched the NTFS partition. Then it set up the Boot Loader (GRUB), and everything was fine. So, to answer your question, the install should be able to do all the partitioning itself. But definitely make sure you understand EXACTLY what is going to happen before selecting "Begin"

so its not realy going to shrink, delete or cos any problems for the other users on my home pc nun of there data mostly music is going to disiper. and its not going to shrink the current size of my C drive which i need for stuff. just click next and it should only format, patrition and install openSUSE on the 10000mb space on the D drive yes?

Yes and no.

When the window pops up showing the variouse install steps it will take i.e.

software: and the list of SW it will install

Partitioning: and what it will do.

etc.

If it says its going to shrink the xp partition, it will. You can click on the red underlined word Partitioning to change it. then it will offer options of 'accept proposal as is', or 'Base partiontioning on proposal' (or something like that). Click that one and then when you see the list of partitions select the windows partition, then "resize' and you get either 'do not resize' or you can just use the slider and push to the right (canceling out the space it wants to take from Xp).
Don't be afraid of going and changing things here. If you ever get afraid or think you've made a mistake or too confused, it's as easy as Cancel, and nothing is done and back to step 1 you go.

They are very clear in telling you when you are about to reach the point-of-no-return.

You may at that point finish the install or change further the formating. With a small install your just playing with you dont need a large swap (i use suse only and have 1 gig that never gets more than half full with 1 gig ram) other than that 4-5 gigs for '/' (root) the rest for '/home'

I hope hope i've helped and not made things confusing.

thanx for the replys but iv stil got this problem of linux wanting to steal space from my C drive windows. it currently looks like this:

/dev/hda 76.3gb maxtor-6y080l0
/dev/hda1 49.0gb HTFS/NTFS /WINDOWS/C
/dev/hda2 9.7gb extended
/dev/hda3 760.8mb F linux swap swap
/dev/hda4 16.8gb F linux native(EXT3) /
/dev/hda5 9.7gb win 95 FAT16

when i click resize the windows and click dont resize everything disipears apart from the top 3, my c drive has 25.1gb free and i would like to keep it that way. i also have a D drive which is not formated 9.76gb and would like to put linux on that space (if it will fit). should i format the D drive to somthing FAT32 or NTFS so linux will want to use that space insted of stealing all my space for windows thing.

Could you maybe post exactly what you see under "Partitioning" on the "Verify installation" screen? (I'm not sure off the top of my head what that screen is named...)

you mean the summury bit yes?

shrink windows partition /dvd/hda1 to 49.8gb
create swap partition /dev/hda3 (760.8mb)
create root partition /dev/hda4 (16.0gb) with ext3

Here's a pdf you can d/l (10mb) or read online
http://www.novell.com/documentation/...102/index.html

to continue,
Ok, just to be clear,you want suse installed on the D drive and leave C alone. Is D a physically separate HD (which would be hdb)or is it the hda2 or hda5 you described above?

If it is hdb, it looks like you need to choose the option 'create custom partition setup' and select where you want to install.

just reviewed your 9am post, as the install was stealing from windows, the drives it would create with that space would disappear, leaving hda2 (is that the one you wish to inst. on?) if so select that one and set it up for the install.

cheers for the pdf.
the D drive is unpartitioned and is not a physically seconed hard drive. when i installed windows i partitioned all but 10000mb(9.76gb) and is not formatted eather. i have no idear what hda2 or hda5 are i dont have win 95 or partitioned anything in FAT16, could it be getting the left over partitioned D drive wrong somehow?

Then it show up as hda2. Linux HD nomenclature is as follows;

hda - first physical drive, which can be split into separate logical or 'partions' as in hda1 hda2 etc.the next physical drive would be hdb.

as you've written ha2 shows up as 'extended' i.e. its not formatted. Thats the one you want to partition with a /swap(linux swap @750mb), / (root, all the rest) since you're doing a very small install i don't see a need for a separate /home patition. in fact later, if you like the linux you might get another hd and format that one as /home.

BTW, linux reads and writes to fat drives. Htfs/ntfs is readable somewhat writeable -non deletable. I guess it was making an 'inter-op' drive so you can put files you want accessable by both systems. I've got one( i created it tho), nice to have even tho i never use windows.

hmm it sorta works but not realy.

1.click on dont resize windows.
2.click create on the hda2 and select swap format.
3.the swap format is only 7.5mb.
4.tryed to click create on the hda2 but it cannot create anymore pertitions or somthing.
5.tryed to create the /root partition with format as ext3 but it has to be more than 10mb???.

in the cylinder box it was only showing up as 7.56mb i try doing the +8gb for /root but it wouldent accept it.

go here http://www.novell.com/documentation/...reference.html
then 'reference' ->'Advanced deployment' -> 'advanced disk setup'-> 'using the yast partitioner' that will tell you how to do it.

you have to create the 2 or 3 partitions within the 7g one you have.

Such as, click on it select 'create' make it a primary partion. select again and 'create or edit(cant remember)' this time extended and the size 1st(750mb say) this for swap (type of fs swap). then again create (for our purpose, the rest of the free space on that partition for /)type of fs ext3 mount point /.

ok iv fix the problem of the partitioning by formating the D drive with ntfs and then formating it again with ext3 with the install the only problem now is with the install. im getting and error 3 min into install saying:

package mDNSRresponder-lib not found on medium

abord/retry/ignore

when i click ignore the install crashes and i have to start again. am i doing anything wrong?

? thats multicastDomainNameServer responder for apple rendevue hmm. should be on disk 1. did you check the install media or is this an internet install? Some times the download of the dvds or the burning have mistakes.

Don't know what prog needs this but.. I always do retry first (of course i haven't come across this type of prob. in a looong time.) then ignore (didn't work) then abort -doesn't always abort the whole install if i remember right.

Almost there.

way finally got it installed posting from openSUSE now :P lol thanx for all you help, i burned a new copy to dvd at a slower speed and it worked fine. i still have a few questions though how do i display cpu speed etc on desktop, when i click computer at the bottom left hand corner it displays something different which im not use to is there any way to change it to look like it dose in linux live cd's, to make it display the programs etc. and win xp has ctrl-alt-del for ending tasks it they are frozen whats the combination for suse. thanx again for all you help

btw i picked gnome desktop is the anyway to change this without a total reinstall if i dont like it?