Dual Boot Cranks up!!! - XP & Lucid

[randolf_ambrose]

@4Orbs

i've two systems... but thats alright... i decided to sacrifice some time of mine... made a backup of my notebook files into my desktp... and gonna follow this...

Perhaps randolf_ambrose should simply start from scratch. He might, for example, create four primary partitions (sda1 formatted as NTFS, with, say, 15GB for XP, sda2 with 25GB for Lucid, sda3 for a 4GB swap space, and sda4, formatted as FAT32, using the rest of the disk for shared data). It would be easiest to do the Windows installation first, followed by the final Lucid installation.

i'm gonna format the whole disk... the reason why i'm doing this is because i never got to see 160G as my HDD space since i was using windows... i wanna see 160G... and only Linux can do that...

lemme see if everything goes fine!!!

i'll let you guys know!!!

[randolf_ambrose]

guys, i failed again...

i used my lucid cd to create a new partition table...
sda1 > 5G - fat32 - for windows
sda2 > 10G - for lucid
sda3 > 4G - SWAP
sda4 > 141G - fat32 - data storage

and then i tried XP installation cd, selected sda1 (C) as the installation drive and formatted it as nfts and copied system files, then after reboot, got into xp installation, a min or before, my system shuts down!!! its like my HDD is damaged!!!

but i dont find any problem when i install Lucid.

Only when i try to install XP, system shuts down!!! first i panicked thinking if i damaged my HDD with last two days continuous formatting...

guys...

what the hell is happening... i got so pissed off that i just did this...
sda1 - 5G - lucid root
sda2 - 4G - swp
sda3 - 151G - /home

working fine!!!

but can you help me??? i really need xp... my sdricoh card doesnt work in ubuntu and i badly need it to access my MMC...

please help...

[randolf_ambrose]

@4Orbs

i really would appreciate it if you could help me with a step by step procedure!!!

i'm on my desktop now with my laptop with lucid just loaded!!!

[randolf_ambrose]

i still cant figure out why my notebook shuts down when i start windows installation!!!

just tried again... this time i partitioned using XP and went on...

still, system shuts down when installation starts...

today also i checked for ways to enable RICOH CARD READER to read my MMC-Pro... no hope...


so i badly need help in solving this mess!!!

please someone help me...

[mastablasta]

First of all i think 5Gb is not realyl enough for XP, especially if you plan to run some programmes on it.

You do have original windows don't you?

OK so here is what i would do. Simply divide your Hard drive into 2 parts (just for starters). C and D. Make C your winXP drive and give it 10GB. Format it with FAT 32 (or NTFS if you wish). Note here that FAT32 is also limited in full disk size. So maybe you will need to make 3 partitions or just leave one empty. Then go and install windows on it. What notebook you have? Because for some i know they don't really support XP out of box and a setting needed to be changed in BIOS for the WinXP to install. Search the web if there is anythign unusual reported for your model.


Once you have windows installed put in the Linux CD and install Linux on your second (D) drive. During linux intalation prepare your disk (the one not taken by XP) to be the way you want it and let it format the disk and install the system. It should work after that. Hopefully.

[4Orbs]

Hi randolf_ambrose. This stuff can drive a person nuts. You don't have to do everything at once. I suggest just working on getting Windows up and running first, since you are obviously not having any problem dealing with Ubuntu. So for starters, use your Ubuntu live cd to re-do the partitioning.

Note: When you boot into the Ubuntu live cd... as soon as you see the two little pictures at the bottom of the first screen.. hit the space bar to open the Options menu so you can "Try Ubuntu First without Changing Your System". This will take you to the desktop of the live cd. If the gray language selector screen blocks your view of the options menu, hit the Escape key to clear it out of your way (or choose your preferred language).

Boot up the Ubuntu live cd and get to the desktop, and once there open the System>> Admin>> Partition Editor (or it might be called gparted). Delete each partition, one by one and click the "Apply" at the top of gparted so the entire hard drive shows as unallocated space. I suggest making the Windows partition 20 to 30 gb in size so you won't ever need to rework it, That's also a good size to keep it quite usable. Make sure it's a Primary partition and format it to ntfs so your defragmenter will be able to clean it up quickly on a regular basis. Assign the boot flag to this first partition. Don't do anything with the remaining unallocated space on the drive. When this first partition is ready, quit the Ubuntu live cd and install Windows. Windows should detect the partition. Tell it to do a quick format of the new partition and then install. Now, this is important... if Windows ejects the disk after copying files... or reboots... that doesn't mean the installation is finished. Keep the disk in the drive and hit Enter and XP will continue the installation. You might even need to do this one more time (but I don't think so) before the Windows installation is really finished. When you are certain the installation of XP is complete... reboot into Windows again after removing the install disk, just to be doubly sure and also give it the opportunity to run its automated file system check (but I doubt it will run the check, which is ok).

EDIT: Just to be sure you understand. You are going to remove the current installation of Ubuntu and start from a blank hard drive.

[randolf_ambrose]

First of all i think 5Gb is not realyl enough for XP, especially if you plan to run some programmes on it.

You do have original windows don't you?

OK so here is what i would do. Simply divide your Hard drive into 2 parts (just for starters). C and D. Make C your winXP drive and give it 10GB. Format it with FAT 32 (or NTFS if you wish). Note here that FAT32 is also limited in full disk size. So maybe you will need to make 3 partitions or just leave one empty. Then go and install windows on it. What notebook you have? Because for some i know they don't really support XP out of box and a setting needed to be changed in BIOS for the WinXP to install. Search the web if there is anythign unusual reported for your model.


Once you have windows installed put in the Linux CD and install Linux on your second (D) drive. During linux intalation prepare your disk (the one not taken by XP) to be the way you want it and let it format the disk and install the system. It should work after that. Hopefully.

i dont plan to use XP for anything other than to access my RICOH CARD READER to access my Sony Memory Stick (MMC-Pro)...

i guess 5G is enough since XP would need 1.6GB and drivers would take another .5G... so, i'd say 5G is more than enough in my case!!!

[randolf_ambrose]

Hi randolf_ambrose. This stuff can drive a person nuts. You don't have to do everything at once. I suggest just working on getting Windows up and running first, since you are obviously not having any problem dealing with Ubuntu. So for starters, use your Ubuntu live cd to re-do the partitioning.

Note: When you boot into the Ubuntu live cd... as soon as you see the two little pictures at the bottom of the first screen.. hit the space bar to open the Options menu so you can "Try Ubuntu First without Changing Your System". This will take you to the desktop of the live cd. If the gray language selector screen blocks your view of the options menu, hit the Escape key to clear it out of your way (or choose your preferred language).

Boot up the Ubuntu live cd and get to the desktop, and once there open the System>> Admin>> Partition Editor (or it might be called gparted). Delete each partition, one by one and click the "Apply" at the top of gparted so the entire hard drive shows as unallocated space. I suggest making the Windows partition 20 to 30 gb in size so you won't ever need to rework it, That's also a good size to keep it quite usable. Make sure it's a Primary partition and format it to ntfs so your defragmenter will be able to clean it up quickly on a regular basis. Assign the boot flag to this first partition. Don't do anything with the remaining unallocated space on the drive. When this first partition is ready, quit the Ubuntu live cd and install Windows. Windows should detect the partition. Tell it to do a quick format of the new partition and then install. Now, this is important... if Windows ejects the disk after copying files... or reboots... that doesn't mean the installation is finished. Keep the disk in the drive and hit Enter and XP will continue the installation. You might even need to do this one more time (but I don't think so) before the Windows installation is really finished. When you are certain the installation of XP is complete... reboot into Windows again after removing the install disk, just to be doubly sure and also give it the opportunity to run its automated file system check (but I doubt it will run the check, which is ok).

EDIT: Just to be sure you understand. You are going to remove the current installation of Ubuntu and start from a blank hard drive.

man!!! i was waiting for your reply all day...

first of all, thanks for replying...

i've read what you said and already started working on it...
now creating the new partition table using Gparted just the way you said...

will update...

[randolf_ambrose]

this is what really **** me off...

all that i'm doing is to use 100% of my HDD...

just now i tried the live cd and tried to format my hdd using gparted, there gpared showed only 146G instead of 160G...

what shall i do to get 160G full...

[4Orbs]

There is a difference between GiB which Ubuntu uses and GB which is what manufacturers of hard drives use as a way of measuring disc space. I'd say you have a full allotment of space regardless what the numbers say.

And you also must consider that the file system (ext4, ntfs) is gonna reserve some of that space for keeping it's own stuff organized.