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View Full Version : PLease Help! Trying to install xp with ubuntu



DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 02:10 AM
Alright i have ubuntu on 1 partition then about 5 gigs of free space then my /user part, then my /home part. i m tryng to install xp onto the free space i am aware that this will delete my mbr my problem is when i load xp and tell it to install to the free space it tells me that it cannot because it needs to write the boot data to the disk and i have tried everything besides formating the whole disk which i would do but i have things in my home partition i need. i have been messing with this all day please some one help me!

Neo_The_User
March 11th, 2009, 02:15 AM
Installing Windows will format your entire hard drive no matter what and it will erase everything and you can't do anything about it. Copy your home partition off onto something else. Install Windows, then do a fresh install of Ubuntu with a 50/50 partition with windows (nothing cute. just a '/' partition and swap) and copy everything inside the backed up home folder INSIDE the home folder on the fresh install.

Sef
March 11th, 2009, 02:15 AM
Is the free partition, the first one? Windows likes to install there.

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 02:27 AM
well no it isnt the first partion, but i tried deleting all the partions except my /home partion and still got the same message, as far as what neo said, i have seen many how tos on installing xp after ubuntu but none of them describe this problem

taurus
March 11th, 2009, 02:30 AM
Are you still able to boot Ubuntu on the harddrive? Post the layout of your harddrive.


sudo fdisk -lu

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 02:37 AM
well no, i wasnt able to boot into ubuntu, i have had to reinstall it 3 times because xp partion editor ruined my mbr even though it didnt install, here is the out put:


Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002ddcc

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 70316504 35158221 5 Extended
/dev/sda2 * 70316568 312580239 121131836 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 27358758 58123169 15382206 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 58123233 70316504 6096636 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 189 15856154 7927983 83 Linux

Neo_The_User
March 11th, 2009, 02:39 AM
well no, i wasnt able to boot into ubuntu, i have had to reinstall it 3 times because xp partion editor ruined my mbr even though it didnt install, here is the out put:


Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002ddcc

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 70316504 35158221 5 Extended
/dev/sda2 * 70316568 312580239 121131836 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 27358758 58123169 15382206 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 58123233 70316504 6096636 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 189 15856154 7927983 83 Linux


3 linux partitions?

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 02:44 AM
well its / then /usr then /home, forgot to mention i had a /usr partition, i tried deleting that too so i dont think it matters much

Neo_The_User
March 11th, 2009, 02:50 AM
well its / then /usr then /home, forgot to mention i had a /usr partition, i tried deleting that too so i dont think it matters much

You deleted /usr? eeeeyeah thats gunna cause problems.

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 02:54 AM
well yeah i del /usr when i tried to install windows i have since reinstalled ubuntu a few times and created a new /usr partion and everything is back to normal now, but do u mean its gonna cause problems for me trying to install xp?

Neo_The_User
March 11th, 2009, 02:56 AM
well yeah i del /usr when i tried to install windows i have since reinstalled ubuntu a few times and created a new /usr partion and everything is back to normal now, but do u mean its gonna cause problems for me trying to install xp?

Not for XP. I was talking about Ubuntu. /usr is a critical directory in linux.

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 03:01 AM
yeah i know but it is fully restored and intact now, i dont mind losing all my system data, i just cant loose my /home partition and i dont really have anything to back it up on

Neo_The_User
March 11th, 2009, 03:12 AM
yeah i know but it is fully restored and intact now, i dont mind losing all my system data, i just cant loose my /home partition and i dont really have anything to back it up on

Hmm... My approach would be to make /home un-erasable by taking away all write permissions to everything and everybody or somehow make it invisible and sneak undetected past the windows partitioning system.

avtolle
March 11th, 2009, 03:47 AM
It appears that your "free space" is within the extended partition. While I've read that Windows will boot from a logical partition, the "common law" of Windows is that it wants to be on a primary partition. Looking at your partitions, it seems to me (not a partitioning expert) that you would need to move the logical partitions within the extended partition to create some free space at the end of the extended partition, then shrink it to bring the free space outside the extended partition where a primary partition for XP could be created. You would then also need to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to get the Windows partition into the list.

Sounds a bit daunting to me. You really do need to back up your /home, though; if I'm close on all the moving and resizing that will need to be done, your data will be at risk. And, as a final note, you would need to use a Live CD (the Ubuntu installation one, a GParted Live CD, as examples) from which to boot and do your partition management, as the drive will need to be unmounted for all this to occur.

I invite someone with more experience/knowledge about partitioning to correct any misstatements, errors, etc., that surely must exist above.

avtolle
March 11th, 2009, 03:59 AM
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1360 is an example of the "common law" about which I spoke. Note the post down thread there which explains that XP can be on a logical partition, so long as it is post SP2, and the partition exists; there is a need to edit boot.ini, it appears, and the Windows boot loader must be on a primary partition, as nearly as I could ascertain from reading there.

DAllenSmith
March 11th, 2009, 06:17 PM
thanks for that avtolle it makes much more sense now, i could have sworn ive done it before but it must have been with a copy that was post sp2, i think im gonna wait untill i can back up my /home partition and then install xp and then put ubuntu on there, guess i should have done that a long time ago, thanks for all your help and info guys! at least it helped me come to a rational decision.