Dual-Boot Re-Partition Question

[justjustin]

Hi, I would like to install windows alongside my ubuntu installation, I have done this before (both ways, linux first, windows first) without any problems.

My problem is that I already have too many Primary Partitions on my drive, and I only have one usable drive on this machine.

My current partitions look like this...



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 67 538146 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 68 3891 30716280 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 3892 96575 744476742+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 120328 121601 10233405 82 Linux swap / Solaris



sda1 is 500MB boot
sda2 is 30GB /
sda3 is 700GB /home (shrunk, followed by 180GB unallocated space intended for windows installation)
sda4 is swap

If I was to remove my Swap and create an Extended Partition, could I then create a Logical Partition and Swap Partition inside it, using the Logical Partition as my Windows System Partition?

[Mark Phelps]

Basically -- NO.

You will need a Primary partition to install Windows.

While Win7, I believe, will allow you to run from Logical partition, like XP, it must boot from a Primary partition. I believe that XP requires a Primary partition as well.

[satanselbow]

Mr Phelps comments above are true and correct.

If your /home partition is not "too full" you could shrink it down and recreate it - as well as you swap (which you might might not need at all?) - within the extended partition thus freeing up the 2 required primary partitions ;) 1 for *******, 1 for extended :D

Moving your /home is not usually as painful as it sounds :guitar:

[justjustin]

Ok, thanks for the reply,
How about if I kept my /home, but wipe /boot and /, and leave unallocated 30GB at start of disk for Windows and install it.
In the unallocated 180GB at end of disk, create an extended partition for Ubuntu / and /swap, and an NTFS or FAT partition for data, then install Ubuntu.
Do you think this would be ok?

[satanselbow]

Ok, thanks for the reply,
How about if I kept my /home, but wipe /boot and /, and leave unallocated 30GB at start of disk for Windows and install it.
In the unallocated 180GB at end of disk, create an extended partition for Ubuntu / and /swap, and an NTFS or FAT partition for data, then install Ubuntu.
Do you think this would be ok?

If you are happy to clean install ubu then yeah knock yourself out ;)

The aim of the game is to free up 2 primary partitions ;)

If you want to close up the gaps of unallocated space you can slide the partitions snug up to each other in gparted - this may however involve moving large volumes of data and be very time consuming :(

You may also want to consider placing you Windows partition right at the front of the drive. Whilst an extended partition can contain multiple logical partitions - the extended partition itself cannot be split across multiple areas of the drive.