How to dual boot windows and linux for newbies

i am going to create a tutorials of dual boot of xp and linux without damaging your xp partition same trick work with windows 7 window vista.....etc

there are 2 ways to achieve that use which you find best to your needs

tutorial 1

we shrink xp partition and install linux without writing to your xp bootloader in this way if your linux get deleted or trouble with linux boot loader you can still continue with xp

advantage:- you can boot xp without linux grub bootloader install in mbr so nothing write your xp system boot if you dont want to use linux you dont need to formate xp as well just delete linux and extend partition one more advantage if you reinstall xp you dont need to reinstall linux as well

disadvantage:- xp dont boot you cannot boot into linux as well

it is recommended if you want to install linux without effecting your existing xp at all

3rd party tool like easybcd to use to link linux to boot

highly recommended where you formate windows operating system quite often or you enjoy switching to different windows OS quite often



tutorial 2

in this we shrink xp partition and install linux with its grub(bootloader) in mbr

advantage:- grub install in mbr so if your xp wont work you still use linux if your linux dont work you can repair linux boot from live cd

disadvantage:- if your linux fail you cannot use your xp but if you again reinstall linux or reload boot(grub) again you can boot to your xp one more disadvantage if you reinstall xp you require to formate linux as well to achieve that

so this is recommended if you want to use linux with windows permanently and you use linux more or your windows reasonable secure you dont formate windows often

it is highly recommended for long term users where you are lazy like me and just want to install and forget atleast for 3 years



cont.........

 

You may also want to consider this tutorial:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/dual-boot-windows-7-ubuntu.html

Mrk

 

thanks mrk very nice tutorial



mine is window xp and mint linux i am going to put it as soon completed

 

now lets do it


preparation

i already got xp installed on my virtual machine with 25 gb hardisk

going to shrink xp to 15gb install linux on rest


same happen with your xp/vista/window7 preinstall on your laptop/desktop

now before we start please remember in windows when your hardisk get above 60-70%

it become pretty slow so make sure that you keep enough disk space for further as well

let say i got vista installed in 100 gb hardisk and my disk space is 40%(ie 40 gb) now i have 60% free space left(60gb) if i take 20gb out of that 60 then i have 40 gb free space left and its become 50% (because my full hardisk space is now 80gb instead of 100gb) i still have 10-20 left for further installation in vista without giving performance

linux usually take 3-5 gb for complete installation rest according to your need

some example

160 gb

100 or 120 for xp rest for linux

250 gb

150 or 170 for xp rest 100 gb or 80 gb for linux .....etc

so point is that always kept additional space according to your need in xp



now we start tutorial 1 (xp without bootloader change)

step 1 put your fav linux distro or distro with gpatred tool here i use mint linux

step 2 click on control center then click on system then click on gparted tool

 

step 3 click on your ntfs partition (ie /dev/sda1) than click on green arrow button above for resize

step 4 scroll it back (shrink) to size you want for your xp here we have 15gb (15gb =15360mb becoz 1gb=1024mb)

 

step 5 select unallocated partition click on create new partition

step 6 now in create new partition window

create a partition for swap (virtual ram) here we create size = 1gb you can create 2gb....its more than enough


new size = 1024 mb (1gb)
create as = primary partition
file system = linux-swap
label = swap

click add

step 7 now click create new partition again from its window


create a partition for / (root)where you install your linux here we use the remaining space leaving some free space of 7 mb or 8 mb which is default left ?unpartitioned while installing xp. So far i found 2 reasons for this some disk sectors create problem and for performance boost by default microsoft do this default mode so i found no harm adding 7 -8 mb to free space which was created on default at the time or installing xp/vista......etc

new size = left size
create as = primary partition
file system = ext4
label = /
free space =7mb (as before at the time of xp created)

click add

step 8 apply ok

step 9 close gparted tool

 

step 10 click on install linux mint

step 11 select your default language click forward

step 12 select your time zone click forward (if it show wrong dont worry you can tweak later)

step 13 select your keyboard by default its usa so forward this step if you dont want any other keyboard language

step 14 select partitions manually (advance) click forward

 

step 15 select your linux partition which is /dev/sda3 ext4 (best way to check file system linux one is got ext4 file system)

click on change

and select ext4 and mount point /

note:- your swap partition is already selected in mint by default


step 16 click forward

 

step 17 ?who you are? create your username and password

step 18 migrate documents and settings here you can select if you want to import folders from xp
click forward

step 19 click on advance tab

step 20 from advance option select

device for bootloader installation: /dev/sda3 [ / (root) partition of your hardisk on which you install linux ]


click ok

step 21 click install

 

step 22 reboot

step 23 it will boot from window xp

and show you disk check so dont need to panic its because you shrink the disk

step 24 install easy bcd in xp or any other 3rd party tool which support multiple boot

step 25 from easy bcd give path to your root partition

reboot you get linux installed

 

now tutorial 2 (xp with linux bootloader on mbr)

till step 18 all steps are same

after that

step 19 click next and install no need to go to advance you get your both system booted

its more easy than tutorial 1 and highly recommended to use that



THE END

Best Regards Mack

 

Thank you.I installed Ubuntu after windows XP.

 

also i like edit most of preinstall windows (xp,vista,window 7) comes with recovery partition

so you guys dont need to touch that partition just squeeze(shrink) your c partition (ie 1st ntfs partition with big size having your windows loaded)