duel Booting ( Windows / Linux )

[Starshine]

Hi.

I would like to wipe my computer and reinstall by having two OSes. I have been told its possible - but I am a bit clueless how.

I currently have Windows XP Media Edition and would like to add Ubuntu. How do I go about wiping my computer and adding these two systems together?

Can someone give me a near step-by-step instruction?

 

[Chris Z]

well i have never tried this with Ubuntu, but I imagine at has the Grub Boot Loader, in which case you set up Windows first, then set up ubuntu on a seperate partition and during set up, it should detect the other OS and include it in the boot menu, but like i said, i haven't tried it with ubuntu, i know for a fact that Fedora Core 2 does this though.

 

[Conor]

Delete all your partitions and reinstall windows. Then put in the Ubuntu CD after Windows is all set and install on a new partition. I believe there is an option of what OS to boot from if you do it a certain way. Read up on Ubuntu site

 

[Starshine]

Okay ... so not to be a complete noob ...

How do I go about wiping my computer?? It seems with Media Edition of XP, it forces me to partition for the "backup" or something ... when I install windows.

So, how do I go about wiping everything off, making the partitions and whatnot?

I've also heard that I should install Linux first? ...

 

[Conor]

Do you have your Windows CD? Just insert it and select new installation.

 

[Cubeform]

Windows XP Media Center Edition doesn't come with an install CD, it's OEM-only (and they only gave you a backup, correct?) That is, unless you bought Media Center Edition from Newegg...

Get a copy of Windows.

And yes, Ubuntu comes with Grub.

Edit:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
gives you a way that apparently does not need reinstalling Windows. It is good to have a copy of Windows with you.

Also, do not install Linux first! The Windows installer will automatically assume you have no master boot record and proceed to overwrite it with its own.

 

[Starshine]

Well, when I bought this computer it did come with some installation CDs for reinstalling Windows.

I was planning to reinstall windows anyway ... so I know now that the Linux can be installed after.

 

[kryptonyte]

Reinstall Windows if you want (you don't have to) and pop in the Ubuntu CD/DVD. Ubuntu's installer will automatically resize your windows partition or install to another HD if you want it to. It's really quite simple.

 

[sourabhj]

Okay ... so not to be a complete noob ...

How do I go about wiping my computer?? It seems with Media Edition of XP, it forces me to partition for the "backup" or something ... when I install windows.

So, how do I go about wiping everything off, making the partitions and whatnot?

I've also heard that I should install Linux first? ...

Its not clear exectly what you want to do but if you want to wipe your exiting partition without losing other data or you want to delete exiting partition you can do it by pqmagic version 8 or higher. From pqmagic you can convert fat to fat32/ntfs or some other filesystem without risking other partition/data. Hope this will solve your problem.
--
Sourabhj

 

[bigguy]

@ Starshine: Watch this video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6104490811311898236&sourceid=docidfeed&hl=en

 

[PaulAlejandro]

try ntfs resize

 

[tris2006]

I have ubuntu and windows on my desktop computer and ubuntu only on my laptop. Just make sure your computer is set to boot from the live CD, and then just restart your computer.