| How do I set up a dual-boot XP/Linux system? |
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| Written by Dave Reyes | |
| Monday, 08 March 2004 | |
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This is the question we get most often. The short answer: defragment Windows, shrink the Windows partition, install Linux into the free space, and let the Linux installer set up the boot loader. 1. Back up. Resizing partitions is usually safe, but not always. Copy anything you care about to CD or another drive first. 2. Defragment. Run Disk Defragmenter in Windows so the data is packed at the start of the partition. If your drive is NTFS, run chkdsk as well. 3. Make room. Mandrake 10.0 and Fedora Core 2 can both shrink a Windows partition during the install. PartitionMagic or qtparted on a Knoppix CD also work. Leave at least 5 GB for Linux. 4. Install Linux. Create a swap partition (twice your RAM is fine) and a root partition in the free space. Let the installer put GRUB in the master boot record. 5. Reboot. You should see a menu offering Linux and Windows. If Windows is missing, ask on the mailing list. It's usually a one-line fix in /boot/grub/grub.conf. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 June 2004 ) |
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