dual-boot xp & mandrake

[Chenks]

i already have WinXP installed and want to install mandrake linux as a dual-boot on the C drive.

how do i go about doing this ? do i need to create a seperate partition first , or can i just plunk in the mandrake CD and let it go.

also... what boot software should i use.. is Lilo still used or are there better options ?

[PJ Matthews]

Plunk the CD in the drive and let it loose. Just mind you create a small patition for i rather than deleting your XP one.

[Chenks]

the reason i am asking is that the last time i tried this on a laptop... it totally buggered the XP installation, and i had to format and re-install. i don't want this to happen this time obviously !

[demonixz]

Man, I had a total nightmare setting up a dual boot with Redhat & XP...

The bootloader used with Redhat is GRUB, dunno about mandrake, but you can usually choose which you want.

I partitioned with partition magic, and oh-so-nearly lost all my Windows files and had to manually setup XP booting in GRUB.

Works fine now.

Good luck...

[ross]

I've managed to get Mandrake working fine dual booting with Windows. Should be fine aslong as Linux is installed after Windows as Windows install overwrites the mbr usually, mandrake should be pretty straight forward about setting up boot stuff.

[Chenks]

groovy

[Mr_Nemesis]

If windows ever does overwrite the MBR due to a reinstall, a boot floppy will solve your problems. It'll boot linux for you, which will then readjust the MBR.

Personally, I prefer GRUB as my bootloader, since it gives me much more options for rescuing things when they go wrong. LiLo looks nicer, but since you only see if for a few seconds, I didn't really think this was neccesary.

As regards prepping your system for Linux, if you're unsure about partitioning, then use the excellent windows app Partition Magic, which can partition without the need for reformatting. The ideal config for a single drive would be a ~8GB partition for windows (hda1), a 3-4GB partition for the linux core partition (known as "/") on hda2, and a seperate FAT32 partition to keep all your documents you want to share betwen windows and linux on (which can be mounted as /home/whatever to make this your default location for saving your linux docs).

You'll also need to make a small swap partition, which typically is meant to be twice the size of your RAM - although I've never used more than 8MB's of my swap partition.

Most of the newer distros come with clever partitoning stuff, but they're unfortunately not as good as partition magic.

Remember - even if you are using partition magic, ALWAYS make a backup and ALWAYS defrag the windows HD first (thankfully, Linux filesystems have no need for defrag).

In short - yes you can create the partition first, and yes you can just plunk the mandrake CD in and go. The first method is the most expensive, but the safest. The second method is the easiest, but the one most likely to nuke your data. You have been warned :D