Can I Dual Boot Linux and Windows XP?

[JimboJangles]

I tried installing Ubuntu on a second partition and ran into some trouble during the install, and I ended up having to reinstall the Windows MBR to be able to start XP...
Does the Linux boot loader work with dual booting XP?
Can I make the Windows boot loader recognize Linux as a 2nd OS?

 

[Cromewell]

Does it use GRUB? If everything is installed properly it should be able to detect linux and windows XP on it's own.

But if it doesn't, here's a howto for GRUB: http://www.devhood.com/tutorials/tutorial_details.aspx?tutorial_id=405

It can be done with lilo too but I think it's more work.

 

[brian]

it will not just pick up windows. it does if it is fat32 but not nfts. i dont know if it is me but the tutorial is not working. all you have to do is when installing ubunto and you get to the boot loadre hit add and add your partition. it should be like /dev/hda1

 

[JimboJangles]

eew, it won't work with NTFS? Screw that... I'll just put some distribution of Linux on my crappy desktop. I'll wait til it can actually write to NTFS and use it normally before I put it on my laptop where i'm really gonna use it...
Ubuntu is still great to boot from though! I love how it has drivers included that work with a lot of WLAN cards... I'm used to not being able to connect to wireless with BartPE and such.

Sooo, quick question: What distribution of Linux would be good to install, to have just for the heck of it? I wouldn't really be using it for any crazy technical stuff, just trying it out...

 

[Bl00dFox]

it will not just pick up windows. it does if it is fat32 but not nfts. i dont know if it is me but the tutorial is not working. all you have to do is when installing ubunto and you get to the boot loadre hit add and add your partition. it should be like /dev/hda1

You have no idea. Ubuntu/GRUB can read and write to NTFS. Dual booting is a breeze. Just free up some space, make an ext3 partition and install linux onto it. It will automatically detect all other operating systems and configure the boot loader. You dont have to do anything.

Try Ubuntu btw, there is so much online support, it kinda freaks me out!

 

[patrickv]

it will not just pick up windows. it does if it is fat32 but not nfts. i dont know if it is me but the tutorial is not working. all you have to do is when installing ubunto and you get to the boot loadre hit add and add your partition. it should be like /dev/hda1

dude what the hell are you talking about, thats confusion !!
step 1 : install XP
step 2 : install ubuntu
step 3 : DONE dual boot FINE

 

[JimboJangles]

Oh, seriously? Sweet! I'm totally gonna put ubuntu on my PC to try out the dual booting then. It's got 2 10GB HD's in it, so I guess I'll just use the 2nd one for ubuntu to make it easier.

 

[PabloTeK]

There are also tutorials on the web to get Windows to be the first OS to boot. By default Ubuntu is the primary OS according to GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader).

 

[Bl00dFox]

dude what the hell are you talking about, thats confusion !!
step 1 : install XP
step 2 : install ubuntu
step 3 : DONE dual boot FINE

Perfect. Glad to know one person knows what he/she is talking about