Can I tell XP to ignore Linux partitions?

[playersgc]

I've got my Compaq laptop set up so I can boot XP (Pro) or Ubuntu, it works great, and it wasn't too difficult to set up.

There's just a minor annoyance that when I boot XP, the "install wizard" starts up every time and tries to "install" the three other partitions I have on my hd (for Linux). I don't need or want it to do that. Can I keep the wizard from starting up like that?

[techieMoe]

That's an odd problem. I've never had that pop up in any of my dual-boot systems. If you can tell it to ignore them, I'd do that. It won't hurt the Linux partitions.

[CodeRoot]

...when I boot XP, the "install wizard" starts up every time and tries to "install" the three other partitions I have on my hd (for Linux).

WOW - sounds like a new Windows feature -- "let's see if we can trick users into formatting any non-Windows partitions (for use by Windows)..." -- possibly hidden in a recent "automatic update" --- Do you allow "automatic updates" on your Windows system? Have you done any "manual" updates, lately?




(This is just conjecture. It is also an attempt at humor... )

[playersgc]

Heh, I do actually let XP do its updates automatically, because I might occaisionally use this laptop at work again, and I want to keep it as secure as XP gets so it will still be allowed on our network.

I can tell it to stop attempting to "install" the partitions each time, but I have to click on 6 or 8 different pop-ups, and that gets annoying (AND it slows everything down, and this laptop is already slow with xp). And it does not remember I told it to stop trying to install them when I last used xp. I don't think it will try to format them without actually confirming that clearly, but I'm not really keen on trying that route without someone with more experience saying it's probably ok.

I'm also afraid that even if I let the wizard finish and it's harmless, it will do it again every time I boot in xp.

[budman7]

You should just let XP do its thing.
In part of the wizard you will see an option for how you would like to format it.
Just tell XP to not format the drive.

[rcgreen]

The partition ID bytes might be wrong on those
partitions. Normally windows ignores non dos
partitions.

http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partition...n_types-1.html

[attilathepun]

On the Start menu, click "run" and type "msconfig". In the window that pop us, run through the tabs and see if there's anything relating to disk checking or setup, and if so, deselect it (while you're at it, deselect anything else that you're sure does not need to run. But be careful, if you have no clue what it it and it's a microsoft service, you prolly need it)

Reboot and see if that helps. Another option would be to run something like PartitionMagic in WinXP and set the Linux partitions to hidden partitions.

[playersgc]

Thank you all!
I will try some of this stuff and see what I can figure out. I'll post what works. If I can't stop the annoying Wizard, I'll just use Windoze less.

[attilathepun]

If I can't stop the annoying Wizard, I'll just use Windoze less.

Haha, sounds like a great solution. Seriously, though, let us know what happens.