Trying to install Windows XP on D drive.

[vbmark]

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Note: I had posted earlier about installing Windows 98 to the D drive but a friend said that if I'm going to be using it mostly for games then Windows XP is a better choice. Besides, I actuall own a legal copy of Windows XP but not of 98.

I have Fedora on my C drive--aka hda. I booted off of my XP CD and went through the screens. Everything went fine until it said that there is not a compatible partition for the boot stuff (not exact message) and would not let me proceed any further.

What is the remedy for this? I don't want to do anything to kill my Linux install. It's taken me days to get it working how I like.

Also, please keep in mind that I am very new to the Linux world so please explain things to me as such.

Thanks!

P.S. Something funny my son said. He said the problem is that nobody installs a $200 operating system to their secondary drive. :-)

[Opnosforatou]

Note: I had posted earlier about installing Windows 98 to the D drive but a friend said that if I'm going to be using it mostly for games then Windows XP is a better choice. Besides, I actuall own a legal copy of Windows XP but not of 98.

I have Fedora on my C drive--aka hda. I booted off of my XP CD and went through the screens. Everything went fine until it said that there is not a compatible partition for the boot stuff (not exact message) and would not let me proceed any further.

What is the remedy for this? I don't want to do anything to kill my Linux install. It's taken me days to get it working how I like.

Also, please keep in mind that I am very new to the Linux world so please explain things to me as such.


Thanks!

P.S. Something funny my son said. He said the problem is that nobody installs a $200 operating system to their secondary drive.

He's a smart kid ROFL.

Windows wants to be installed on the first hd.
If you have a bios that supports booting from multi HD's you can install Windos on a different HD. Other then that, Your primary bootdisk needs to be Windos and the rest is up to you..
It's no problem to switch you current Linux HD to a secondary drive, be sure to boot from your install cd, mount your root disk and edit the apropriate config files like fstab to reflect the new hda layout. hda would become hdb.
everything else stays the same, oooh, and you will need to reinstall your bootloader after installing windos.

[vbmark]

It's no problem to switch you current Linux HD to a secondary drive,

Excellent idea! Okay, I'll do that.

be sure to boot from your install cd, mount your root disk and edit the apropriate config files like fstab to reflect the new hda layout. hda would become hdb.

Okay, I understand that.

everything else stays the same, oooh, and you will need to reinstall your bootloader after installing windos.

How do I reinstall the bootloader?

Thanks!

[Opnosforatou]

Are you using grub or lilo as bootloader ?

For lilo: (Example from own lilo.conf)

root@machine2:~# more /etc/lilo.conf
LBA32
boot = /dev/hda
#compact        # faster, but won't work on all systems.
delay = 300
default=Linux265
prompt
vga = normal
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/bzImage265
  root = /dev/hda1
  label = Linux-265
  read-only

change the line root=/dev/hda1 to root=/dev/hdb1
Save the text file and run lilo.

For info on grub check: here.

[vbmark]

Are you using grub or lilo as bootloader ?

Both instructions look easy enough to follow. How do I tell which bootloader is being used? I just let Fedora install with defaults.

[Ether-X]

Are you using grub or lilo as bootloader ?

Both instructions look easy enough to follow. How do I tell which bootloader is being used? I just let Fedora install with defaults.

If it's blue and pretty, it's Grub. If it's black and ugly, it's Lilo.

[vbmark]

Are you using grub or lilo as bootloader ?

Both instructions look easy enough to follow. How do I tell which bootloader is being used? I just let Fedora install with defaults.

If it's blue and pretty, it's Grub. If it's black and ugly, it's Lilo.

LOL. Cool, it's Grub. Thanks!

[don]

im not sure if pretty or ugly is the right way to recognize bootloaders

but heres a tip press ctrl+X on the graphical boot menu. If that thows u at a boot: prompt then its lilo.

A way to recognize grub is that it offers u a friendly help hint belowyour menu options, like for additional boot params or to go to the prompt. anways grub on non grpahical display gets you to a grub> prompt

hope this helps

[vbmark]

I'm just a simple fisherman blessed with a lot of friends

Okay, thanks.

By the way. Looking at your avitar you don't look like a "simple fisherman" to me.

[Opnosforatou]

Nerderello wrote a grub howto some time ago, check it here.
This will help you on your way.
And something else, involving some reading type at the linux console prompt: man grub.

Let me know if you get it working.



I also posted some grub info here on how to install grub on a bootdisk