Maybe a dumb question

But I feel like asking :lol:

Can you install Linux (Debian) on a HDD from inside WinXP?

no. you have to boot into the installer.

I remember there are/were some distros that you could, but i don't think Debian is one of them. That requires actual Windows code to launch the installer, so the usual way is to boot from the CD/DVD.

I remember that old versions of Mandrake had this feature. I installed Mandrake 8.0 onto my brother's windows install so that he could play tuxracer and the like.

But the newer versions don't have that feature for some reason. I think such a feature would be a good idea for people who are not comefortable with the whole idea of dual booting and partitioning their hard drive. maybe the distro makers should bring this feature back to try and attract the curious and disenchanted windows ussers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlexK

I remember that old versions of Mandrake had this feature.
...
I think such a feature would be a good idea for people who are not comefortable with the whole idea of dual booting and partitioning their hard drive. maybe the distro makers should bring this feature back to try and attract the curious and disenchanted windows ussers.

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Umm, no. For someone who is timid about formatting their harddrive, there are LiveCDs that work just fine. There's no reason IMO for Linux distribution maintainers to suddenly become MS Windows software developers just because Granny Smith doesn't want to reboot. Just my 2 cents.

As experimenting with linux at a basic level i also find it annoying. There is no reason to have its basically going to do the same thign like you do when you boot from the cd correct me not?

I was just being lazy. It's installed though.